What's on your work bench ? SEPTEMBER

Thank you Steve, they were a lot of fun to paint. Tried something different, and I think I am going to stick with it. Mixed brush work some air brushing to get the effect I wanted. Hope the bride and groom like them.
 
Good morning, Bob~

Sweet project. I love your colors on the Dove.


Here's a batch I call the Chesapeake Thirteen - 6 Mallards and 7 Blacks made by the Chesapeake Decoy Company and gunned by a friend on Long Island.



I do not know much about the history of this company but they surely made a rugged gunner with a sweet form. The birds are molded - bodies and heads - from a dense urethane foam. They have molded keels and many of these have lead ballast fastened to the keels. My only "complaint" is that the heavy screw eyes used to attach the anchor lines are bigger than necessary and - more important - plain steel. On the salt waters of Great South Bay, the rust bubbles up on steel pretty quickly.



My job was to coat them with my epoxy + fine sawdust mixture and give them fresh paint. I used my usual U S Composites Thin Epoxy with Medium Hardener and dust from my band saw. The paints are Behr latex house paints as per my Tutorials:



https://stevenjaysanford.com/tutorial-painting-homer-mallards/

https://stevenjaysanford.com/re-painting-l-l-bean-coastal-blacks-and-mallards/



Here are the Drakes in process. Getting the correct "look" on the backs of our commonest decoy species is the most important part of painting Drakes, IMO.


View attachment 1 - MD 01 in process.JPG






Here are the Chesapeake Thirteen ready for lines and anchors.


View attachment 2 - All 02 - Done.JPG




The bottoms get a coat of semi-gloss grey latex. Any gunner sees the bottoms of his rig frequently throughout the season - and I prefer to see a nice "workman like" finish when I do.


View attachment 3 - All 01 - bottoms.JPG




As usual - and as in nature - I show no speculums (specula for you fellow Latin students) on the Drakes. I do, though, give a reddish cast to the tertial group.


View attachment 4 - DM 03 - Closeup.JPG




These 2 head postures do not show much of the white collar.



View attachment 5 - Mallard Drake face.JPG





These Blacks sure look comfortable, tucked down against that stiff northwest wind. Anyone who has gunned the coast knows that 20 degrees in a breeze can chill you right to your core.



View attachment 6 - Blacks 01.JPG



The bills get a satin varnish - for both added protection of the paint and for verisimilitude.



View attachment 7 - Three Hens.JPG





When I do paint the speculum - as I do on all Hens - I take a few extra moments to blend the "iridescence". More important in my mind is to show the pale (Mocha Latte) "smoke" on the tertials of all Black Duck stool..




View attachment 8 - BD 03 - Hen speculum.JPG



The eyes get gloss varnish. This Drake is comfortably warm - but ready to spring off downwind in the blink of an eye.


View attachment 10 - BD 05 Drake sleeper.JPG




I have one more pair of these Cheasapeakes on the bench. They are in desperate need of heads - and will probably become a pair of Gadwalls.




All the best,



SJS



View attachment 8 - BD 03 - Hen speculum.JPG
 
Steve Sanford said:
Since they are "antiques" - ever thought of adding a Passenger Pigeon or two?
Click to expand...

I thought this same thing.
I'm sure Bob could do amazing things with the colors on a Passenger Pigeon.

Tim
 
[size 5]Ironically, "Martha", supposedly the last of the passenger pigeons died here in SW Ohio at the Cincinnati Zoo in 1914:

[When you walk into the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History, the first thing you see is an elephant. The Fénykövi Elephant—yes, it has a name—is the centerpiece of the museum's rotunda, a two-ton greeting to the millions who visit each year. It is a large and impressive animal. This is not a story about that elephant, though. This is a story about a bird. The elephant, as it has been for decades, is an introduction.
If you head past Fénykövi, beyond the Ocean Hall, and down the escalator that abuts the Hall of Human Origins, you’ll wind up near the gift shop. Next to that gift shop is a large glass case. Inside this case is a rusty-brown bird, wings mottled black and gray, mounted to appear as if she's perching on a stick.
Her name is Martha. She was a passenger pigeon, the last of her kind, and she is one of the most famous birds in the world.
National Museum of Natural History
Martha died at the Cincinnati Zoological Gardens on September 1, 1914. To recognize the full 100 years since her death, she’s been taken out of a locked safe in the Smithsonian's research collection and put on public display—her first public appearance since 1999. "She's one of the Smithsonian's most iconic specimens," Helen James, curator of the bird division, says. "We had to have her back before her public in the year 2014."
 
Okay - so it sounds like you'll be carving just a lone Passenger - by the name o' Martha.....

I look forward to your tribute!

SJS
 
PBS recently had a very good program about John James Audubon and his bird paintings. It went into detail about his Passenger Pigeon painting, as well as his personal journal of witnessing the massive flights of the birds.

As I have posted before. If you ever travel Rt. 66 north east, out of Marienville, PA in ANF, you will pass by Pigeon, PA.

A road side historical marker tells the story of the Passenger Pigeons that roosted in the area. Being very familiar with the area hunting deer, grouse and turkey there for years. I carved a hollow preening male Passenger Pigeon to pay my respects.

If you carve dove decoys, for any reason, it seems to be the natural thing to do.
 
Steve, those Chesapeake molded decoys were produced in Berlin, Md. by Mike Gardenia. Company was in production for about 10 years I believe. Some guys in my area use to buy his seconds and patch up and paint for personal use. Years ago I ordered 3 blk .ducks, one with that tucked head. At that time I didn't know where they were made but loved their look and they were suppose to ride like cork gunners. Ordered them from a dealer in California. Received them and they were shipped from post office in Berlin, md. 16 miles north of me up U.S. 113. Quite the surprise for me! He also made Canada Geese and a sweet looking green wing teal with that wide body.I think company was in production around 1980ish. Occasionaly a batch of used ones shows up for sale in our area but not often. They do need a decent keel added to ride rougher water. Factory keel was just a molded in small job more like a decoy designed to settle flat on a fallen tide!
 
Thanks for all of the history, Roy.

Interesting about the keels. I just put some Great South Bay/A;l McCormick-style flat keels on 5 of these birds. I did pour lead into each keel first, though. I'm anxious to see how they behave in a chop.

All the best,

SJS
 
Nice stuff guys!

Like the Brook Trout Jode.

Pete - Especially nice job on the Black.

I need some Black Bellies silhouettes like those doves...
 
Nice shapes, Matt !

I just completed this "mantelpiece" Canvasback - been a few months since I've carved anything from scratch. It's hollow Northern White Cedar with a Basswood head - and finished in oils. The oils gave me a run for my money - needing the help of my wood stove even in this 80-degree weather to cure the paint in time for a Monday birthday.

The customer requested the classic preener posture - so I took some long looks at the work of my heroes such as Elmer Crowell, the Ward Brothers and - of course - Shang Wheeler to work out my pattern.

View attachment sm A Can 01.JPG

View attachment sm C Can 02.JPG


All the best,

SJS
 
Steve,

This is my first attempt ever at painting old decoys. After cleaning them with a clean wire brush and soap and water, I sprayed on a coat of Rust-Oleum Flat Primer. This was followed by brushing on paints from the Parker Canada Goose Paint Kit and applying Parker UVision White. The UVision White brought out the plastic mold seam on the decoy breast so all the decoy breasts (and bills) were sanded and repainted at the seams.

The heads were flocked directly after brushing on a heavy coat of Rust-Oleum oil-based Flat Black enamel -this process was repeated twice. (Learned this trick from several posters on YouTube keen on saving money, getting the job done, and having a lasting product. The Parker Black did not work well when I tried this method.)

Upon the recommendation of Twilight Labs L.L.C. (the manufacturer of UVision paint), the decoys were finished with two coats of Krylon Matte Finish 1311. Krylon Matte Finish 1311 is the only clear matte finish the company tested. (Research online suggested that others experienced the UVision paint becoming translucent when wet so the matte finish was applied.)

The decoys do not have keels but instead have a small plastic lip about 3/8 ths of an inch running 4/5 ths the length of the decoy with two holes at either end. I "thought" to attach a keel using JB Weld Marine Epoxy with some 2 inch by 2 inch pine wood and drill a 6 ounce lead strap decoy weight onto the bottom of the keel.

I do not know if my idea is a sound method for making keels. For example, would using pvc tube or square hollow plastic stock cut to size be a better idea? Would you (or anyone else) be good enough as to give advice for adding keels to plastic decoys? (The keel stock has to be something I can reasonably acquire from an urban/suburban area.) Your input would be most welcome.

First two picture compares a finished decoy to the original product -note the seams on the original decoy.


View attachment 20170910_132552.jpgView attachment 20170910_132602.jpgView attachment 20170910_132513.jpgView attachment 20170910_132416.jpgView attachment 20170910_132427.jpgView attachment 20170910_132449.jpg
 
Rick L, now that is a tailboard!

One suggestion: Drill a recessed 1/2" hole through the back and tailboard at the midline and into your keel at a 15 degree angle, insert a 1/2" dowel, liberally glued. This will tie everything except the head/neck joint together for a LONG time.
 
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