Carving Own Decoys

[Bigslugger]

When you guys carve your own decoys what type of wood do you use and where do you purchase it

[Laska]

Me personally, Oak is hard to work with but is one of the hardest but if you have a dremal its a great wood that I havent had crack yet. Otherwise I go with pine, basswood, or well I cant think of the other softwood right now but thats what i use, I buy mine at a hobby store, like ace hardware, or hobbylobby, or just try your local lumber yard. Some of the wood gets pretty spendy tho.

[Bigslugger]

Alright thanks laska. Ill try somewhere because I wont be fishing for a week because of my ankle

[Gordie]

try and use ceader it doesnt seem to swell up as bad.

and go back and check some previous threads on carving for some awsome ideas

[merkman]

Cedar is my choice.

I don't carve but I don't think I will buy another working decoy that isn't cedar.

[pikestabber]

Basswood is the easiest to work with for carving accurate details, but you have to seal it extremely well both before and after painting it (if it gets wet inside it swells and it cracks terribly). If treated properly, though, it carves slightly nicer than cedar (cedar grain is a bit firmer and straighter, so if you are not careful you can carve away longer pieces than you intended and mar the fine details). Cedar is a lot more forgiving of swelling, though, and it carves and wood burns well for most applications.

I would recommend both these woods over pine since the sap in pine makes it difficult for wood burning in details (gills, scales, etc.). I'm fortunate enough to have grown up on 15 acres of mostly Basswood (my Dad still owns the property so I have an ample supply), so I don't know about buying wood... Most carving catalogs offer it, but it seems expensive to me.

[Laska]

the other one I couldnt remember from b4 was cedar...

Basswood is expensive, but it does make puting details in decoys alot easier.

[CMKURT]

My dad bought rough cut Basswood from a logger north of Aitkin. He bought it 6" X 6" X 8'cheaper than a 6" x 6" X 12" Block from the hobby store. He has made over 40 decoys this year, and has wood for next winter. He seals it before painting & after. Have used some of the decoys this year and have not have any problems with cracking.