I've been bored today so I took some pics of a few decoys. I have a bunch as I've been into it for quite some time. The first batch pictured are made of Music Grade Curly Koa. These eight decoys were made from two cants from the same tree. It was very expensive wood that came from Hawaii. It now runs $265.00 a board foot if you can find it. It might take a few years to find it if you know the right people. It took 2.75 Board Feet per each decoy. For those bad at math, that come to around $728.00 per decoy. That's just the wood. Take into account that it was green and had to be dried and then carved into decoys. There is about 25 hours labor into each decoy. Dealing with the curly wood is not easy. The grain of the wood changes from flat sawn to end grain every quarter inch. You have to rough them out and then go at it with abrasives to not get blow outs. It's a very slow process. If you are into ducks, you will realize that there are eight different species that were carved out. These are full size, exactly as in the real world.
I was going to say the same thing, about 6 I can recognize, the 1st pic I'm not sure about (greater scaup??) Canvasback is awesome. Hell, they're all awesome. Dale
Fantasticv work! Beautiful! Unless my pics are in a different order, #4 is a Canvasback and #6 is a Hooded Merganser.
Well, I had no idea some of you were into ducks. In these pictures the decoys were made out of english walnut. I know I have more, but I couldn't find them. English walnut is harder than American walnut, but not as dark. To help you with identification, I will tell you that there is a hooded merganser, bufflehead drake, canvasback, gadwall drake, shoveler, and an American Wigen. Once again, these are full size decoys.
Awesome work Carving skills 'cum laude' Sir Kudos The occasional 'duck' examples in the background of pics of your furniture creations in the past were most impressive.................this collection of Koa & Walnut creations generate sensory overload................I guess you have maybe done them in other wood varieties ????.
Here are some more. Some are in white pine, western cedar and basswood, mesquite and other species. Some are decoys, others are shore birds and some are local. Some are painted, some are stained others are natural. In not any order you will find a buffelhead, passenger pigeon, atlantic puffin, American Oyster Catcher, nighthawk, canada gesting, ruddy, black skimmer, ringneck drake, and a blue winged teal. One of the listed is pictured twice.
I hope the young guys on this site are going to see these examples 20 years from now on Antiques Roadshow saying they are classic "craftsman" style examples of late 20th century folk art. People will be asking... Who is the anonymous "Mr Bill"?
And they will well deserve being regarded as classic examples of craftsmanship But Mr Bill is not anonymous..............his desire to be recognised on this board as Mr Bill is respected. His craftsmanship with wood & paint is not just respected ...................its revered. A thoroughly awesome body of decoy work
Well, I'm not done just yet. This round you will see not in any order: Avocet, Black Necked Stilt, American Oyster Catcher, Lesser Canada Goose, Killdeer, Long Billed Curlew, Black Skimmer, White Ibis, and one will be featured twice.
This will be my last post under duck decoys until I find the others. I think I know where they are hidden, but it will be a project to get to them. Until then there are some rather large ones pictured here. One of them stands almost 4 feet. One took over 53 Board Feet of white pine. I choose white pine for this species because of its weight. White Pine paints well, and it's rather light but also kinda expensive. Below you will find a Ruddy Turnstone, Piping Plover, Pelican, Slat Goose, Black belled Plover, Common Turn, Swan, Whooping Crane, American Woodcock, and Rosetta Spoonbill. Enjoy.
