suggested wood/cork for a beginning carver

D

David Allen

Active member
I gave my 12 year old son a roughed out block of balsa for Christmas. Turned out to be his favorite gift. He completed 80 to 90 percent of the carving yesterday and is back carving this morning. I think with paint this will be a fine working decoy.
I obviously want to encourage this, but I am of a modest income, have no carving skills or experience. Accordingly I am asking the carvers out there for a suggestion on which wood species or cork I should get for him? Think inexpensive!
I live in Maine so White Pine and Cedar are readily available. Less common is bass wood.
I have a bench top band saw so I should be able to rough out teal size blocks and heads. I also have a scroll saw that he operates well (layered cedar).
I also have a dozen E Allen mallard/black bodies that I need heads for. Wood heads be a good place for him to start?
How about websites for patterns? Websites for tutorials?
Other things I need to know?
 
David, what a great gift. Firstly, I'm no expert. I also consider myself in the beginning stages of my carving career. I'd go with what you can get your hands on. Stop by lumber yards and ask around for scraps of pine and cedar. Ideally you'd want them dry but just get anything to start carving. They might check or split later but you can fix them then. There are pattern books on Amazon available. Or draw your own based off a picture.

The archives here are a goldmine. Use the search button to look at old workbench threads, Steve Sanfords posts as well as Pat Gregory. They also have websites stevenjaysanford.com and thedecoyshed.com. Both have helped and inspired me.


Lastly, try to find someone in your area that carves and pick their brain. I am lucky as I have some guys here around me that do it for a living and are a wealth of knowledge and skill. This has been my biggest help.

Hope this helps and merry Christmas.
 
David, seeing your located white cedar should be cheaper and plentiful. Google up some mills in the area. Also thought about a cedar home manufacturer? They have have cut offs in large quantities, but are not dried. Could build a small drier for the small pieces. Also black cork can be found around surplus.
If you ask around there are a lot of guys with larger saws that would give you a hand. A lot of the saw companies make a riser extension for the regular saw.
Have fun
 
David,
The first question is how is your grandson accomplishing the carving he is doing right now? Balsa is soft so he has lots of options i suspect. Is he using knifes, sandpaper, rasps, or other tools? Let us know what tools he is using to accomplish the heads and body and I am sure we can help you out.
 
Workmate table/vise. Clamps to the keel. I was thinking about welding a plate to a piece of 1 inch square tube I have, that he can then clamp that into the table. I also suspect I will need to add weight to the table for stability.
That said I am open to other tools and holds. I am not located that far from Liberty Tool, which specializes in old tools, so I expect I can pick up a draw knife and spoke shaves pretty cheap and spend a little elbow grease to clean up and sharpen them.
 
If you have a vice, take square stock and weld a plate 2"x4" to the top and drill two holes for screw mounts. You can turn it any direction you need. Think it was on the forum?
 
David,
Only you and his parents will know if he is old enough and mature enough to start using knifes for heads. In addition the use of drawknives on bodies is some physical and somewhat dangerous work. So keep that in mind as you go forward.

The tools he is using know are more fitted to cork than wood. Cork will carve in a similar way to the balsa and in general will be a safer medium for him to work worth.

Cedar is what I carve and cutting it with a rasp alone is lots of work even with a quality tool. Draw knives and spokeshaves make it easier but its still physical work and for a young kid it may not go fast enough compared to balsa or cork.
 
David--that is great to hear. Just don't let Phil get distracted from his award-winning fly tying!

I can't help on wood, but can give you the name of a couple of carvers you can contact who might send you in the right direction. None I know are close--Kittery or the Camden area.

One possibility would be to find a contact with CMP. They must do something with their old poles when they replace them, and I bet there is a bunch of salvagable wood in some of them.

You probably already have one, but I have a draw knife that other than needing sharpening is in fine shape. I'm not using it, so let me know if Phil would.



PS: Weather is looking ducky, but wind will be tough the next couple of days. I'm looking at maybe Thursday or Friday if you guys want to get out.
 
His first block is ready for paint.
I had tried to carve in the past and stink at it. I can build furniture, and even built small tables as part owner of a furniture store, but carving it completely different. The good thing with that though is I had a western cedar block that I started, and a tan cork block. I have given both to him. He has started on the cedar and likes it better than the Balsa. I need to make a tail board for the cork and turn him loose on it.
He is safe enough with a knife, that I do not worry more than normal. He has earned hi totem (whittling, axe, hatchet, and bow saw) chip from the Boy Scouts. In general he is quite safe. OFF TOPIC PROUD DAD NOTE, I have found him to be very safe with a shotgun, and will say he is as safe as anyone at our gun club, including our range master.
As White Pine is very easy to find and inexpensive, I think I will start him on heads. Do you just hold the heads by hand or do you try to mount them on something that you can clamp them?
y the way he is my son, not grandson.
ps. Jeff, Thursday or Friday work fine.
 
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I gave my 12 year old son a roughed out block of balsa for Christmas. Turned out to be his favorite gift. He completed 80 to 90 percent of the carving yesterday and is back carving this morning. I think with paint this will be a fine working decoy.
I obviously want to encourage this, but I am of a modest income, have no carving skills or experience. Accordingly I am asking the carvers out there for a suggestion on which wood species or cork I should get for him? Think inexpensive!

I live in Maine so White Pine and Cedar are readily available. Less common is bass wood.
I have a bench top band saw so I should be able to rough out teal size blocks and heads. I also have a scroll saw that he operates well (layered cedar).
I also have a dozen E Allen mallard/black bodies that I need heads for. Wood heads be a good place for him to start?
How about websites for patterns? Websites for tutorials?
Other things I need to know?----------------------------------------

If you are in need of some E. Allen Heads, give us a holler...since we own the company and can make as many as you need. ;) I can also email you the head pattern as I sliced up a decoy and made patterns for a bird I carved for the St. Clair Flats Rig a couple years ago.
Lou duckguylsb@juno.com
Click to expand...
 
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David, I was certainly glad to learn that your son liked the teal decoy, and got right to work finishing it! He should be proud of his work, and most important that the decoy was first cut out by Dave Hagerbaumer. He now owns a part of history. Old Dave, in his rightful place in that big marsh in the sky, is likely smiling that one of his decoys was finished out by your son. Totally good stuff! Best, Worth Mathewson
 
David, if you are looking for oversize decoy patterns, send me a sase and i will put some together for you. Think about what fowl are most abundant in your area
george willimas
14 glenwood dr.
dover, de., 19904
if you need paint schematics for the dekes, e mail me at
gwdecoys@verizon.net
Happy New Year, and glad to hear you have addicted a new generation.
 
Here are pictures of where he is in the process. He is still painting as you can tell. The Teal is all him. The woody is one I started and gave up on. He fixed some of my mistakes and finished the carving. The woody head was purchased.
[inline IMG-20160105-00301.jpg ]

View attachment IMG-20160105-00301.jpg
 
Ask him what type of material he wants to carve in and go from there. Personally I would much rather have wooden decoys than cork an day and local wood is normally cheaper too. Grayson Chesser's book also has many patterns including carving and painting instructions.
 
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