“Innovation is not the product of logical thought....

MLBob Furia

MLBob Furia

Well-known member
I've been thinking about a making a set of pickleweeds for my own use if I ever got caught up and had the time. Well, after repeatedly convincing myself that a 3-D set was too labor intensive a project to get involved with, I decided to make the time and see how far I got.

I started with 5 heads, settling on a mix of 2 drake mallards, a calling hen mallard, a blackduck, and a pintail drake as a good mix for my area, and found a piece of head stock that those five patterns fit on. It took a few weeks, but finally made time around other carvings to get them done:

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Originally I had plans to do the neck & breast portion out of pieces glued together from my cork-scrap pile and actually had a prototype in the glue clamps.

However, while rooting around on the shelves and boxes of my "wood library" (--we carvers must be the most notorious 'pack-rats' in creation) I stumbled upon this box of undersized palm fronds sent to me a few years back by the late Dr. Chuck May - Doc May was a fine gentleman, and one of the great makers of contemporary canvas decoys). As you can see by my note to myself on the bottom of one of them, they weren't going to be useful for anything other than some teal decoys....if that, as they were pretty rough looking in addition to being small.

View attachment Picklefronds 1 (600 x 399).jpg

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“Innovation is not the product of logical thought......

.......................although the result is tied to logical structure.”


First problem to solve was to protect the bottom of the frond so it would withstand field use. Easily done:

View attachment Picklefronds 10 (600 x 399).jpg


Next was coming up with a system that made using a fiberglass or wooden dowel stake possible without tearing up the fibrous, soft middle of the frond "body" during hard use season after season. I settled on a sleeve that would accomodate a sturdy 7/16" wooden dowel. I capped the sleeve and epoxied it solidly into the frond through the protective 'bottom board.'

View attachment Picklefronds 8 (600 x 399).jpg

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Managed to get a good set with the clamp that left me with a very good joint at the neck seam after inserting the heads with 1/2' hardwood dowels and carving & sanding the rest of the neck & breast

View attachment Picklefronds 11 (600 x 399).jpg

Here is one of the finished 3-D pickleweeds after being sealed thoroughly:

View attachment Picklefronds 14 (370 x 600).jpg

I'll post again when they're painted. I have some interesting ideas for the paint scheme, but that's going to take some settin,' thinkin,' and head-scratchin.'
 
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I envy the fact that Bob can apparently go from the first picture to the second picture, with the only tool pictured, being a saw. All I can say is, he sure does nice work with that saw of his. :>) :>)
 
Yet again Bob, you have outdone yourself that is beautiful pickleweed I bet its going to look great with some paint on it, I car,nt wait to see it finished.
Take care and God Bless
Eddie and Amber
Its all about Building that Bond.
 
I started to say too cool, but TimJ just used three to discribe your work, so I'll just say, WOW. Really looking forward to seeing them painted and in the weeds.

Mike
 
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