Anyone here carve decoys?

There's a group of bird carvers at the Houston Area Woodcarvers Guild. If your in the area you should stop by. Houston Area Woodcarvers Guild

Carving decoys seem like a very difficult thing to do. A really good friend of mine's dad was Donald Naquin (RIP), an excellent decoy carver. I saw some of his work and I swear I was looking at live ducks. That good......



The Cajun heritage festival has an annual gathering of the decoy carvers.
LINK /

I know a few carvers very well, though I haven't done it myself. all carve both decoys and fish and they come out beautiful.

they generally use tupelo gum wood and actually go out and fell trees to get the wood.

in order to do it, they generally have a knife, a stone to sharpen it, a dremmel tool, a wood burner, a set of calipers, reference books that contain life size patterns, and a variety of paints.

most areas of the south have carving groups, so look for those folks...they can teach you more in a month than you will figure out in a year by yourself.

if you can't find the carving group in your area, look for the nearest decoy show and attend that...there will be a lot of enthusiasts there to guide you.