Decoy-Mallard Drake

I took a carving class one time, many years ago over a two day period and I can tell you the amount of detail we were to give these decoys was staggering. We had to wood burn feathers and everything. Are you planning on any more detail, or just painting this one? I guess did ok, as a few years later when I got a Black Lab, I came home one day and the decoy was no longer on a shelf, but rather had bite marks all over the place and was a total loss. After that dog passed I vowed never to own a dog again, cat’s aren’t as violent with wooden animal replicas.

-- Respect your shop tools and they will respect you - Ric

Very nice. My dad is a decoy carver, so I know how much work is involved.

-- Charlie M. "Woodworking - patience = firewood"

Sorry to hear of your affliction, great to see it has not effected your desire to create. Unique works are still possible. God bless….......Um, why are you using a Scaups for a reference? No mallard pictures available?

-- mtnwild (Jack), It's not what you see, it's how you see it.

looks great regardless of the circumstances

-- http://www.furnituremann.ca/

Looks like some are ducking for cover on this one Sir Robert.

-- Grumpy - "Always look on the bright side of life"- Monty Python

Hi Sir Robert;

If this is a sample of your work, with a handicap, I can’t imagine what you were doing before.

I guess each time you finished one, it flew away! Probably now living happily in one of John’s extreme birdhouses.

Excellent, under any circumstances!

Lee

-- by Lee A. Jesberger http://www.prowoodworkingtips.com http://www.ezee-feed.com

Jack,
Funny you should ask about the scaup photo. I dug my old cutting templates out of the garage, and the one I thought was a Lesser Scaup was not labeled. As I proceeded, I noticed the dimensions were totally wrong, so I went back to my old teaching notes and discovered it was a Mallard. I was just darn fortunate I didn’t use the bobcat template. That would have been total disaster.
One thing I wished I would have done better is to have the primaries cross. Oh well, maybe I’ll do better next time.

-- Sir Robert

Ric,
If your deke could fool your Black Lab, it could fool ducks. That’s the acid test of good carving. I would encourage you to continue.

-- Sir Robert

Thanks, Grump. I would have been disappointed if I didn’t get a wise quack out of you!!!

-- Sir Robert

Lee,
Most of my collection did in fact fly away. When I was down and out of a job years ago, a collector down in South Carolina bought most of what I had. Although it was a sad goodbye, it was nice to be able to make the mortgage payment.

-- Sir Robert