Carl HoecherlCarl Hoecherl purchased the Restle company in 1981 from Tom Restle, he changed the name to Restle Decoy Co. , just taking the Tom out of the molds. These were individual decoy molds and occasionally a letter or two would pop out while we were molding bodies. In a good 8 hour day , they could mold 100 bodies. Hot, wet, sweaty work, as the beads were steam expanded, then the molds cooled in a tank (horse water trough).
It was 4-5 years later, they had a 5 cavity mold made (3 puddles, 2 divers) and they had the bodies made by a Pal Pac Foam in Ottawa (20 miles west of Findlay).They would make a phone call, a week later, pick up 1000 bodies. Definitely took their production to the next level.
During this time, they made a slight change to the coating and applied for a patent on it. So the Pat Pend. appreared in the mold. Roughly 18 months later, they rec'd the patent, and rather than change the plate in the bottom, they just removed two letters. PAT E D.Carl Hoecherl selling his decoys at the Crane Creek Show, Ohio Circa late 1980'sPicture of Carl's Restle inventory room. Getting ready to ship !
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