Heads and Necks, Frank Werner

by Frank Werner

Head and neck joints can make or break a decoy. Big birds with high heads are particularly vulnerable as it will be necessary to align the grain with the long axis of the neck, as well as that of the bill. Moisture cycling, especially for a decoy, will soon wreck a common butt joint.

HEAD & NECK JOINTS explains what’s going on with wood as it swells and shrinks in response to moisture. See how you can make a joint that will not be affected by moisture cycling.

 
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Canada Goose by Frank Werner
Read the full text of the article in Wildfowl Carving Magazine, Winter 2002 

(This issue is not available from the IWCA Store, but it is available

as a back issue from Wildfowl Carving Magazine.)

Ed note: While the full text is in the Winter 2002 issue of WCM, Frank has contributed a pattern for a goose head. You can print this pattern using the following directions:

1.  Move your cursor to the pattern and right-click.

2.  Select "Save image as..."

3.  Save the image to your desktop.

4.  Then, go to your desktop and open the image.

5.  Print 100%, no margins.

6.  To be sure your printer has printed your full image, check the printed image by measuring from the base of the neck to the top of the head. This length should be nine (9) inches.

 

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A BIBLIOGRAPHY OF DECOY RELATED PUBLICATIONS           Frank Werner

 

PERIODICALS

DECOY MAGAZINE

P.O. Box 1900 MBS, Ocean City, MD 21842

Bi?Monthly

 

WILDFOWL ART

P.O. Box 3416, Salisbury, MD 21802 

Semi-Annually

 

WILDFOWL CARVNG

P.O. Box 1831, Harrisburg, PA 17105 

Quarterly

 

DECOYS

Becker, A.C., DECOYING WATERFOWL, A.S. Barnes & Co., 1973.

Bourne, Wade, DECOYS & Proven Methods For Using Them, Ducks Unlimited, 2000

Byrd, Cindy, AN EXPLORATION OF DECOY HISTORY, Wildfowl Art Magazine, Winter 2009

Casson, Paul W., DECOYS SIMPLIFIED, Freshet Press, 1972.

Chesser, Grayson C., MAKING DECOYS,The Century Old Way (W/ Badger, Curtis J.), Tidewater Publishers, 2006.

Connett, Eugene V., DUCK DECOYS, D. Van Nostrand, 1953.

Coykendall, Ralf Sr., DUCK DECOYS AND HOW TO RIG THEM, Winchester Press, 1955.

Bruette, William,  AMERICAN DUCK, GOOSE & BRANT SHOOTING, Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1944

Holmes, A. G., DUCK DEOYS; How to Make Them—How to Set Them Out,  The Outing Magazine, Volume XXXIX, Oct 1901—March 1902

Hunt, Lynn Bogue, HOW TO IMPROVE DUCK WATERS AND MAKE DECOYS, The Outing Magazine, Volume XLIX, Oct, 1906—Marck 1907,

Leopold, Aldo, MALLARD DECOYS, Field and Stream, Nov 1920

Miller, Warren H., DECOY MAKING; The Sportsman’s Workshop, Stewart Kidd Company, Cincinnati.

Sawyer, W.E., CORK DUCK AND SNIPE DECOYS, Field and Stream, Sept 1912 

 

MATERIALS

Butler, Robert L., WOOD FOR WOOD-CARVERS and CRAFTSMEN, A. S. Barnes and Co, Inc, 1974. Source, Selection, Cutting, Treatment, Drying of Flitches and Guidance in  Their Use

Doerner, Max, THE MATERIALS OF THE ARTIST And Their Use in Painting, Harcourt, Brace and Company, rev. 1949

Hoadley, R. Bruce, UNDERSTANDING WOOD, Taunton Press, 1980, ________

 A craftsman’s guide to wood technology.

United Stated Department of Agriculture, WOOD HANDBOOK; Wood as an Engineering Material, Forest Products Laboratory, USDA, rev. 1987, __________

Haygreen, John G. and Bowyer, Jim L., FOREST PRODUCTS AND WOOD SCIENCE, 

Iowa State University Press, 1982

Kubler, Hans, WOOD as building and hobby material, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1980

Mayer, Ralph, THE ARTISTS HANDBOOK of materials and techniques, Viking, rev. 1991,_________

Panshin, A. J. & De Zeeuw, Carl, Textbook of Wood Technology, McGraw-Hill, Inc, 1980,_______

 

ORNITHOLOGY and NATURAL HISTORY

Allen, Arthur A., THE BOOK OF BIRD LIFE, D. Van Nostrand Company, Inc., 1961

Allen, Glover M., BIRDS AND THEIR ATTRIBUTES, Marshall Jones Company, 1925

Bellrose, Frank C., DUCKS, GEESE AND SWANS OF NORTH AMERICA, Stackpole Books, 1978

Bent, Arthur Cleveland, LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN WILDFOWL, Dover Publications, Inc., 1987 

Coues, Elliot, KEY TO NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS, (V0L 1), Dana Estes & Co., 1903

Freethy, Ron, HOW BIRDS WORK; A Guide to Bird Biology, Blandford Books Ltd. (UK), 1982

Heintzelman, Donald S., NORTH AMERICAN DUCKS, GEESE & SWANS, Winchester Press, 1978

Kortright, Francis H., THE DUCKS, GEESE AND SWANS OF NORTH AMERICA, The Stackpole Company, 1967

Todd, Frank S., WATERFOWL; Ducks, Geese and Swans of the World, Sea World, Inc., 1979

Wallace, George J. & Mahan, Harold D., AN INTRODUCTION TO ORNITHOLOGY, Macmillan Publishing Co., Inc., 1975

Welty, Joel Carl, THE LIFE OF BIRDS, W. B. Saunders Company, 1975

 

WILDFOWL CARVING

Burk, Bruce, GAME BIRD CARVING, Winchester Press, 1972, 1982.

Gilley. Wendell H., THE ART OF BIRD CARVING; A Guide to a Fascinating Hobby, Hillcrest Publications, Inc., 1972

Le Master, Richard, WILDLIFE IN WOOD, Contemporary Books, Inc., 1978.

_________________ ,WATERFOWL; The Artists Guide to Anatomy, Attitude and Color, Contemporary Books, Inc. 1983

 ________________ ,DECOYS; The Art of the Wooden Bird, Contemporary Books, Inc. 1882

Matus, Tom, DUCK DECOYS,  Fox Chapel Publishing Co. Inc., 2003

Schroeder, Roger, HOW TO CARVE WILDFOWL, Stackpole Books, 1984.

Spielman, Patrick,  MAKING WOOD DECOYS, Sterling Publishing, 1982.

Starr, George Ross, Jr., HOW TO MAKE WORKING DECOYS, Winchester Press, 1978.

Veasey, William,  WATERFOWL CARVING, BLUE RIBBON TECHNIQUES, Schiffer Publishing, 1982.  

 ______________THE MAKING OF  HUNTING DECOYS, Schiffer Publishing, 1986.  

 

DECOY COLLECTING, COLLECTIONS & COLLECTORS

Bigelow, Paul, W., COLLECTING DUCK DECOYS, Decoy Collector’s Guide

Barber, Joel D., WILDFOWL DECOYS, Windward House: Dover Publications, 1934.

Colio, Quintina, AMERICAN DECOYS: From 1865 to 1920, Quintina Colio: Science Press, 1972

Earnest, Adele, THE ART OF THE DECOY, Bramhall House, 1965.

Engers, Joe, Editor, THE GREATBOOK OF WILDFOWL DECOYS, Cynthia Parzych  Publishing, 1990.

Gosner, Kenneth L., WORKING DECOYS OF THE JERSEY COASTAND DELAWARE VALLEY, Art Alliance Press, 1985.

Gard, Ronald J. and McGrath, Brian J.,The WARD BROTHERS' DECOYS ; A

Collectot's Guide, Henington Publishing, 1989

Harrell, Loy S., Jr, DECOYS; North America’s One Hundered Greatest, Krause Publications, 2000

________________, DECOYS; Sixty Living and Outstanding North American Carvers,

Fox Chapel Publishing Co. Inc., 2006

Johnsgard, Paul A., Ed., THE BIRD DECOY: An American Art Form, University of Nebraska Press, 1976.

Kangas, Gene & Linda, DECOYS: A North American Survey, Hillcrest Publications, 1983.

Lacy, Tandy, THE WOODEN BIRD: Heritage Bird Carvers of the Upper Illinois River Valley, Sun Foundation, 1989.

Mackey, William F. Jr., AMERICAN BIRD DECOYS, Bonanaza Books, 1965.

Mattsson, Karly and Sullivan, C. John Jr., CAPTURED IN WOOD, Havre De Grace Decoy Museum, 1999

Miller, Michael & Hanson, Fredrick, WILDFOWL DECOYS OF THE PACIFIC COAST,

MBF Publishing, 1968.

Reiger, George, FLOATERS AND STICK?UPS, Dand R. Godine, 1986.

Shaw, Bob, DECOYS: A UNIQUE AMERICAN ART, Western Art Digest, pgs. 102?107, Summer 1985.

Schorsch, David A., AMERICAN DECOYS: A Folk Tradition, Antiquarian Equities, Inc., 1996, 1998.

Solis?Cohen, Lita, A SHOW OF DECOYS, Renew: San Francisco Chronicle, 7 June 1987.

Starr, George Ross, Jr., DECOYS OF THE ATLANTIC FLYWAY, Winchester, 1974.

Waingrow, Jeff, AMERICAN WILDFOWL DECOYS, E.P. Dutton, 1986.

No list of published photographic reference material is offered, as much of what is currently available includes aviary birds, birds which have been pinioned, and birds which have been photographed in box-like enclosures. A number of decoy-titled items are listed under Wildfowl Carving as I feel they are of limited usefulness to decoy makers. I believe Hoadley and Mayer and Coues to be the most important titles of all those mentioned.

 

 

 

 

 

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Wildfowl Carving Magazine Articles Published                                        Frank Werner

 

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Traditional Decoy Carving Woods

F.W. Duck

Milling Your Own Blocks

Home Drying

Head and Neck Joints

Laminating a Carving Block

The Inside Job

Tools From Other Trades

Black Epoxy

An Electronic Reference Library Making Accurate Patterns

Oil Paint

Flat

Texturing With Paint

Ten Pin Feather Patterns

Head Lines

Turned Head Sleepers; I

Turner Head Sleepers; II

Turned Head Sleepers; III

Low Head Wigeons

Low Head Wigeons

Mallard Tail Curls

Mallard Tail Curls

Improving De Tail

Swan Decoy

Shop Class

On The Level

Vapor Barriers

What’s in a Name

A Little Variety

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Characteristics

Obtaining and Harvesting a Tree

Optimizing yield From a Tree

Optimizing Yield From Green Decoy Blocks

Prevent Premature Joint Failure

Glue Line Integrity

Hollowing and Closing a Decoy

Stuff Carvers Might Not Be aware Of

Better Craftsmanship Through Chemistry

Scanned Photo Reference

Scanning Waterfowl Specimens

The "Other" Medium

A Decoy Makers Goal

Beats Feather Burning

Feather Organizations

Detailed Head Carving Instructions

Anatomy and Photoreference

Carving the Deek

Painting the Deek

Carving Three Different Deeks From a Pattern  

Painting Three Different Decoys

Anatomy and Photoreference

Making and Installing Tail Curls

Reliable Tails For Cork Decoys

Big Birds and Size Matters

Building Your Carving Shop

Weighting and Balancing a Decoy

Preventing Water Damage

History of Avian Topography

Planning a Rig; Attitude Distribution

IWCA