Recent content by John N. Johnson

With regard to the weight issue---northern white cedar-20 lbs per cu. ft., basswood-25 lbs per cu. ft., silver maple-32 lbs per cu. ft. See no reason not to try carving a head but you will have to compensate for the "heavy head" by adding weight in the tail area. You may want to hollow the...

There's a good demo here. Some airbrushing involved but it gives you a general idea on how to go about doing it. http://iwfca.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=235&Itemid=117

If you do a Google search for Cackling Goose images you will see several examples of what you describe.

Here's what Keith recommends for his classes, at a minimum, and preferably more sizes of each series if your pocketbook can take the hit. Series 407 sizes 3 and 5 Series 150 sizes 6 and 8 Series 3000 sizes 1 and 3 For blending he does a lot of it with a Series 380 size 2. One of his...

I've taken a few classes from Keith and he highly recommends Scharff brushes although he doesn't mention them by name in his book. Also, if you are going to be painting with oils be sure to use high-quality paints. Grumbacher Pre-Tested paints is a good place to start and them move upscale to...

Another thing that you can do to minimize checking is to seal the ends. A product called Anchorseal works very well and is commonly used in the lumber trade. Some suggest paint but that doesn't work as well. Here's a link.... http://www.uccoatings.com/Home/Products/Anchorseal2

There a couple of eagle cams here. They are on the west coast so you can watch them after it gets dark on the east coast. You have to suffer through some commercials before you get to see the nests. http://www.hancockwildlife.org/index.php?topic=raptors_victoria1

Here's another one where the eggs have hatched. http://www.wvec.com/marketplace/microsite-content/eagle-cam.html

I have both versions. The newer edition is a slightly larger format so the pictures are about 10% larger. The major difference I see is the newer edition has a 13 page demo on painting a Canada Goose that was not in the original. The newer edition is in paperback and available thru Amazon for...

Another book you may want to add to your collection is "Making Decoys-The Century Old Way" by Grayson Chesser and Curtis Badger. The newer Expanded Edition (2006) has more info than the original.

there are a few pics here... http://www.zuropak.com/...d%20Duck%20(44).html Also, go to www.pbase.com and search for "long tail duck" to see quite a few more.

I would glue up edgewise to make 2"x8" planks and make the body cutouts from these. I would temporarily fasten two 4"x8"xL pieces together and rough out the body. After roughing out I would separate the two pieces and hollow out both top and bottom and then glue together permanently.

There's a demo in the Help section on how to do it. http://www.duckboats.net/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=2123;sb=post_latest_reply;so=ASC;forum_view=forum_view_collapsed;;page=unread#unread

I stand by what I posted. Water-based gesso has an acrylic binder and has excellent "tooth" for subsequent application of either oils or acrylics. As I said, artists have used it as a primer for years and still recommend doing so. Granted, it's only been around for about 50 years so only time...