What's on your WORK BENCH - August 2020

One of the pair of bedside tables is done. I just have to put in the drawer and top, plus hardware on the other one. We are painting the bedroom, so it will be a bit before I can install them. Now, if I have the chance, I'll try to get started on the headboard. The tables will make more sense with the backdrop of the headboard, and hopefully some new linens!


I used dovetailed maple drawers with Blum undermount slides. I'd still be fitting drawers otherwise. Looking forward to showing the pair together in situ.


Fin1.jpg


Fin2.jpg


Thanks for looking!
Cricket
 
Some wood ducks this month. Lifted the preener pattern from a Keith Mueller carving that I really liked when I saw it, but realized I'd have to do some painting prior to attaching the head permanently.and finishing up the carving at the neck joint..A few extra steps, but it's all working out.

The high-head drake is a variation on a Wooster pattern I've done before.

Dowel pin runs from the tip of the raised tail down into the body. Double brass rods re:enforce the primaries
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Painted the areas under the head prior to permanent attachment (OK, so I got carried away and did a little more ;-) ):
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Back to sealing the portion that was re-carved & sanded after the head was attached & doweled:


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Tricky drilling for the dowel up into the head of the high-head bird. Had to go at the angle that worked best.
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Base coated & ready to texture:
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I am repairing the Len Tucker geese and brant I got a few months ago. They have the head fastened with dowels that are drilled all the way through the keel and cross nailed with 4D nails. All were still attached after what looks like some years of rough handling. The rear of the keels have a dowel inserted at an angle into the cork and also cross nailed.

Joe
 
Steve Sanford said:
All~

It sits on a very steep slope. I built staging for the downslope side - to support me during both demolition and assembly.
SJS
Click to expand...

Steve

I have slept in lesser hotel rooms than your well house. I think it would make a nice guest house too. Looks like a very functional design and excellent construction.
 
Good morning, Brad~


Thanks for the kind words. Our weather is actually chilly some mornings now, so maybe I will complete it sooner than later....


In the meantime, another Southern Hemisphere Teal From the Bench of George Williams.


View attachment GW - Teal.jpg



And, he sent this along to demonstrate is quick-as-a-cat reflexes. Maybe it belongs in Eric's OOOOUUUCHHH!!! post? I think the title is "Bandsaw Blunder"....



(never tried to post a movie - not sure it'll work...)



View attachment Bandsaw Blunder.MOV



I have actually begun some decoy and duckboat project - having thoroughly cleaned my shop and enjoyed a fine visit from Bill Embacher and his family earlier this week. Nothing ready to post, though....




All the best,


SJS



 
Base coated this Brant last night with ronans. This evening will start getting the greasy kid stuff (tube oils) as George calls them.

Trying out some new techniques with the paint so we shall see...
Overall I was not real pleased with this bird so this is the one I thought I would experiment on...regardless it will hunt though


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So in 1998 when building the scaup I was being mentored by Jeff Smith, as most of you probably know. Early on Jeff pulled out a little hand plane and used it frequently to true up parts to get a nice fit or smooth out curves. When Jeff passed away the hand plane was given to me with his other stuff. Over the years the blade became badly pitted and the the body tarnished. Further, it had suffered abuses such as being dropped and ramming into nails, or so it seems, causing the leading edge to bulge under. After work this week I spent evenings getting it back into tip-top shape and am pleased with the results. I think this will be a tool that I reach for very frequently and my old trusty Stanley will see less work.

I uploaded a video of the restore on the duckboatsdotnet Instagram "my story" page.

https://www.instagram.com/stories/highlights/17883712999717425/


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Brad Bortner said:
Eric, that plane is the favorite of many woodworkers, myself included. Nice restoration video.
Click to expand...

I think L-N hit it out of the park with that design. Let me tell you something, their steel is HARD. That video captures about 5% of the lapping I did with the iron, but eventually I won out over the pitting and she's razor sharp.

Thank you.

Eric
 
Hola, amigo
The tertials droop a lot lower where they touch the sides. Remember, it's a brant, not a Canada Goose. Base color ok.
Have fun.
 
Good morning, Dax~


Sweet bird - I'd love to see it afloat!



I don't want to "pile on" re George's thoughts - but - having studied one of my favorite birds for thousands of hours as biologist, gunner and carver - I do share his view about the way the primaries and secondaries dip quite low where the side pocket meets the flank. I think of it as a "triangle".



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I have found that it helps to draw the entire wing - especially the parts hidden beneath the side pockets - when laying out the primaries. Note that my drawing is of a duck - not a goose. On geese (including Brant) the tertials grade right into the secondaries and all extend pretty far aft.


View attachment Wing Feather Groups.jpg



The other challenge in painting Brant is their side feathers - which are large and bold aft, medium and meek in the middle, and small and crowded just behind the black chest. Here's a corker I did several years ago. Note, too, that I do not edge the back feathers but blend them so they get darker aft. (Young-of-the-year Brant do show pale edgings on their back feathers.)



View attachment Black Cork Brant - 2 May 2013 - portrait.jpg



One last thought. Brant have very long tail coverts (White) - because they are Arctic nesters, I believe - and very little of the Black tail feathers show (much less than in Canadas).



Hope this helps!


SJS







 
Young Man~


Excellent effect - and fine craftsmanship as always!


When I saw the Pleissner (one of my art heroes), I doubled-checked the Shelburne Museum. They had been closed earlier this year. I see they are now open - by reservation only and with limited exhibits. Although the decoy-filled Dorset House looks closed, Pleissner's gallery is open:


https://shelburnemuseum.org/collection/pleissner-gallery/


I think I'll plan a trip when it gets a bit cooler.



All the best,


SJS





 
Rooster, thanks for the bump. We always referred to the juvie backs as necklaces, Lotsa whitish. I have now shot two juvies without neck markings. That was a startler!!!
Ok Dax, fix and get rolling!
 
Today pops and I started opening up the cockpit of a friends boat that has lived in the yard since closing day (chickens have been using it as a place to hang out under). Boats owner doesn?t really have much of an idea of what he wants, other than more space- I can attest to this because I?ve hunted in it with him and it?s hell. He?s had so much junk in there it filled my truck bed to the brim after I threw away equally as much.

Boat is supposedly an old banshee, originally reworked by Dave niessen of CT. A ski boat like a checkmate really. Cockpit was originally about 8 x 5.5, now it?s 12 x 5.5. We chose to add a deck on the small portion where it looks like used to be a foot rest. Also added splash guards, but no photos as we ran out of light today. Need to build something to put a depth finder on, transducer is hanging off the stern right now.

Boat is basically Just a hull. Most of the lights and other things haven?t worked, which makes it a breeze as we basically just gutted everything. Will need to rewire everything, install a more permanent battery box/master switch, etc. This is both pops and my first foray into slicing apart and heavily modifying the boat. Not new to fiberglass repairs. But this will be more fun.

Pretty sure the power trim/tilt is on the fritz. Owner said it wouldn?t go up last time he used it. Of course the battery was deader than a doornail, so couldn?t test it today. However, any recommendations on what the issue may be with that one?
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Rooster, from the forepart of the sides, I am apt to guess that the picture is a pacific, rather than an atlantic., unless it is an OLD adult. Past the chest, about a third of that side appears quite dark on a pac, and extends right onto the belly. Ours, on the other hand, are greyish..
My curiousity was piqued as I have both coasts in the morgue/former garden freezer. Long story, related to the little red hen!
 
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