What's on your Work Bench ? SEPTEMBER 2018

Steve Sanford

Steve Sanford

Well-known member
Good morning, All~


Well, it's already the 2nd of the month, so I'll get the Work Bench rolling. We are all up on Lake Champlain right now, so my "work bench" is 2 1/2 hours away. I did bring along a sawn-out Goose head that needs carving though...


One of the many decoy and duckboat projects consuming my bench space of late is a batch of Brant silhouettes. I am making 36 all told. I have almost all of a step-by-step Tutorial drafted for my website (and here), but I still need another couple of hours in the shop - plus time for "sea trials" of the completed rig.


Here are 20 on a painting stand I made just for them - still needing paint on backs, sides and necklaces:


View attachment Brant 16A - Black all done on stand.JPG



I wonder if these little geese could pull in some local September Canadas?


All the best,


SJS


View attachment sm Brant 16A - Black all done on stand.JPG
 
Good morning, Josh~


It's great to see you and your son putting my tutorials to good use!


My 10-month-old grandson is visiting (from Germany). It may be a while before he can help me in the shop.


All the best,


SJS

 
Matt~


Sweet Hen!


Since you're from the Buckeye State, Al McCormick's influence on your style is probably minimal, to say the least. Here is one of his "standard" (body from 4-inch black cork) Black Ducks. He rendered resting birds very convincingly - as do you.


View attachment Black Duck - JCW.JPG



All the best,


SJS

 
Matt Brooks said:
Haven't posted for a while. Working on some hens for the rig. Trying for a less is more style bird. Cedar and oils
Click to expand...
Back from the dead! Great to hear from you Matt. Nice dekes!
 
Good morning, RL~


A true spectacle - and LOTS of work!


What did you use for plywood ?


...and for legs?


All the best,


SJS

 
The leg stakes are ripped from clear white oak and some bird's eye maple scrap from a friend's kitchen cabinet refacing project. Gorilla glue and a pair of counter sunk stainless wood screws secure the joint stake/body joint. I made a linseed oil bath receptacle out of a section of PVC drain tube, capped on one end. The stakes are soaked for roughly a week, prior stacking to dry, with the remaining linseed oil added to the body bath solution. One of the local lumber stores has exceptional quality luan plywood sheets- clear, with no delamination flaws, and no core sheet section air pockets. My old birds all survived a couple day immersion during the Souris River floods in Minot, while sitting inside a decoy trailer a few years ago. Clamping four sheets together, prior cut out, actually improves the edge outline, diminishing chipping/splintering when I cut them out with a jigsaw. Using this material keeps the finished bird a little lighter than I would achieve with standard AC 1/4" plywood. I mix linseed oil, spar varnish, some raw tung oil, and paint thinner in a mortar bin. I use a foam roller to apply, prior allowing them to drain for a couple of minutes in a rack over the tub. My brother supplied me with some mylar drafting sheet blanks when he changed the company logo field over after purchase. I cut these into templates to overlay on each body style to airbrush the rough outline of the cape and back feather patterns on the body; following these to paint-in the individual feathers via wet-on-wet blending technique. I can knock-out a side view in about twenty minutes. I would guesstimate about an hour and half per bird from layout to finished decoy. Since each bird is slightly different in color, the finished product looks very convincing in the field.
 
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