Ted Reeve uses basswood he sources from Wisconsin and an assortment of tools to create his duck decoys.
By Susan Thompson | Lake Panorama Times
Ted Reeve stands in his garage, where he has a work bench covered with an assortment of tools and supplies that he uses to create duck decoys.
Decoy carving as an art form began to flourish in North America in the mid 19th century. Ted Reeve had loved art in high school and enjoyed drawing things. He got his start in decoy carving in the early 1980s.
“I attended a wildlife art exhibit and was able to take a class from one of the best decoy carvers in the Midwest,” Reeve says. “I was getting ready to move to southern California, and my instructor thought I should enter my first decoy in the Southwest Pacific Wildfowl Arts competition. I ended up winning a ribbon in the novice class. I entered birds for several years and did pretty well in the competitions.”
Ted and Patty Reeve have owned a home at Lake Panorama since 2001. He grew up in West Des Moines, and Patty is from Solon.
“We were both working for Iowa-based firms in San Diego when we met at an Iowa Club of San Diego event at a Padres baseball game,” Ted says. “We married in 1989 and ended up back in the Des Moines area in 1992.”
Patty’s career was in real estate and accounting. Ted started a residential construction business in 1994 and retired in 2021. They were Lake Panorama weekenders from 2001 until they moved to the lake fulltime in 2020.
Ted Reeve uses a knife as he starts to refine the features of this cinnamon teal he is carving.
While Ted enjoyed his duck decoy carving hobby in the 1980s, he set it aside for more important things.
“Once we started our family, the carving hobby took a back seat, and I didn’t carve anything for over 30 years,” he says.
A conversation in 2021 with Tom Jeschke brought Reeve back to carving. Jeschke encouraged him to join the Racoon River Valley Carving Club he had started in November 2016. Jeschke passed away in March 2023, but the club lives on. The group gathers each Tuesday and Thursday from 9 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. in a room on the upper floor of the Lake Panorama National clubhouse.
“I did a few songbirds and then started carving the decoys again,” Reeve says. “I still do an occasional songbird, but primarily I focus on ducks. I really enjoy watching the ducks come through the Midwest in the spring and fall. Every bird I’ve carved has been seen on Lake Panorama or at the Bays Branch wildlife area.”
This photo demonstrates some of the steps in turning a block of basswood into a finished duck decoy.
“The classification of my carving style is Decorative Gunning Decoys,” Reeve says. “In competition, the decoys are judged on how closely they resemble a live bird while in the water. They are hollowed out, balanced and can float, but the intention is that they sit on a mantle and not in a pond. Hunting decoys don’t have the same amount of detailing.”
Reeve finds inspiration from several reference books. He uses basswood he sources from Wisconsin and an assortment of tools to create his duck decoys.
“When I started, I just used hand gouges and an X-acto set. I now use rotary tools for the rough carving and knives for the detail work,” he says. “Once the carving is complete, I use a wood-burning tool to add feather detail. Once the wood burning is done, I seal the birds, apply a primer, and then thin coats of acrylic paints to achieve depth and detail.”
Ted Reeve shows the first duck decoy he completed in the early 1980s after taking a duck decoy carving class. His instructor encouraged him to enter this decoy in the Southwest Pacific Wildfowl Arts competition, where he won a ribbon in the novice class.
“The wood duck is one of my favorites because the iridescent colors are so unique,” he says. “I’ve recently started carving more hens. The painting is a challenge as the colors are more muted, but I really like the look.”
Reeve has done a few commissioned pieces. Recently he’s been donating his carved duck decoys for charity events.
“I’m glad my hobby has been able to help raise money for good causes in our community,” he says.
For those wondering if the Reeve home is filled with carved duck decoys, the answer is no.
“I’ve got about a dozen birds in the house,” Reeve says. “A couple are committed to upcoming charity auctions, and I’m considering entering a few of my newest birds in the Iowa State Fair.”
Reeve encourages others in the area who enjoy working with wood, or who think they would like to learn, to check out the Raccoon River Valley Carving Club.
“It’s a really fun and talented group of guys to have coffee with and work at our hobby,” he says. “Everyone works on their own projects, which include caricatures, Christmas ornaments, walking sticks and wildlife. It’s gotten me back into a hobby I might have never started again.