What's on your Work Bench ? January 2019

Hey Tom, you making them for pairs comp at havre de grace? Haven't seen you do a round body until now?[;)]
 
No sir, no contests for me. Making them as a retirement gift for a duck hunter. I hand tool out a couple round birds per year.
 
[size 4]
Might not be new, Vince, but it's killer.
You need to put these in a set of note-cards..... but does anyone write notes any longer?
 
Thanks Bob

I use some for letter heads. Yes I still write letters, and Thank You's.

Note cards & thank you cards are a thing of the past, it seems, and it's a damn shame. Proper personal correspondence is one thing my mother was adamant about, and taught me well.

The late great Jim Schmiedlin was one of the best at card, and letter writing...


Best regards
VP
 
Vince Pagliaroli said:
Note cards & thank you cards are a thing of the past, it seems, and it's a damn shame.

Best regards
VP
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[size 4]Vince,

So true. The letters I exchanged over the years with Bobby Sutton and Joe Wooster are/were something that I certainly treasured. Perhaps the internet and the ability to e mail, PM, tweet, instagram, etc. has changed the way we interact....sometimes for the better; sometimes not. Lot's of trade offs for sure. Hemmingway's Law of Compensation at work, I guess.

Bob
 
Everyone has been turning out some nice work this month.

I've been busy hacking out a few more spearing decoys. Just glued on the eyes this morning. All of these have orange bellies except the pink and white one. The belly on that one is pink. Hey, don't laugh, I have some soft plastic baits which are pink/white and it is a killer color combination.

I don't think I'll get a chance to actually use these until next winter. Next I'm going to make another set from a different pattern.



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Bob,

Thanks, it had been a while since I had last used my airbrush. Took me a bit to get it dialed in,,,,,,,,,, could be better but I'm OK with it.

I've always been told the key to carving is to start with a block of wood and carve away everything that is not a duck. That's all fine and dandy but that leaves me with one question.

Where the heck are finding your wood? Every chunk of wood I start with, when I'm done, looks like a duck only if you squint real hard. [;)]
 
Bob Furia, you should post a mini-tutorial on your plan development and layout and work-up in carving those puddler legs and feet.
 
[size 4]Ken,

In keeping with the need to plan ahead when considering a project like a deadmount (...things like how I was going to be able to reach into & paint certain areas, etc ); one consideration was how the weight of the carving would be supported. The wood nut is used to secure the finished mount to whatever backing panel it will "hang" on with a 1/4" thru-bolt. As such, it bears all the weight of the carving. The leather thong attached to a nail that the bird hangs suspended on does not bear any weight.

Rick,

Once I sketch out my idea of what the foot will look like, the biggest challenge often becomes being able to manipulate the variety of holding fixtures and small clamps I have in the shop in order to orient the work piece. Not only does the grain of the wood have to be positioned at an angle so that it can be worked & shaved, but it's also tricky to get an oftentimes delicate piece of stock clamped securely at the correct angle to do that. Oftentimes it comes down to the selecting a chisel or blade whose edge contour might not be ideal for the situation, but which (with a few contortions) can be coaxed to remove enough wood so that the job can be finished with a good grade of fabric-backed sandpaper.
There are quite a few pictures posted on my page, "The Ropes and the Tools" (link is below) showing the carving of the feet.
 
Good morning, Bob~


Just a thought - which I hesitate to suggest to one with such experience and expertise:


When I have small pieces that need lots of work, I often leave a "handle" on the stock whose job it is to sit in the jaws of a vise - so I can turn my focus to the portion that will be finished. Then, I just saw it off when the time comes. The handle "wastes" a bit of lumber - but also feeds the stove.



All the best,


SJS

 
Steve Sanford said:
Good morning, Bob~


Just a thought - which I hesitate to suggest to one with such experience and expertise:


When I have small pieces that need lots of work, I often leave a "handle" on the stock whose job it is to sit in the jaws of a vise - so I can turn my focus to the portion that will be finished. Then, I just saw it off when the time comes. The handle "wastes" a bit of lumber - but also feeds the stove.



All the best,


SJS
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I have done similar when working in the machine shop. The da** designers seemed to think the machinist could just turn on his "magic mystery clamp" and suspend a part in mid air to access the area needing machining. Many times we would cut the stock extra long or weld tabs on in various places just for clamping purposes.

In Bob's situation, due to the fact he is also the designer, guess he has no one but himself to blame, for creating difficult carving conditions. [whistle][whistle][whistle][ninja][ninja][ninja]
 
Steve Sanford said:
Just a thought - which I hesitate to suggest to one with such experience and expertise:
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Ha! ..... if making all the mistakes that can be made in a narrow field qualifies as "experience and expertise", I'm your man. I believe the saying goes: "Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep."

However, that's a great suggestion, and I thank you for it. In the case of these feet, if I delayed the cut-out of the full pattern (..say stop after cutting the side & top view of the web portion, and just do the side view of the leg area ), the thickness & width of the resulting "handle" would probably give me the push-back strength needed to finish the web area prior to band-sawing the outer dimensions of the leg -- which then can be knife-carved while being hand held. No extension for a handle would really be needed. I could just use what's there to begin with..

Good to hear that someone else feeds the stove with those scraps. We always have a large wooden basket on our hearth full of "kindling sticks" that I saw up after they have been pitched into a box in the shop. Larger scraps are set aside in another box for use on small piece-work that might come up.

Usually when doing some small piece, I'll first search through a box of those cutoffs, looking for a piece large enough to contain the dimensions of what I've drawn ..... rather than cut a piece to size out of a fresh block of prime wood. (I'll even have to admit that a scrap piece has sometimes ultimately determined the shape and angle of something like a leg & foot [;)]).
 
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Lots of great work this month; I'm constantly impressed by quality and quantity you guys turn out.

I managed to get one done this month. Took it down to float on the lake yesterday but decided against getting wet with the -25C and blowing snow. I think I did a lot of things better than my last two, and have a lot of ideas on what to work on. February goal will be to get two decoys finished.
 
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