Wood for decoys

Kevin Puls said:
I assumed that multiple layers of glued wood would be hard to carve. I’ll be power carving most likely.
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Truthfully, Im not sure, I haven’t tried it myself except for bottom boards. I do have a hard time getting really clean seams, but it doesn’t feel different if that makes sense.

I just tried yellow pine 2x6 once and wasn’t happy with how it carved. Lots of chipping, and it warped a lot almost immediately after going through the bandsaw, though, power carving a solid decoy may help with both of those.
 
Kevin Puls said:
I assumed that multiple layers of glued wood would be hard to carve. I’ll be power carving most likely.
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If you are inclined study the decoys of John Tax. Multiple layers of wood hand carved masterfully. Selection of the wood and how it's layered can make hand carving a very good experience, and well worth it. Many of the old carvers did it.

my 2 cents
 
Don Mintz said:
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.
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The best thing you can do, even better than patent, is just keep it a trade secret.

There are plenty of ways once the patent is public that others can knock you off. Then it's up to you to defend yourself and that all costs money.

Keep your processes as close to the vest as you can, and you will have continued success with hopefully very little competition.
 
That's the plan Jode. That AI thing William posted up was pretty sobering. That's pretty much the extent of information that could be found from duck boats and facebook. Hopefully they can't get into private messages, that's kind of scary.
 
Don Mintz said:
That's the plan Jode. That AI thing William posted up was pretty sobering. That's pretty much the extent of information that could be found from duck boats and facebook. Hopefully they can't get into private messages, that's kind of scary.
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They probably can... and who are you going to sue or yell at? Not like AI cares....

good thing we aint on the other forum still... theyd be sifting through our private messages and posting how bad our ideas are and how we dont know a thing. Love this place more better.

I might just call it gum wood though. I thought that was an interesting name that AI called it. Gum wood decoys. has a weird, catchy ring to it
 
I found a few pieces of white cedar and started working with it. I’ll say I do t care for the smell. I am wearing a dust mask per everyone’s suggestions but once I’m done with these pieces ( they were very very expensive) I’m going to try to find some spruce or pine.
 
Kevin Puls said:
I found a few pieces of white cedar and started working with it. I’ll say I do t care for the smell. I am wearing a dust mask per everyone’s suggestions but once I’m done with these pieces ( they were very very expensive) I’m going to try to find some spruce or pine.
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Thats a shame. The white cedar you use to could get around here (everybody calls it juniper) smells great to me! It's half the reason I wanted to be a carver! :ROFLMAO: I have gotten some northern white cedar from Jersey if I recall that did not smell near as good.
 
Just hearing you guys talk about smelling the wood takes me back. I love the smell of red cedar, but it doesn't love me. Just because I care about you guys I'll share where I started and where it's taken me allergy wise. Early on in my carving I didn't wear anything on my face and paid for it with yearly shots for asthma. I started wearing those M95 types of dust masks and they were marginal at best, kind of why I laughed at the covid response. When I started having trouble 30 years ago I started listening to fellow carvers and got a respirator , the canister type. I dreaded having to wear them, figured they would be cumbersome, but they are not. My test for my mask when I decide I need new filters is when I can smell something. If I can smell something I know it's not working well anymore and replace the canister filters. You also need to wash them every few days. I soak mine in dish soap and hot water for 10 minutes and hang it over an air vent in the house. I'm convinced it has saved my life. Just a public service announcement.

This is my favorite. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B007JZ1MK...p_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9kZXRhaWxfdGhlbWF0aWM
 
Hoping to not have issues, I use a respirator like the one above and a vacuum setup when using power tools. The dust is probably a fair amount of the reason I use knives and haven’t went the foredom route. Definitely love the smell of cedar.

Different woods, similar issue, but my brother has worked with a fair amount of exotic hardwoods, and has gotten increasingly bad reactions to some of those within maybe 2-8 years (if I remember, paduak is the worst and purple heart is getting there).
 
benp said:
I believe 3M has done that with some products where they don't patent them so that it's not public knowledge of their formula and process. I think @Mark W worked for them and could attest to that.


Found where it was talked about:

Post in thread 'The time has arrived '
https://duckboats.net/community/threads/the-time-has-arrived.323043/post-323086
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Wow, thats a blast from the past. And yes, many things we kept a trade secret rather than patenting. once patented, you inform others of what exactly you did and then they can learn from you and modify. There are a couple of things you can do. Trademark the name or apply for a copyright. No one can then steal that. the other thing you have to be concerned about is someone learning what you have done, copying it, patenting it, and then preventing you from selling your own invention. there isw a way around this as well and I wish I could remember the name of the publicatoin. Basically it is a very obscure journal where you disclose,carefully, what you did. This way the invention has kind of been disclosed. Should someone else patent your invention and attempt to keep you from selling it, you can then point to this journal and say the invention has already been publicly disclosed and therefore those who patented your invention no longer have a patent. Can patent something publicly disclsoed.

Feel free to PM me anytime and Ill share the little I remember.

Mark W
 
Don Mintz said:
Just hearing you guys talk about smelling the wood takes me back. I love the smell of red cedar, but it doesn't love me. Just because I care about you guys I'll share where I started and where it's taken me allergy wise. Early on in my carving I didn't wear anything on my face and paid for it with yearly shots for asthma. I started wearing those M95 types of dust masks and they were marginal at best, kind of why I laughed at the covid response. When I started having trouble 30 years ago I started listening to fellow carvers and got a respirator , the canister type. I dreaded having to wear them, figured they would be cumbersome, but they are not. My test for my mask when I decide I need new filters is when I can smell something. If I can smell something I know it's not working well anymore and replace the canister filters. You also need to wash them every few days. I soak mine in dish soap and hot water for 10 minutes and hang it over an air vent in the house. I'm convinced it has saved my life. Just a public service announcement.

This is my favorite. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B007JZ1MK...p_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9kZXRhaWxfdGhlbWF0aWM
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Your N95 was not the problem, it was the fit. You can't do much better than an N95, but only if it fits. If it doesn't, you might as well use a handkerchief. In a hospital setting, to get N95s one has to be fit-tested - The summary version is that you wear the N95, then put on a hood, into which an aerosol of a potent bitter is sprayed periodically while you breathe, move, mimic the activities of the job, etc. If you get the taste/smell, you fail the fit test. There are a few different sizes and designs to help accommodate more people.

So, your smell test is actually a good one - and finding a mask that fits is probably more important than the type. Your favorite is a good one, just be sure to change the cartridges periodically. For woodworking I much prefer something like that to a well-fitted N95 - the N95 is much harder to breathe through over a long period.
 
Nick, Padauk is the worst ever, I think I made a base out of it long ago, I didn't have as much trouble work with purple heart, but it's been over 30 years ago, I really remember the padauk, kind of reminded me of an orange mahogany. Nope never using it again.

Henry, My biggest issue with any mask in the past is finding one big enough. My hat size is 7 7/8, even in junior high I had to get a football helmet from the high school for my big noggin, Junior high had white, high school had red, couldn't hide very well from the coach. 3m used to have an extra large mask like the one I posted, but I can't find it anymore. I tried a full face mask shield and cartridge filters and it was horrible and not close to fitting, maybe my 11 year old grandson could use it. Fit is the key.
 
Don Mintz said:
Nick, Padauk is the worst ever
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I actually just talked to him about it out of curiosity. Padauk gives him a fairly bad skin rash.
Cocobolo is his worst, he compares it to a flu. And a few others are more mild. All look really nice and none started out this bad.

Reactions aside, I have wanted to try carving white pine, but aside from a little more detail, I don’t know if I’m actually missing out on much versus cedar.
 
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