Making Dark Cork "FOOTBALL" Style Decoys

           

The next step is to rasp a shallow trough out from the back of the head into the shelf. This trough tapers out from zero next to the head to about 3/4" at the edge.  
   Now round the shoulder into the trough working at a nice smooth transition.

 Really hard to take a picture of, but this is what is should look like when done.

Note, we have removed NOTHING from in front of the head.

 

 SYMMETRY!
 Now replace your head on the body and do a final check to make sure all is as you wish.

 Rasp the breast area round and transition it into the shoulders area in a nice smooth fashion.

Stop short of the head, leaving a thin shelf around the head.

 Time to attach the head, you can either glue it on now, or just temporarily attach it and glue it latter after the carving is finish.

Using the appropriate size bit countersink deep enough so that the head and washer of your screw will be flush.

   Cork is much like sponge and hence I DO NOT pre-drill for screws. A square as possible drive the screw through the block to accept the head.

 The final bit of carving involves cleaning up that little shelf and sanding the bird smooth. At this step you can cross all the DNC lines and make a nice smooth transition from the bottom to the back.

With any luck your bird should look similar to this one.