Some of the Reelfoot metal reed calls I've made over the last couple of years

[HenryHawthorne]

Here's a sampling, to get some activity in this sub-forum. I'm not likely to get back on the lathe much before finishing my boat, but will try to add some more calls to this thread from time-to-time just to keep it active until I get back to making them.

First is my favorite wood, cocobolo. This shape was inspired by an old Rip Fanning call - have just always liked the shape, and this is a shape I frequently turn as a result.

 

[HenryHawthorne]

This is a set of walnut calls (curly claro, curly claro, NC black, and claro, left to right). The last has an African Blackwood insert one of my favorites for inserts). These are all tung oil finished.

 

[Carl]

Good stuff, Henry!
This is going to be a very cool forum, even for those of us who never used calls much, or havent hunted in a while.
Cant wait to see the artistry. And field results.

 

[Eric Patterson]

Those are gorgeous. I like how the shape and the wood alone carry the looks.

 

[Rick Hall]

Given the flat toneboard, is sticking an issue?

Back in the late '80s or early '90s, I hunted an elderly Cajun and his middle-aged son who'd carried on a family tradition of making their own calls, and the father chided his son for being the first of their line to curve his toneboards, instead of putting a curve in his Ace comb (what sounded to my displaced hillbilly ear like "cow. chew dur" and turned out to be "caoutchouc dur"/hard rubber) reeds with the back of a heated pocket knife. And when I asked him about sticking, the old Cajun smiled broadly and said that he'd learned at his grandfather's knee to always spit before reaching for a call.

Am guessing improper curve the rub with a couple of brass-reeded calls I was given as a teen and couldn't get anything out of..

 

[HenryHawthorne]

Given the flat toneboard, is sticking an issue?

Back in the late '80s or early '90s, I hunted an elderly Cajun and his middle-aged son who'd carried on a family tradition of making their own calls, and the father chided his son for being the first of their line to curve his toneboards, instead of putting a curve in his Ace comb (what sounded to my displaced hillbilly ear like "cow. chew dur" and turned out to be "caoutchouc dur"/hard rubber) reeds with the back of a heated pocket knife. And when I asked him about sticking, the old Cajun smiled broadly and said that he'd learned at his grandfather's knee to always spit before reaching for a call.

Am guessing improper curve the rub with a couple of brass-reeded calls I was given as a teen and couldn't get anything out of..

No, I haven't had an issue with sticking... and, yes, the curvature (amount and location) of the reed is critical. The difference between one that will run regardless of how much pressure you put in it and one that locks up with no sound can be very small.

And thanks Eric and Carl!