What's on your WORK BENCH ? - March 2020

Steve Sanford

Steve Sanford

Well-known member
Good morning, All~


Lots of gunning decoys at Pencil Brook Decoy Infirmary (VERY nearby Pencil Brook Boatworks) over the past couple of months. One poor soul wandered over from the Left Coast - an old balsa-bodied Wildfowler Wigeon that had worked hard for many seasons - then been burned badly in a fire.


View attachment E Henry Wildfowler Wigeon - BEFORE profile.JPG



I do not know whether the cracks were from the soaking-and-drying of many seasons - or the heat of the fire.


View attachment E Henry Wildfowler Wigeon BEFORE oblique.JPG



The head and keel were still soundly attached.


View attachment E Henry Wildfowler Wigeon BEFORE bottom.JPG



Note the lost wood along the starboard chine.....


View attachment E Henry Wildfowler Wigeon BEFORE bottom oblique.JPG



The crevasse through the crown was deep and long. Note, too, the base of the head mortised into the body.



View attachment E Henry Wildfowler Wigeon - BEFORE head oblique.JPG


I'm thinking this is an Old Saybrook bird - from the remnants of the nice scratch paint on the neck.



View attachment E Henry Wildfowler Wigeon - BEFORE head profile.JPG



Here is a Superior model Wi(d)geon from 1960 - which makes it a bird from the Quogue factory.


View attachment WF Wigeon - 1960 Superior Widgeon.jpg



Continued....


SJS







 
Completing the rehabilitation of the Wildfowler Wigeon...


Although I generally avoid using fillers when I can, this bird was just too needy. I had considered sawing out the worst defects and replacing with new Balsa "dutchmen" - but there were just too many defects. So, epoxy thickened with fairing compound (Cabosil + phenolic microballoons) came to the rescue.


View attachment WF Wigeon FILLED oblique 2nd coat.JPG



After sanding down the first heavy application of filler, I had to add a second application - sort of like spackling sheetrock.....


View attachment WF Wigeon FILLED bootom 2nd coat.JPG



Ready for sealing.....


View attachment WF Wigeon FILLED oblique 2nd coat.JPG



I marked the major paint areas with a felt pen. - because a #2 pencil left grooves in the very soft Balsa.



View attachment WF Wigeon FILLED and MARKED oblique.JPG




All sealed (and toughened) with Spar Varnish - and marked for the flat oil prime coat. I sand with 150-grit before the paint goes on.


View attachment WF Wigeon SPAR VARNISH profile.JPG



All done - ready to hunt.



View attachment WF Wigeon AFTER oblique with details.JPG



I opted for a whimsical approach to the back and wing markings.



View attachment WF Wigeon AFTER stern detail B.JPG




My normal gunner paint scheme would show no speculum and simpler tertials. This is one of my Wigeon gunners (hollow Pine).



View attachment Wigeon afloat.jpg



A fine Drake Baldpate - headed back to California soon...



View attachment WF Wigeon AFTER head oblique B.JPG



Back to The Bench....



SJS










View attachment WF Wigeon FILLED oblique 2nd coat.JPG
 

Oil on wine case lid, ready for varnish and hanging hardware.


The true story about this painting -

On a west facing, high ridge bench. Among huge white oaks, some black cherry, beech and hemlocks.

I sat on a downed black cherry tree, with my .22, squirrel hunting.

My cell phone buzzed.

A good friend informed me that Jim Schmiedlin had passed.

I wept.


A Barred Owl began to call, from up the ridge, and continued to call for a very long time. As it was late morning, I thought it was strange.

Then it hit me.

It was Jim telling me he was OK.


At that very spot in years previous. Jim had called me to see how I was doing, and how the squirrel hunting was going.

Close by, just down the ridge there was always a pair of Great Horned Owls.

Much like the Ravens, they knew me and I knew them, and a greeting almost always took place.


This sparse and impressionistic painting is homage to "Jim's Spot".

A place that I still can get to, sit a spell, remember and hunt.


VP





View attachment P2240005.JPG







View attachment owl back 2.JPG
 
[size 4]Very nice, Vince..... and the back-story is always fun to have.

Second of the "Down east" inspired blackducks. The tan cork allowed for a bit more 'artistic license', as the tightness of its surface allows for adding some subtle contours that will show up nicely when the bird is painted.



View attachment IMGP4058.JPG

Head and tail pegged solidly through the bottom-board :
View attachment IMGP4065.JPG
 

Thanks Bob.


I like the tan cork decoy as much as the dark cork decoy.

Both well "rounded" decoys of solid construction, and style.

The heads will make fine handles when need be. Always a plus.

Looking forward to seeing both decoys with paint, and ready to work.


VP
 
Ant I thought a schmear was what you put on a bagel!!!Try keeping your arms and hands outta your work.
Think tertials, THEN scapulars, followed by the back.[w00t][angelic]
 
Good morning, All~


Here's my first flat work since I lost my right-eye vision. The 2 dimensions are actually a bit easier than painting 3D decoys. It is watercolor and ink on paper.


I saw this wonderful Joel Barber decoy up at the Shelburne Museum in January. He based it on birds from the St, Claire Flats. I am using this image for a set of note cards.


View attachment Barber Canvasback B - with caption Goudy Old Style.jpg



All the best,


SJS

 
Last edited:
Something, you don't see carvers do much anymore, or at all, even the 'decoy makers'; paint the keel and bottom in the black/white pattern so overturned birds in the spread are overlooked...
 
Last edited:
RLLigman said:
Something, you don't see carvers do much anymore, or at all, even the 'decoy makers'; paint the keel and bottom in the back/white pattern so overturned birds in the spread are overlooked...
Click to expand...




Good eye RL.



Lotta varnish and other things on decoy bottoms today, it's a different time.

Fact is the bottom is just as important as the top, if not more so.


That can, and will really stir the pot, especially at some contests...[;)]


VP
 
Thanks for the kind words, Eric!


I just noticed, though, that I got the date wrong - my eye still misses a few things. That first zero should be a nine....


All the best,


SJS

 
Good morning, RL~


Yes, that convention of painting bottoms in the major color blocks was once commonplace - especially on divers.


All the best,


SJS





 
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