What's on your Work Bench ? MARCH 2018

Steve Sanford

Well-known member
Good morning, All~

A batch of Bean's Coastal Divers will be heading back to Western NY later today.

Although in original paint, the dried-out cork bodies had suffered some severe cratering.

View attachment sm 01 Beans Divers.JPG

I'm not sure whether insects or rodents played a role - but I believe most damage is just the wet-dry cycle. Maybe ice, too?

View attachment sm 02 Beans Broadbill Hen with erosion.JPG

So, gaps and cracks and craters got filled with epoxy + fairing compound + cork dust. To avoid adding too much weight from just pure filler on this Drake Whistler, I put a few small pieces of cork in beneath the filler.

View attachment sm 03 Beans Whistler Drake with crater on back.JPG

Then, everything got faired off...

View attachment sm 04 Beans Whistler Hen - filled and sanded.JPG

Then a soaking coat of spar varnish to seal the cork thoroughly.

View attachment sm 05 Beans - varnished.JPG

Next came a priming coat of flat oils - from Rustoleum Flat White, Flat Black and Flat Brown. The bottoms (and a few other areas) got a Flat Grey Primer.

View attachment sm 06 Beans - first prime.JPG

Topcoat is Behr latex - as usual.

View attachment sm 08 Tessier Whistlers 01.JPG

Among the Broadie-Beaks, one Drake became a Hen - at the owner's request.

View attachment sm 07 Tessier Broadbill 01.JPG

More to come...a bunch of McCormicks and a re-furbished Wildfowler Black Duck.

All the best,

SJS







 
All~

Here are the Al McCormicks - ready to be picked up by a "courier" in Hauppauge on Saturday. They are headed to North Carolina.

View attachment sm 03 McCormick Humpback Mallards.JPG

They are his later "Humpback" design - made from 5-inch cork - not 4-inch as his Standards were for many years.

View attachment sm 02 Humpback Mallard Hen.JPG

The glass eyes are "non-standard" in McCormick decoys. On this Drake, I had not yet over-painted the chest with a Dark Red....

View attachment sm 01 Humpback Mallard Drake.JPG

All the best,

SJS



 
All~

Here is the old - 1939? - Wildfowler Black Duck I refurbished.

Here is how I got it last Fall at the SSWA Duckboat Show at Cedar Beach - a life of hard use:

View attachment sm 03 BEFORE Wildfowler - Superior Model Black FULL.JPG

The sweet lines of the head caught my attention....the head was loose.

View attachment sm 04 BEFORE Wildfowler - Superior Model Black - HEAD.JPG

I was told it was a "development" bird - as Ted Mulliken was fleshing out the different lines. It looks a bit like these Utility models....but note the anchor line holes bored cross-wise through the keels on the Shelldrake.

View attachment sm Wildfowler Decoys - Utility page 30.jpg

...but it has the brass screw eye that makes up with a nut beneath the plug in the back of the head - indicative of the Superior Model.

View attachment sm Wildfowler Superior Model page 61.jpg

Here is the refurbished bird. Not "like new" - but not neglected either.

View attachment sm AFTER - FULL.JPG

I do not try to copy the original paint. And - although out of vogue - I still like paste wax on my shelf birds.

View attachment sm AFTER - head 01.JPG

This bird will be for my use and appreciation. So, instead of a scratch paint job on the face, I used a brush - and not an air brush.

View attachment sm AFTER - face.JPG

All the best,

SJS


 
Nothing so elegant as what you're making Steve, and not even Duck related.

But, the wife wanted some chickens, so we bought some baby chicks. Right now they're in a brooder box but they will be needing a coop.

After looking at the cost, and relatively flimsy construction of pre-fabbed kits, I decided I could do a better one on my own for a lot less.

Right Now, the goal is to make as much as I can out of Pallets. Features the wife insisted on: Externally accessible nesting box and removable poop drawer. I want a roof that I can remove at least part of. Also, I plan on putting wheels on it so I can

The goal is to make it all from pallets, except for the hardware cloth and a few pieces of the roof and some hinges. Last night I scavenged a couple pallets and tonight I'll look for a few more.

Already have the bottom frame and poopdrawer set out to put together.
 
One last bird before I drive down to Hauppauge for the LI Decoy Collectors Annual Show on Saturday.

An old friend asked me to "re-imagine" this old Canada - as a gift for his daughter. It'll spend its days on a hearth - and not hard at work.

View attachment sm 06 Verbeke Goose FULL.JPG

It is laminated natural cork (salvaged life preserver cork) pinned together with scores of dowels - both round and square. These dowels made reshaping the body challenging because they were very hard compared with the very old, brittle cork.

View attachment sm Verbeke Canada - AFTER 02.JPG

All the best,

SJS




 
Another beautiful job Steve, I spoke to your old friend a few times this week and he’s really looking forward to this year’s show, see you Saturday.
 
Steve
Made a few hen redheads but no photos and there in my Texas rig and I'm in Kansas at this time. Finally got around to making some mallards, two donated to DU and one to a friend. So finishing up 4 more. Next project are some hoodie mergansers.
View attachment 4 Mallards.jpg
 
I don't usually do critiques--The shape and majority of the color is pretty good--You might want to address the head color, though.
Try a mixture of black-either mars or carbon, and thalo green, more green than black. When tacky, you can stipple cadmium yellow into the cheek area to highlight.
Leave those as is, but try that next time.
 
All~

A friend began this Broadbill last month. This morning I helped him put some paint on. It's his first decoy - and he went home with a sawn-out Whistler.

View attachment sm GJones Broadbill 01 f.JPG

It is hollow Pine - and headed for a life on the shelf. So, some details were painted in.

View attachment sm GJones Broadbill 03.JPG

I'm a stippler - not a comber. So, I pushed my Young Carver toward the brush technique.

View attachment sm GJones Broadbill 04.JPG

I could not persuade him to use pinpoint pupils - my preference on drake divers.

View attachment sm GJones Broadbill 05.JPG


All the best,

SJS



 
Good morning, RL~

Sweet birds! Are the E Allens?

Here is a batch of Bean's Coastals - headed back to central NYS. I just need to re-attach the keel weights later this morning.

View attachment sm Fraser Blacks 4 - 01.JPG

In addition to my usual sealing with Spar Varnish and priming with a flat oil paint, I also recarve the bills - to get the face-to-bill transition in the right spot.

View attachment sm Fraser Mallards 4 - 01.JPG

All the best,

SJS



 
Always amazes me how you can turn a bean decoy into a much more beautiful bird than what they originally were. Nice work.
 
Yes, the bodies are e. Allens, textured with wood flour over a Rust-Oleum coat, while the heads are basswood (Heinecke mill), which made the high heads a "bugger" to balance. There are hardwood dowels inserted in the tail and primary tips.

For what it is worth, the bill/cheek line on the original Soule decoys doesn't just bother you...! I can never let you get near my first rig of scaup! In my defense, the heads were all hand carved.
 
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The March Work Bench is progressing very well. Old Man winter continues to keep many of us indoors, doing what we were meant to DO.

I recently finished this watercolor sketch, of a Swan Decoy I will attempt to build as a slat decoy. I cut the slats years ago, and now have the proper size White Pine .

Could be a late July project, all depends on how good the fly fishing is...



View attachment Tundra Swan decoy.jpg
 
Vince~

That is one sweet design - congratulations!

And, please find the time to create it in 3D.....

All the best,

SJS

 

Steve

Thank you.

I like a challenge, and this will be a good one. As I fly by the seat of my pants on my slat/canvas decoys.

I figure the the head, neck and breast, will be at least 4 pieces of sugar pine. This decoy could be in the vice for a long time, cuz I'm never in a hurry.

If I can pull it off and it floats, and STAYS afloat. It may well be the last Swan made for my rig.

Should be very interesting...


Best regards
VP
 
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