Making a Duck Decoy - Step 3 | A Natural State - Episode 4

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To float properly, the body of the duck must be hollowed out with a hand drill and chisel. Buoyancy and stability are achieved by combining a hollow interior with lead weights applied to the underside of the duck.

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Tom Boozer's Tool Box | A Natural State - Episode 7 Spotlight 1

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Spotlight
Episode 1
The ability to work with wood was an asset on rural farms where lifestyles required self-sufficiency and living off the land was common. As a boy, Tom carved his toys - small boats that he floated...
Tom Boozer's Tool Box | A Natural State - Episode 7 Making a Duck Decoy 2

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Making a Duck Decoy
Episode 2
Tom uses keen eyes and a drawknife to carve the slope of a duck's back from the natural curve along a block of white cedar. The basic forms of a tail and the base of the neck are revealed during body...
Tom Boozer's Tool Box | A Natural State - Episode 7 Making a Duck Decoy 3

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Making a Duck Decoy
Episode 3
Ducks use their tails to signal whether they are at rest or in danger. Tom carves the tail so that it feathers slightly upward, a sign that the duck is at ease with its surroundings. The process uses...
Tom Boozer's Tool Box | A Natural State - Episode 7 Making a Duck Decoy 5

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Making a Duck Decoy
Episode 5
After the body is hollowed, Tom attaches the carved head of the duck. Tom takes care to attach the head at an angle that appears natural and in keeping with the attitude of the body. After the head is...
Tom Boozer's Tool Box | A Natural State - Episode 7 Making a Duck Decoy 6

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Making a Duck Decoy
Episode 6
Decoy makers use field guides, photographs, and duck mounts as references for painting their decoys. Tom mixes ordinary house paints to achieve the unique colors of many species of waterfowl. After...
Eastern White Cedar | A Natural State - Episode 9 Tom Boozer's Tool Box | A Natural State 7

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Tom Boozer's Tool Box | A Natural State
Episode 7
Tom's toolbox is a museum of traditional woodworking implements. It contains a 150-year-old drawknife, a hatchet, his father's wood rasp, his grandfather's brace and bit, a mallet of resilient...
Tom Boozer's Tool Box | A Natural State - Episode 7 Carving 8

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Carving
Episode 8
No carving tool keeps an edge without occasional sharpening on a stone. Farmers and woodworkers brought hand-powered grinding wheels to the Americas during the 16th century. Many artisans and farmers...
Tom Boozer's Tool Box | A Natural State - Episode 7 Eastern White Cedar | A Natural State 9

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Eastern White Cedar | A Natural State
Episode 9
Decoy wood needs to be light and resistant toward water and waterborne, termite-like insects that bore into wood. Atlantic white cedar is an excellent variety of such wood, but the tree’s population...
Tom Boozer's Tool Box | A Natural State - Episode 7 The Land 10

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The Land
Episode 10
The Boozer family's move from the midlands of South Carolina to its coast was a bit of a homecoming. In 1734, Tom's ancestors emigrated from Germany to the Charleston area, where they worked as...
Tom Boozer's Tool Box | A Natural State - Episode 7 The Hunt | A Natural State 11

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The Hunt | A Natural State
Episode 11
A hunt with Tom is a lesson in waterfowl behavior, habitat, and patience. Our hunting trip with Tom could be considered a "blue bird day", a pleasant, calm day, yet not one conducive to duck hunting...