Where is everyone

[Neighbor_guy]

It's cheaper to buy direct from any carver than it is second hand. A $20 decoy at Glen's, fleet farm, or L&M is going to be of $10 quality. 

To loop back around Ricks decoys were $45 this year. Up from $35 the year before. Glen's buys hundreds of decoys from Rick every year, them marks them up accordingly. He has them. If you want to buy from Rick you will have to wait until he makes that particular decoy again. 

How much are you willing to pay for one in hand???

[Dooley87]

I think the price of decoys have really increased in the last few years. I think it comes down to seeing one carver selling them for this price so I will too. If people will pay that much and its a supply and demand thing then more power to them. 

 

I think I'm going to just start picking up decoys at the shows only from now on though. Rick had his decoys at $25 for his regular sized workers at Perham this weekend, even cheaper for the smaller ones. There were quite a few carvers who had decoys in that $50-$75 range and I'm not saying they aren't worth it with all the work that goes into them but it was hard for me to buy 1 or two decoys at that price when I could come home with 4 times that amount if I looked for the deals. Lots of carvers will have group pricing also. I bought two small brad lange decoys for $10 total and I bought two small leaderbrand decoys for $8 total. A rock and roll decoy for $20, a few Ryan Gasts for $25-$30 and a $25 Keith Peterson cribbage board.

 

I own a few $100 decoys but unless I horsetrade for them I can't justify spending that kind of money on decoys any more. 

[Neighbor_guy]

That's a good haul!!!!

Keith does a good job on his stuff. I have one of his boards as well  

I will recommend that you swim anything you buy at a show. Sometimes, and I'm guilty of it as well, prices are low for a reason. Other times carvers are looking to simply move stuff out of inventory. If you haul it to more than two shows the price goes way down just to get rid of it and make room for the next one in line.

I think Rick might be the only carver I know who is doing this for a living. He needs to sell out everywhere he goes so he prices accordingly. But he is also making 35-40 decoys a day when he is in the shop. Most guys don't make 40/year. 

You don't make decoys to make money. It ends up being about $1.00 or $1.15/hr to do a nice one. Some put in a lot more effort than others to produce something that looks good and swims good as well.

The guys who do the taxidermy quality decorative decoys are in the hundreds (plural) of dollars on a decoy. That may not hardly swim. Sometimes you are just paying for the name.

Its a fun game we play. And it used to be a relatively cheap one too, just a spear and a $10 decoy from fleet farm. 

Now it's like anything else. The sky is the limit. Decoys for several hundred dollars and spears for $500+

and people lining up to buy them. It's crazy!!!

[Dooley87]

As long as my decoys sink and will swim in a forward motion I'm happy. It seems to me that people focus more and more on swim every year than the year prior and honestly I don't think it really matters. I've heard carvers bash other guys stuff cause it might tip slightly when its making the turn, I honestly prefer decoys like that because they seem to have an erratic action that gives more flash and looks more realistic so the swimming hasn't ever been a big deal to me. 

 

I probably have around 70 decoys right now and will admit that its turning into a collection lol 

Edited April 18, 2016 by Dooley87

[Neighbor_guy]

My decoy requests are all done for the season. I have a bunch in the bin for next fall. It's nice to have the pressure off. 

Guys are constantly on the lookout for spears, tongs, and decoys. Spearing season is never truly over. We are just prepping for next season. If you find anything good please share. We would love to see it. 

Also this is a good time to find that 5-tine spear for this winters 5-tine challenge. Garage sales, antique shows, swap meets, you never know what or where you will find something cool.

Otherwise, I am ramping up to carve some ducks for the summer. I'm sure there will be some fish in there too, you never know. 

 

[MJ1657]

1 hour ago, Neighbor_guy said:

My decoy requests are all done for the season. I have a bunch in the bin for next fall. It's nice to have the pressure off. 

Guys are constantly on the lookout for spears, tongs, and decoys. Spearing season is never truly over. We are just prepping for next season. If you find anything good please share. We would love to see it. 

Also this is a good time to find that 5-tine spear for this winters 5-tine challenge. Garage sales, antique shows, swap meets, you never know what or where you will find something cool.

Otherwise, I am ramping up to carve some ducks for the summer. I'm sure there will be some fish in there too, you never know. 

 

Does that mean @Wandereris going to get his decoy this year? 

[Neighbor_guy]

That pain in the wazoo has been mailed and the confirmation of delivery has been received. 

If it was anyone else I don't think they would have put up with a 16month wait. 

It's a body type that I am not making anymore because it's hard to find wood that plays nice. The paint job is simple enough, but the fat body is a pain.  I made one with a similar paint job once before and had a hard time giving it away. So don't plan on making anymore like it. 

[mrklean]

The wife and I hit up the local antique shops on Friday with nothing catching my eye, she also struck out at Junk Bonanza only finding really small ice tongs. 

[MJ1657]

I've been on a lucky streak lately coming across stand up tongs and spears. I'll post a few pics. I have some more stuff at home I'll get some pics of when I get off the road. 

[MJ1657]

Stand ups that I got that were in rough shape. Bent up some, rivet had been replaced with a bolt  and hole for the rivet was oblong. Think of how many blocks of ice it took to wear the rivet and hole out. 

I welded the holes shut and redrilled. Installed a new rivet. They need a little more heat and anvil time to be straight but they returned out OK. 

Couple of five tine heads I gave a new life. @Neighbor_guy got me one and I found the other. One is for next year's banquet and the other is for a friend for next year's five tine challenge. Trued them up and did some file work on the head. Modified some hickory handles and gave them a coat of stain. I'll let them slide around in the back of my pickup for the summer to give them some character. 

[mrklean]

Does that 5 Tine have a name on it looks like the one I have

[MJ1657]

2 minutes ago, mrklean said:

Does that 5 Tine have a name on it looks like the one I have

No they dont. I have a few more like them at home some obviously professionsally made and none of them have a name. 

[MJ1657]

Here is a few more I picked up at a sale last week. Not the greatest pics but check out the beautiful tine work on the Trident spear. 

The weight on that 5 tine is solid lead. I really liked how the head is cast and screws onto the handle. Not sure on the weight but its extremely heavy. 

[Neighbor_guy]

saw a lot of carpin boats on the road last evening. Hope you guys who are out are keeping things clean and showing respect for homeowners on the lakes you are fishing.

Feel free to share some pictures, smiles too remember you are having fun. And get a kid out there with you too.

[mrklean]

Got a steal on a 2 man flip over this weekend, who knows what is going to happen with the Pike regulations so I might be spending some more time chasing other game fish next winter, plus my little girl will be close to 3 at that time might be able to get her out now to.

[MJ1657]

Couple more spear heads I picked up. Head on the left is interesting with the longer center tine. You can see that the shaft that would go in the handle was once a pole barn nail. Head on the right has some beautiful tine work for the era. I'm looking for an especially rustic handle for it. 

Unfortunately someone cut the handle off of this spear. It's interesting how the end of the shaft is threaded to screw into the handle. I'm going to have to find someone with a wood lathe to help me make a new handle. 

This is a great weight forward five tine. There has been some speculation on the builder but nothing has been decided for sure. 

[Wanderer]

That weight forward 5 tine looks sweet!

[Neighbor_guy]

I think now that MJ has cornered the market on stand up tongs he's going after the antique spear market too. He will be renting spears out for the 5-tine challenge. 

[MJ1657]

This head is kind of interesting. I picked it up at an antique store for $5. It's a cast head that had a thin walled piece of pipe as a handle. I think I will leave it as is and not fit it with a handle. 

[hawkeye43]

Mj miss one stand up tongs, I found on an auction page that I got for $13, It costed more in fuel to go get them but it was a nice road trip.

Edited May 24, 2016 by hawkeye43

[MJ1657]

12 hours ago, hawkeye43 said:

Mj miss one stand up tongs, I found on an auction page that I got for $13, It costed more in fuel to go get them but it was a nice road trip.

That's a good buy. I'll have to watch closer.

[Neighbor_guy]

found a 5-tine in fairly decent shape while I was out and about today. It will have a short stay in my shed before finding its way down the road to another collection that needs to be compliant with the entry rules of the "five tine challenge".  Will need a little file work to clean up the tines and barbs a bit, but not a bad find for the price. 

[MJ1657]

Good find!

[Mike89]

when I was in the shed and garage last night I realized I have 3 five tine spears.  one I'll keep, 2 could go.

[MJ1657]

1 hour ago, Mike89 said:

when I was in the shed and garage last night I realized I have 3 five tine spears.  one I'll keep, 2 could go.

You should post some pictures.