Anyone made any duck calls lately?
- Thread starter FD Roe
- Start date
HenryHawthorne
Member
Beauties, as always!
The last four I made, along with some dog whistles I was playing with..
The first 2, a pair of ebony calls... Malaysian Blackwood and Black and White Ebony
The last 2 a pair of cedar calls, Alaskan Yellow Cedar burl and Pacific Red Cedar burl.
HenryHawthorne
Member
Thanks Fred! Glad to see yours, too! Was just thinking the other day that I miss seeing all the calls being made on THO.
That's some gorgeous work from both of you.
Henry, did you make the box? Tell me more.
My call making has been on hiatus for over a decade. My plans this year are to resume call making. In fact, the project on my bench this very moment is an XY table for my lathe that will allow me to follow a template pattern. I want more consistency in my call shapes than I get by freehand. I want to make a batch and them all be the same size/shape within a few mils. When I finish fabricating it I'll post some pictures.
Henry, did you make the box? Tell me more.
My call making has been on hiatus for over a decade. My plans this year are to resume call making. In fact, the project on my bench this very moment is an XY table for my lathe that will allow me to follow a template pattern. I want more consistency in my call shapes than I get by freehand. I want to make a batch and them all be the same size/shape within a few mils. When I finish fabricating it I'll post some pictures.
HenryHawthorne
Member
The box was a result of wanting to continue learning/doing more flatwork and needing a little box for the supplies I use for finishing calls - specifically fine tuning toneboards and metal reeds. It's a bit "fancy" for that purpose, but gave me an opportunity to take a nice chunk of cocobola I had and to go through the process of dimensioning it into sizes needed. It was a fun little project - the miters didn't end up perfect but I learned a lot along the way, and got the box I needed.
As to consistency in shape, do enough of them and you'll find it comes more and more naturally. I have a couple 2 or 3 shapes I like and they generally end up very close... though I like the ability to tweak and take what a particular piece of wood gives me.
The shape of the calls above are my interpretation of shapes Rip Fanning and Iverson used in their calls... I'm drawn to the simplicity, as I am to shapes of most old callmakers.
I tend to pick up any piece of wood and see if I can find a duck call in there somewhere. I was a member of the knifemakers guild for 23 years, so I am familiar with all kinds of materials that are not usually seen in duck calls and i bring some of those experiences to my calls. The micarta bands and colored spacers are from knifemaking. Just a little something different!
Fred
Fred
William Reinicke
Active member
If you like micarta stuff, look into my buddies calls. Doug Baum with Duckstein calls. he turns some WILD micartas. He also gets his hands on some really cool german ebonite colored stuff. I just like boring purple. Ill add one more purple calls of his to the collection this year Im sure.
My dad is a knife maker and makes his own micartas. Wondering, do you do the same? It looks messy and nasty, but his handles turn out pretty alright. Some of my pops knives.
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HenryHawthorne
Member
I see one of Brad Samples' hats in those pics - another exceptional callmaker.
William Reinicke
Active member
All I run is customs. I need ol Eason to turn me a purple barrel. He says he’s going to. Might send him a decoy two to motivate that happening this offseason. I have a couple custom turns from Brad. I have a custom block in to both those gents that will eventually get turned. Brad made a video of one my turns. No idea how to post a video, but it was super cool to see.
Eason langniappe, Brad samples, duckstein open bore proto, Kelly pintail whistle, c&s whistle for my ducks. Hard lanyard to beat as I have tunes in all just a bit different to offset each other. I can usually find one the ducks eat up on each hunt. Also have a special material other than Mylar in my Eason. Great material with a little edge over everyone else.
Kelly’s pintail whistle is the best whistle I’ve ever used btw
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HenryHawthorne
Member
Kent makes a fantastic call, one of my favorites. Check out Andrew Hadden (Hadden's Hailers) - really like his duck calls and he makes a great goose call, too. I'm a fan of Aaron Wingert's whistles. There are a lot of really good callmakers out there - though I do find individual calling styles mean some work better for some folks than others. Can't beat Fred's for metal reeds, though Brian Byers, Bear Lyles, and Wes Townzen make really good ones, too. If I recall you're in IL - if you haven't before, you should make a trip to Reelfoot for their duck call festival in the Fall. A fun event usually well-attended by exceptional makers.
Some good-looking knives in those pictures. I have never made my own micarta, but I was aware that others do. As you said looks messy to me also. I have never made a Reelfoot entirely of micarta or acrylic. Use it for the tone board and bands and accents only. Lots of knife handles! Just about bomb proof.
William Reinicke
Active member
Easons lagniappe is no joke. Its kind of the best of all worlds. Dougs proto has squeal on the low end that sometimes in close quarter hunts, makes all the difference in the world. Itll certainly ring out if I need it to, but close late season ducks eat it up or field hunts when I hit that rolling squeal that hens mimic when they have a corn kernel stuck in their throat. Then brads call just runs. Its kind of the do all call but doesnt quite have the rasp that the eason has. I love that eason for farther birds. Hit that 5-9 note and hens talk right back and start changing direction. There is nothing better imo.
I will look.... but I need to lay off the call scene for awhile. There are a few here and there that I will make exception for but i have my tools that work, and i need to just let collection stay the size it is for quite awhile. I do want to trade out the C&S for a purple wingert one day maybe, but not in a hurry. Although the temptations are like demons sometimes. Im transitioning my thoughts and addiction towards decoys in the last year and a half. May even trade some out for calls, but I need to let the pocketbook stay fuller and not let it go towards so much acrylic and wood.
Unfortunately Im in desert country, nowhere near any of the good waterfowl stuff. I hope one day I can take some time off work and go to NWTF and some of the NE boat shows advertised here and reelfoot festival one day. Not in the books for the next few years unfortunately.