What have I got myself into now? (Cork decoy related )

MIKE-SID

MIKE-SID

Active member
Well, I think I'm on my way down an expensive path. I'm catching the cork decoy bug. I really want 8 or 10 cork blacks for the marsh, but I couldn't resist this from ebay. I love shooting divers, but there is no way I could afford an entire spread of bluebills, but maybe a few will be used for a small setup around the shore.
Is this a Bean decoy? Is the head supposed to be glued on? Is something missing?
Thanks, Mike
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View attachment 20181024_212228.jpgView attachment 20181024_212205.jpg
 
Mike, I would draw your attention to the underside profile pic. you provided. Note that the decoy is broader at the chine in the tail area, versus the breast section? When you build your own birds, you will be well served to reverse this, making the breasts wide. This is the actual overhead profile of a duck on the water, with puddle ducks elongated further than the smaller diver species.. For a decoy, this will lend stability to the bird when floating breast-on in a chop. I think there are some photos of mounts in the first of Bruce Burke's books on carving decorative decoys that illustrate this-check your local library.

The day you shoot your first bird over your own stool will be the day you really ARE hooked!
 
I sure looks like a Bean to me. You can either glue the dowel/head in or use a stainless pane and screw and large washer in the end of the dowel to secure the head.

Depending on my spot I?ll add a few divers off to the side of my blackduck rig. I just made 5 new cork broadbill for that purpose.
 
Good morning, Mike~


Looks like a Bean's to my eye, but...I have never seen a keel like this before. The Beans keels I've seen are flat (nominally 1 x 2) with square-cut ends.


The shapes of the heads and bodies have varied markedly over the years. Most heads are fastened via the dowel - which is glued into the head and held there with either a brass (earlier) or steel (later) escutcheon pin. Many earlier birds allowed for the head to to turned in different directions. Such decoys had designated "sockets" around the dowel hole in the body. A pin on the underside of the neck fit into the socket of your choice. Ultimately, the head and dowel were fastened from below the keel with a washer and a screw. (No glue or caulk) Most of the screws I've seen are #12 (or even #14) flathead galvanized wood screws. I generally replace these with longer panhead s/s screws and s/s fender washers and I set the heads in caulk.


This post shows how I converted a Bean's Bluebill/Broadbill to a Goldeneye/Whistler:


https://stevenjaysanford.com/painting-goldeneyes-tutorial/



Here are some Bean's Broadbill I rehabbed last year:


View attachment sm Tessier Broadbill 01.JPG





BTW: Dale Dalrymple has lots of info about L L Bean decoys on his site:


https://www.dalesdecoyden.com/decoys.htm



Have fun with The World of Cork!


SJS













 
As Steve said, everything but the keel says LL Bean to me. That may be a newer bird... I don't have anything newer than the late '80s and have more than I can hunt so I haven't looked at the new stuff Bean is putting out.
 
RLLigman said:
Mike, I would draw your attention to the underside profile pic. you provided. Note that the decoy is broader at the chine in the tail area, versus the breast section? When you build your own birds, you will be well served to reverse this, making the breasts wide. This is the actual overhead profile of a duck on the water, with puddle ducks elongated further than the smaller diver species.. For a decoy, this will lend stability to the bird when floating breast-on in a chop. I think there are some photos of mounts in the first of Bruce Burke's books on carving decorative decoys that illustrate this-check your local library.

The day you shoot your first bird over your own stool will be the day you really ARE hooked!
Click to expand...


Great information, I don't know that I'll be building my own birds, I'm not that artistic with wood and such. I'm more mechanical, and do metalworking for fun and to make parts for projects. I'm impressed seeing all the talent on this site.
 
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