November Workbench

Good morning, All~


I've been delinquent in posting a batch of photos From the Bench of George Williams.


I may have already posted these Woodlies:


View attachment GWilliams - Woodies.jpg



Here are some BEFORE Mallids


View attachment GWilliams - old Mallards.jpg



....and AFTER George's "refreshment".


View attachment GWilliams - new Mallards.jpg



Some Broadie-Beaks ready for new paint.


View attachment GWilliams Broadbill BEFORE.jpg



After:


View attachment GWilliams Broadbill AFTER 1.jpg



One Contented Hen.


View attachment GWilliams Broadbill Hen AFTER.jpg



All the best,


SJS

 
Bob, Very nice! I made a master and then molded two dozen. I wonder...making these in a Canada goose version would produce a universal decoy.
 
Thanks again, Steve,
The mallards and blacks were built around 1982, and I just saw them this October. The "bill;s" were of 1984 vintage. All were two piece Wiley. I can gauge my rehabs by whether the bodies are one or two piece Wiley, which went into production late in 1985. Hope you are getting some vision back, fella.
Thanks, again.[;)]
 
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Decoy Monster Machine -

I like the Before, and After photo's of your well used Decoys.

Old troopers come home where they were born.


"They wanna make me go to rehab and I say No No No..." - the late great A. Winehouse
 
Rehab will not help Uncle George. It does show how well Wiley cork hold up, makes me wise I had more of it left
 
bomber, even though that stool hat the Schiff kicked out of it, I shall endeavour to make it again worthy of another few years in the marshes of delawhere. Glad it isn't in my rig, but, there is hope.[sly][w00t]
 

Decoy Monster Machine

After ya work yer magic on that decoy, it will be fit to be in any waterfowlers rig.

Has the owner given any clues as to how it got in such well worn condition?

Looks like it spent some time soaking in the marsh over a long period of time.

Still held up pretty good though.
 
Vince, I think that back when I made that, I charged around 40$ per bird, maybe less. Usually, folks leave stuff in boats, and when the season ends, they just put stuff away without giving them a good scrubbing. This holds very true for salt marsh decoys. Here, we have clay dispersed in the water, and if not tended to, dekes will tend to look like that black. I am guessing by some of the dents, the bill was pup chewed and also dropped, and the broken piece lost.
I shall cut a prosthetic tomorrow, along with heads for six other dekes--Christmas orders! I don't mind doing, BUT would love to have a two month space to work within.[w00t][mad]
 
Good morning, George~


Here is your chewed up Black Duck - ready to enter the George Williams Operating Theatre.....


(Is that a polyurethane - Gorilla Glue - George ?)



View attachment DSC01209.jpg







The "staff" at Pencil Brook Farm has not been sitting completely idle viz. decoys. They (I) have mostly been completing the Hudson River Duck Skiff (early 1900s) and just re-painted our living room whilst Susan was in Berlin with my daughter's family. But, these 10 Brant silhouettes have been delivered to Long Island. The new owner's initials are indeed RH....



View attachment Brant Sils 01.JPG



These Homer Geese came to me by a convoluted trail. So, I coated and assembled them - and will have them ready-to-hunt when we open for Geese here next weekend.



View attachment Homer Geese 03.JPG



I had carved the masters (head and body) for a Brant a couple of years back. After Homer began producing it nicely over-sized, I then carved a master for a Canada head. They are now available as a "small" (probably life-size) Goose. So, I played around with the major color areas to get the proportions right for the species - and brought the pale breast up above the head-body seam.


View attachment sm Homer Geese 02 - neck line.JPG



I am also working on 7 decoys carved by Joe Pendergast of Bellport, NY. Joe was well-known for rugged cork birds with heads in many different - and interesting - postures. The head paint is Joe's original work - but I'm not sure about the bodies. They had been painted at some point with a solid Black oil paint. I have burned off the paint (middle foreground bird) and rubbed Linseed Oil onto the freshly-burned cork. It is the old Wiley Cork - so is fully waterproof and does not need sealing or painting.



View attachment sm Pen Blacks 01.JPG



Here is Joe's very nice original head paint.


View attachment Pen Blacks 03 - BEFORE closeup.JPG



Here is a Sanford paint job.



View attachment sm Pen Blacks 02 - done closeup.JPG



The bodies on the other 4 Blacks have been burned - and I am working on a pair of Pendergast Mallards, too.


All the best,


SJS































 
Nice sillys, Steve.
Yeah, that is gorilla, and a bit of plastic wood. I will operate after Church. Need all the help I can get for this one,
Good to see you are back at it again, old fella!![;)]
It is really fun bringing old stuff back to functionality! Man, that black's body burned is striking, compared with the oil paint!
Keep at it.
 
Good morning, George et al~


Here are a few more From the Bench of George Williams:


The glue-up of the 1982 Black Duck that had suffered Canine Erosion



View attachment GW - 1982 Black glued up.jpg



The carving


View attachment GW - 1982 Black carved.jpg



The new paint - up close


View attachment GW - 1982 Black painted - fwd end.jpg



The Whole Bird


View attachment GW - 1982 Black painted - FULL.jpg



A Can That Was Kicked Down the Road - or at least dropped....


View attachment GW Canvasback.jpg



Meeting the New Day.....


View attachment GW - Gunning Dawn.jpg





* * *



Here is an old corker (natural cork slab) from my bench (or ICU in this case). I used BoatLife caulk as an adhesive because I wanted a soft "glue" for the soft and crumbly cork. This is a Black Duck from Great South Bay.




View attachment sm Lowe Corker - clamped up SHARPER.jpg



All the best,


SJS





 
Steve, looks like black ducks really take beatings before restoration to gunning status. Man, that has some serious body damage. I shall wait for the rehab photos, better yet, back on the job photos! Hope your rehab is keeping up also![;)]
 
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