APRIL - What's on your Work Bench ?

Thanks John. The painting of the two decoys is 6 1/2" X 9 1/16", on cardboard. Went to a old friend of mine from Ohio. He ties very good dry flies, sends some for me to try and in return I send him artwork.

Jode - Thank you for posting the painting, much appreciated.
 
Carl~

That herd of Broadie-Beaks looks great - I love the pattern created by a bunch of similar images.

Here is another watercolor in my very slowly building series of cards featuring antique decoys. (And, yes, the carver's name is Smith Clinton Verity - NOT Clinton Smith Verity...)

The bird is owned by Tim Sieger - outgoing President of the Long Island Decoy Collectors Ass'n. I am hoping to photograph a Ralph Cranford Black Duck tomorrow night at the LIDCA meeting.

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All the best,

SJS
 
Nice work Steve! And, great subject matter. I'd give money to have been able to visit the Verity clan to see their shop.
Tough news on Tim as I am sure the group will miss his leadership but, every dog has his day. I look forward to seeing Tim and Dick at St. Charles. Always great to see and chat with our New York brethren.


Thanks for sharing your goodness! Pat
 
Jeffrey, that is a dandy pair of bluewings. Only once since I moved to NM have I seen a dressed up drake bluewing. It happened to be 3 years ago in February on the reverse migration that goes through this area.
Al
 
Joe~

Nice bird!

This bow handle - a Black Duck Sleeper - will be for my Sneakbox that I am re-building. I will probably seal it with epoxy and finish it with duckboat paint - but I put a coat of Minwax Gunstock oil stain on it just to see how it might look if I were so impractical as to keep it varnished. I carved it from a piece of 5/4 Philippine Mahogany.

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All the best,

SJS
 

After reading Pat Gregory's earlier post on his post-season decoy paint finish treatments, I did some research and started to "play" with a variety different ratios of a mixture of melted beeswax pellets, tung oil, linseed oil and paint thinner. Although it took forever to set-up and dry, straight tung oil has proven quite element resistant on the wood scrap I applied it on. I don't know if it is compatible with your Minwwax stain treatment, but it might be worth consideration. Millions of board feet of wood on Chinese junks have been preserved with it through time...
 
Al, thank you. At times we get into a lot of teal on Lake Okeechobee, and every now and then we get one that is really showing his colors. Down here we can hunt till the end of January. You should come down and we'll try to end the streak. Thanks again, Jeff
 
Steve, when do you think of things like a bow handle? Do you have a notepad at your bedside and wake up and quick write what you were dreaming about? Or is it after the first cup of coffee around 4AM?
Al
 
What a looker that teal is. Wow! Great job, Bob. Since I am color blind what colors am I looking at on that teal?
Al

Last week Bev needed to get some hand towels for the kitchen. I suggested the light gray ones and she kept on asking where they were. I pointed to them and she started to laugh. They were green.
 
As usual very nice Bob,
Steve , that is one cool bow handle, where the heck do you find such wood as Philippine mahogany !
John
 
Pat & Rick~

I have used Tung Oil quite a bit on furniture. I also like Tru-Oil gunstock finish - which I believe is Tung + Linseed + driers. With it, I can get a coat or more each day and so build up many coats rather quickly. Oil finishes give that lovely, deep look and feel - but a good marine varnish (several coats) is hard to beat for protection out in the weather. Happily, all are compatible as far as I know. So, I may put a f ew coats of Tru-Oil over my Minwax oil stain then protect everything with varnish....IF I don't just put 2 coats of duckboat paint and be done! ( I DO hate to cover that gorgeous grain.) If I had to bet, the "fancy" finish will enjoy a season or 2 - then get painted when it shows too much wear.

All the best,

SJS
 
"Mason's Decoy Paint The secret behind it's toughness and durability" by Joe French Nov/Dec 1997 issue, of DECOY MAGAZINE is a very good read and wealth of information. The secret? Tung, also known as China Nut Oil.

Birchwood Casey Tru-Oil Gun Stock Finish, is labeled as a "blend of linseed and other natural oils". Tung may well be one of the "natural oils". I use it as well, not just on gun stocks. It does provide a good finish, and can be reapplied when needed.
 
Rick - Straight tung oil would take a long time to dry but, give you a good, hardened finish. How's the gloss? Pat
Click to expand...
Pat, I ran into two issues: !.) Wrinkling of the finish if I increased the Tung Oil content beyond thirty percent, as well as the "extended" drying time I had anticipated. 2.) Shine did increase markedly as I bumped the Tung Oil proportion past 20%..

Now that we are approaching open wintdow season, I am going to add a touch of turpentine to knock back the shine in the formulation that dried at an acceptable rate on my scrap piece, to see if I can get it to set-up in the satin/flat end of the finish continuum. I soaked my rattling antlers in water for a month, let the surface dry off and then sealed with thinned linseed oil to get the "ring" back in them about seven or so years ago. They still sound quite lively.

Vince, Parkers Paints has changed their pre-paint preparation instructions over the years for their decoy paints, too. Once-upon-a-time, in the days when wood decoys predominated, they recommended at least two coats of boiled linseed oil as a base preparation prior paint application. Over this base, I have never had an issue with their paints chalking. I do tweak some of their bill colors a bit. I now add 1tbsp. of boiled linseed oil per 8ounces of Parkers when using their paints;about the same with Ronan's Japan oils, too. I still coat my black cork bodies, heads, and baseboards via a "bath" in a small mason's mortar tub using 1/3 of each proportional mix of mineral spirits, boiled linseed oil, and a good marine spar varnish. This mix penetrates well, I have never had an any issues with water intrusion in black cork.
 
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