Wood for decoys

[Geoff Pike]

White pine is a good alternative to Atlantic cedar, and I use it in heads and bodies. 2" thickness will do both on 98% of species.
A big caution with cedar is be VERY careful with your dust control either sanding or power carving. I became sensitized (think collapsed lung) and now can't go anywhere near it. Just be careful, which I was not.

 

[Ronald Bock]

I use spruce. Laminate the top and bottom after hollowing the two halves. Nice wood to work. These harlequins will see a rough life here on the AK coast. Seems to hold up very well. If you have a line on spruce, try it.

 

[Kevin Puls]

I use spruce. Laminate the top and bottom after hollowing the two halves. Nice wood to work. These harlequins will see a rough life here on the AK coast. Seems to hold up very well. If you have a line on spruce, try it.
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I do actually have a place to get spruce. I can have it cut to any thickness I want. Thank you.

 

[jode hillman]

White pine is a good alternative to Atlantic cedar, and I use it in heads and bodies. 2" thickness will do both on 98% of species.
A big caution with cedar is be VERY careful with your dust control either sanding or power carving. I became sensitized (think collapsed lung) and now can't go anywhere near it. Just be careful, which I was not.

I too cannot use white pine.

Mine was not due to carving, but my allergy sensitivity came from using it in the cabinet shop. We had to do an entire house worth of White Pine cabinetry. Cutting it on the table saw in 90° August heat.

Even though I had plenty of fans running and wore a standard dust mask. The next time I used it several months later, I started to itch and had difficulty breathing. to this day I can't get anywhere near it without some sort of reaction.

 

[Don Mintz]

I really can't carve any kind of wood anymore. I was always careful and carved a variety of wood, had trouble with it all. Mostly basswood and white pine, but a few years of wood working with cedar boxes about did me in. I even carved a life size flying canvasback with cedar, it was a huge mistake. I have always worn a respirator, not just a dust mask, the cartridge kind and worked in an exhaust system, but still can't deal with wood, I have asthma. Once in a great while I relent on an urn and pay for it for a month, not doing that again. It's either carve synthetics or not carve at all. There really isn't anything I can't make out of synthetics, but it's a whole different approach from wood carving, the wood and cork guys don't really understand, but I really don't want to die just yet. Even carving synthetics I wear a fly fishing shirt with a hood and long sleeves as well as the respirator, safety glasses, goggles, ear protection and an apron to keep as much dust out of the house as possible, then straight to the shower leaving the shirt in the shop. I already have enough health issues, I don't really need any more.

 

[Geoff Pike]

I really can't carve any kind of wood anymore. I was always careful and carved a variety of wood, had trouble with it all. Mostly basswood and white pine, but a few years of wood working with cedar boxes about did me in. I even carved a life size flying canvasback with cedar, it was a huge mistake. I have always worn a respirator, not just a dust mask, the cartridge kind and worked in an exhaust system, but still can't deal with wood, I have asthma. Once in a great while I relent on an urn and pay for it for a month, not doing that again. It's either carve synthetics or not carve at all. There really isn't anything I can't make out of synthetics, but it's a whole different approach from wood carving, the wood and cork guys don't really understand, but I really don't want to die just yet. Even carving synthetics I wear a fly fishing shirt with a hood and long sleeves as well as the respirator, safety glasses, goggles, ear protection and an apron to keep as much dust out of the house as possible, then straight to the shower leaving the shirt in the shop. I already have enough health issues, I don't really need any more.

Whan you say Synthetics what are you using? I thought you meant cork, but apparently not when I read further. Would you elaborate?

 

[William Reinicke]

Whan you say Synthetics what are you using? I thought you meant cork, but apparently not when I read further. Would you elaborate?

We have come up with a mix of materials to essentially create an ultra light, just as durable decoy, compared to what we were making in previous years. Don compared it to carving Tupelo wood, and from then on, we have kind of just named it synthetic Tupelo. Something we haven’t put through a full season of testing, but everyone of my goose decoys this year is made of it and they will absolutely get pounded and drug through the mud this next season to test the durability. Only those that are very close to us, and are trustful to our processes, know about it thus far. Not sure which workbench thread it is, but I weighed this years goose vs last years mallard and I’m only 2 oz heavier on the goose and almost double the size of the decoy.

But hey…. It ain’t wood and it ain’t cork…. So most won’t even give it a thought anyways.

 

[Vince Pagliaroli]

Cedar of any kind I'm now highly allergic, can't get near the stuff. Made decoys in the past with it but can no longer use it. Very old pattern grade Sugar Pine is what I use the most with well aged White Pine second. Bass Wood for a hand carver NO. The older the wood the more it gets harder than the Hubs of Hell. My hands and wrists thank me for giving it up years ago. At 76 I still hand carve & rasp and take my good old time...

 

[Don Mintz]

I'm pretty reluctant to share our materials and process publicly, I hope you will understand. There are 8 components that we use to create "synthetic tupelo". While the binder in high density cork, the chemistry of polyurethane, do have the same origin with various foams and plastics, one is acceptable in the decoy carving community and one is not.

I discovered that I like to share how i do stuff and that became a problem. I have at least a dozen decoy companies that follow my page. I've had several people create youtube channels with information they got from me which bugged me a little. So I quit sharing publicly about most of the how to stuff. I share most anything about flocking and airbrush, but not much else anymore except with people I have a relationship with and trust and they in turn share what they learn with me.

I'm getting to the age that I gauge what I can do each day by what hurts the most. It's the right shoulder today from a motorcycle injury in 1968, maybe I'll airbrush, the neuropathy in my hands isn't too bad.

 

[Carl]

Don, have you patented your recipe and process?
If not, sounds like you need to!

 

[Don Mintz]

We applied for a patent before on another decoy related item. Had a friend who writes patents for a large tech company and it was still just a money pit. Always one more thing and another $600. Our pockets aren't very deep. Upgrades are constant, new techniques and new materials regularly. About the time we think we can't get any better we figure something else out, then it's onward and upward. There is a distinct possibility that there will be another modification of materials and process next week.

 

[Kevin Puls]

I use spruce. Laminate the top and bottom after hollowing the two halves. Nice wood to work. These harlequins will see a rough life here on the AK coast. Seems to hold up very well. If you have a line on spruce, try it.
View attachment 78217

It looks like there are some knots in your decoys. I thought that was a definite no no. But that is just what I have heard. Finding materials is holding me back. I’m going to go get a 2x6 from Lowe’s and just do it. Going to try to make two urns for my puppies. A hen bufflehead and early season bluewing. Both of their first retrieves. Going to do solid bodies with a shotgun shell full of ashes inserted.

 

[William Reinicke]

It looks like there are some knots in your decoys. I thought that was a definite no no. But that is just what I have heard. Finding materials is holding me back. I’m going to go get a 2x6 from Lowe’s and just do it. Going to try to make two urns for my puppies. A hen bufflehead and early season bluewing. Both of their first retrieves. Going to do solid bodies with a shotgun shell full of ashes inserted.

Should be a fun project for sure. I have my first pups ashes still... i cant do her first retrieve though... it was a damn coot! Early season teal, I shoot one, send her out, so excited and she makes it half way to the shot bird and catches wind of something else in some reeds near by. Crashes into them and out comes a coot in her mouth. I was like what the damn heck! Got it from her and sent her back out to get the bird I actually shot. I was excited she was working for the first time, i was so damn disappointed she brought me back a coot for her first bird. I thought that dog was doomed! I was dead wrong, she had a highly successful career, fetched literally thousands of birds and picked up more leg bands than I could count for all the buddies and myself. Gosh I sure miss that dog!

make sure and post lots of pics in the process. Should be a fun project to watch the progress on.

 

[Kevin Puls]

Blessed to get Lucy’s first retrieve on camera.

 

[Kevin Puls]

I'm pretty reluctant to share our materials and process publicly, I hope you will understand. There are 8 components that we use to create "synthetic tupelo". While the binder in high density cork, the chemistry of polyurethane, do have the same origin with various foams and plastics, one is acceptable in the decoy carving community and one is not.

I discovered that I like to share how i do stuff and that became a problem. I have at least a dozen decoy companies that follow my page. I've had several people create youtube channels with information they got from me which bugged me a little. So I quit sharing publicly about most of the how to stuff. I share most anything about flocking and airbrush, but not much else anymore except with people I have a relationship with and trust and they in turn share what they learn with me.

I'm getting to the age that I gauge what I can do each day by what hurts the most. It's the right shoulder today from a motorcycle injury in 1968, maybe I'll airbrush, the neuropathy in my hands isn't too bad.

You should be reluctant Don. Anything you put online can be farmed by AI searches now.

 

[Don Mintz]

Kevin, that's kind of the sad thing about it all, not to mention, China doesn't care about patents. I've been screwed over several times by decoy companies and some followers. People starting up youtube channels with our process and companies copying some of my designs with 3D scans and changing the size. About all I can do is keep innovating, doing things a Chinese company can't do or they don't understand how to replicate. My goal is to produce 35 species by the time I'm done, I have 19 now and close on 3 more. I want to hand Caleb a full line of waterfowl designs and he can decide what to do with it all. Caleb doesn't actually know how I make these production decoys with over 50 poses per species, something he needs to learn for sure. Only William and Bob know. It's kind of sad, because I love to share.

 

[William Reinicke]

You should be reluctant Don. Anything you put online can be farmed by AI searches now.

Whoa…. Dude… didn’t even think of that. So I decided to google synthetic Tupelo and what do you know…. Google AI has already picked up on it being used for decoy carving.

Never really thought about all this, but we are remodeling a HUGE portion of our house this summer. The designer (my significant other) has been talking to ai for months on what color looks best with this and that and which vanity goes with this tub. She’s going crazy with it all. Blows me away, but she’s getting it AI-l figured out.

Screen shot of AI “synthetic Tupelo” from Google.

 

[Geoff Pike]

We have come up with a mix of materials to essentially create an ultra light, just as durable decoy, compared to what we were making in previous years. Don compared it to carving Tupelo wood, and from then on, we have kind of just named it synthetic Tupelo. Something we haven’t put through a full season of testing, but everyone of my goose decoys this year is made of it and they will absolutely get pounded and drug through the mud this next season to test the durability. Only those that are very close to us, and are trustful to our processes, know about it thus far. Not sure which workbench thread it is, but I weighed this years goose vs last years mallard and I’m only 2 oz heavier on the goose and almost double the size of the decoy.

But hey…. It ain’t wood and it ain’t cork…. So most won’t even give it a thought anyways.

Understood. Thank you.

 

[Nick Papavasiliou]

I’m going to go get a 2x6 from Lowe’s and just do it. Going to try to make two urns for my puppies. A hen bufflehead and early season bluewing. Both of their first retrieves. Going to do solid bodies with a shotgun shell full of ashes inserted.

Just a thought, but it may be worth picking up something like this and laminating more sheets.
It would be a good bit more expensive, but I think you would get a better quality of wood, and more size compared to some of the 2x’s

 

[Don Mintz]

This one is made with 1"x12" white pine from Home Depot. I try to find the straightest and clearest boards i can find, which is like a needle in a haystack. Most are grade 2, some I'd grade as firewood. It gets to the point that you are putting the pattern down to center knot holes that you can hollow out. It's hard to find wood around here, but I'm just not carving wood much at all anymore anyway. This decoy is an urn that the client wanted to be able to hunt over it. He's been hunting it every year for a decade and it's still pristine and floats great, although heavy. No cracks, no seam splitting and I think that is largely due to the hollowing to 3/8" walls relieving a lot of stress. I use gorilla glue ultimate to glue the layers, the same thing I use to make my laminated trout landing nets. Super strong and waterproof, my son used the nets as a guide for 4 years, they were out every day for 4 months and are still perfect, I figured that glue would hold the laminations in a decoy and it did. The decoy is entirely painted with oil based enamel, it has never failed and is very durable.