was feeling a lil "skewed up" last week

Dave Shady Larsen

Dave Shady Larsen

Well-known member
was a good practice in using a skew and control. was bad for sanding and finish... good lord what a pain in the arse!
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Cherry wood, doesnt sound to bad really just a lil strange in the hand.​
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On a more serrious note I got some nice figured Bacote off of ebay last week and made this one yesterday. This one is staying with me for sure. New design I had been working on for shape. I like it and Bocote has always been my favorite wood.​
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heres one more from last week, been real icey and snowy here so i am at least getting some shop time.​
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Lace Wood left and old Walnut right. Both from one pc. of wood to try and keep the grain together.​
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Thats my past 2 weeks nuthin much else to do besides slip and slide on the ice.​
 
Dave,
I'm sure lots of guys, looking with awe at your work, wonder what's involved in turning your own calls, what's tools are involved, how much will the basic tools to get started cost, reference materials, supplies, etc. How about a list as such and a tutorial if you can.

Jim
 
Very nice work. Are you using an oil finish or water based? That lace wood is nice stuff. The Bacote
is cool too. Is it from South America?
 
Wow those are some nice looking calls. The first one I see why your keeping that one. The shape is like a fine sculpture.
 
Thanks guys for the words and stuff.....

A few answers, The finish is Oil Based spray on. I start with sanding the calls to 600 grit then going with gray scotch brite and then polishing them with denim or the back side of the fabric backed sand paper. Then spray 2 coats of satin let dry and scotch brithe then 4 coats of HI-Gloss sanding inbetween each then when i let it harden up good it scuff it with a worn out pc of scotchbrite then scotch brite again with TREE WAX 2 coats. Seems strange using hi-gloss and then taking it back to satin but the call is better looking doing this than just the satin by itself.

Tools oh lord what a mess, main thing is you better not be in it for the $$$$$

Drill press with at LEAST 4" of spindle travle 4 3/8 is what I have JET
Lathe mine is a JET mini with #2mt head - spur center and 2 live centers large and small
GOOD set of lathe tools both large and mid size I like
good power miter box
table saw with good fence or a planer
band saw
files and LOTS Of SAND PAPER

GOOD 5/8" HSS brad point bit ($30.00)
1/4" x 6" aircraft drill bit


Wood can be FREE to expensive that bocote blank cost me 20$ for 1 call. I just spent about 400$ on wood this winter for burls and exotics I have about 15 species in stock now and hate to think of the grand total. Ebony is up to 30$ a foot for 2x2 stock.

Thats the short list of tools then theres the excessive stuff

Flat tone board jig no radius $80.00
Custom tone board jig from a good call I made $250.00
Metal mandrel to hold the keg mine back then was $150 (new ones on ebay $75-$150)

On ebay the dude BEAKBUSTER sells a mandrel and tone board jig set for less than $200 that is decent

You can make your own wood mandrel to turn a bbl and use ECHO, RNT inserts lots of guys do this but I dont call that a custom call.
link to wooden mandrel HOW TO
http://www.cattailproducts.com/slwoodmandrel.htm

for more on call making check out this forum.
http://www.customcalls.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl

Good folks on there and lots of INFO and resources!
 
Beautiful stuff, Dave. I picked up a Jet Mini this winter and just yesterday was building a sort of backstop and hood with a dust collection port. That book by Ed Glenn & Greg Keats has been an interesting read and got me fired up to make a few calls. Have you experimented much with native woods and, if so, have you noticed any significant differences in the tone quality between the species? Or is it really all about the guts?
 
native woods

Walnut is good nice and mellow sounding
Maple (hard maple) is similar but a lil more ringey than walnut
persimmon is nice but have to watc for hiden knots not so good for inserts
oak is just to open grained stay away from it
Osage organge "hedge" hard very hard stuff has similar sound to an acrylic tone board not as loud but one of my favorites
Cedar Red is soft and SUPER mellow for sound but its a SOFT wood so not as durable as others
myrtle wood is nice I havent used it a whole bunch but have made a few similar in tone to walnut but a lil quiter
cherry is nice simiar to maple for sound and smells so good to turn it

for bodys the wall thickenss of your call will have some effect on your sound in the end. Its really just finding what you like. and lots of trial and some error.

As far as a tone board thats the real hard part to get RIGHT. The sound of the call is changed by

The length of the tone channel and the depth not to mention the flar of the exhaust end. The radius of the tone board is the real key not enough the reed will stick to the board to much and it doenst sound right.

Reed length and width and thickenss all play a part in the sound. One thing to really remember is once you figure out your insert KEEP NOTES! the lenght of the blank and depth of the tone channel need to be SAME time after time to get the similar sound. I use a 4 7/8" blank and drill 4 5/16 deep ever time with my tone board jig and It gets me what I want. Then i can change reed lengths and put more radius on a call or less to get the tune I want.

One thing I have learnd is not everyone blows a call like I do. And some people just hate my calls that I make but if i try and explain to them how it was tuned and how it needs to be blown some get it others just hand it back. No problem because to me it sounds right but not to everyone else. No 2 calls will be the same unless your using molded inserts and then get reeds punched out bla bla bla.

Let me know if you need any help or some blanks I have quite a bunch of Cherry and walnut blanks from a purchase i made 4 years ago and they are all squared up and DRY! I sold several of the Cherry blanks on the CCO forum - 10" blanks 1 3/4 x 1 3/4 long. I have extra if you want a couple of them.

If you really want a jump start pick up a tone board jig thats a basic from beak buster or Wade from the fourm. Ebay going price is 90$ but it will put you a long ways ahead. If you get the beak one I have one and can give you some specs on channel depth ect.

once you get started you will get HOOKED quickly its as bad as decoy carving but smaller and they dont have to self right nor do you have to worry about painting them :)
 
Thanks for all the infor Dave,I must have a couple doz calls but only use about three of them. I 'm on a quest to find the perfect call. hee hee I use to go to a park ever noon hr and listen to the ducks and try to imitate them, using different calls. I learned more about calling ducks than I ever did by listening to some one calling on a tape. I heard a call last year that I liked, but before I could go over and find out what kind of call he had he pulled out. Darn It had a sound I liked and more important the ducks liked it. Some time in the future I'm going to have to make some calls and tune them. They sell some real junk in the stores for every good call you can find and the way they package them. You can't even try them out. Thanks again for the information Dave
 
Dave

That is some very nice work. I like the way tou are able to switch back and forth from decoys to duck calls. Now if we could just get you to build a boat and load your own shells you'd be a one-man show.

I picked up lathe recently and plan to turn a call or two with Thomas. There are a few things above it on the shop to do list but I think it will be a very relaxing pursuit. Your post has some great info that will get referred to in the future, for sure.

What tools, e.g. gauges, parting, etc. do you like to use?


Oliver159lathe.jpg

 
Hey Dave
Been a long time huh........... I figure that twenty turning purists just rolled over on their graves for you mentioning sandpaper and a skew in the same sentence! I know the guys in our club would. Anyway I love the shape of the bocote call . It really flows and has a warm look to it.

Keep at it
Fred T
 
Fred

I was over at a buddies this saturday and used his Yates American J-line lathe. That is a nice set-up for sure. You might want to hold onto that one afterall. BTW, the lathe above just happened to go on auction on the mil base where I work. A leeeetle bit closer than Akron Thomas is bugging me to turn duck calls on it. He wants to make a GIANT duck call. Something along the line of 8" in diameter. Gonna take a big lanyard.

Dave

When you use the wood mandrels don't they offer the advantage of turning the ends without scraping your tools on metal? Is this an issue with the metal mandrels? What advantages do the metal mandrels give?
 
I'm not the Dave you were asking but I can answer that for you.

The metal mandrels are under cut ( undersize diameter wise) in the areas you would be tooling the ends of the call. That way you never touch you tools to the metal. The wooden mandrels will get loose with use and the ends that run on the centers will get sloppy. Wood ones work fine for a guy wanting to turn a few calls for himself but won't last like a metal one if you plan to turn a bunch of calls over time.

Same goes for a tone board jig. The one Dave uses is most likely a hardened piece of tool steel. You can make one yourself out of common 1018 steel and leave it soft. If you are careful it will last quite well but as you are filing the wood to shape, you will probably cut a little steel off your jig too, and it will change shape over time and use. Again it would last long enough to do several calls if you are careful.
 
Eric my metal mandrels are not undercut im just REAL CAREFUL is all. I bump them every once and a while and thats what the power wet sander is for to put new edges back on. Many mandrels are undercut that you can buy now. Custom ones are made that way where you want it but these were my design that i had made back in tha day lol. I think its great he wants to make one. I woudl also sugest purchasing some of the poly inserts and have him start with making his own BBLS for them to practice on. The inserts are not easy and my first 200 calls i made really do SUCK compared to where im at now but thats all part of the game. BOATS lol naaaaaaaaaaaaa i need my 20' er and cringe of the thought of running a wooden boat up on a bit ole rock or stump on the mississippi.

Jigs are hardened steel and a few guys make their own from OAK will work for a couple of calls but thats it. Wade from webfoot custom calls also RENTS his public jig by the month if a fella wanted to try it FYI.

Bocote call is staying with me no for sale. Its is the 1st of this new shape im starting with but I will be making more of this style and more bocote. I turned an figured walnut one this morning b4 work that is very nice too. I put an oil gun stock finish on it :)

FRED yeah sand paper is a no no for the pure but oh well I shoot an Auto 12ga too so be it lol. Figure I start sanding with 80 grit then 100,120,180,240,320,400 and then 600 and 2 grits of scotch brite. Most guys seem to keep on going to 2000 grit but WOW there allot of paper inbetween and they after are are just DUCK CALLS! lol
 
Eric
That oliver is a great lathe for what you want. I am just more of a bowl turner and I need a monster! You could make a hege duck call and then turn it into a lamp for Thomas nightstand!
Fred
 
Eric
That oliver is a great lathe for what you want. I am just more of a bowl turner and I need a monster! You could make a hege duck call and then turn it into a lamp for Thomas nightstand!
Fred
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that is a really cool idea fred. I may have to make a table lamp like that for our banquet next year. with a base that holds a decoy to boot!
 
Dave - Thanks for the info. I will be bugging you in the future for more turning advice. Should be a great activity for me and the boys.

Fred - What a SUPER idea. Even Michelle liked it and thought it would go perfect with Thomas's outdoor theme. You might be onto something for hard core duck hunters. I'm surprised that I haven't seen one in a DU decor catalog.
 
Hey think nothing of it. I always wanted to make one but never got around to it. the idea of adding a decoy to the base would really set it off. I think yoiu guys are theones that are on to something! You could lay up a blank for the body and that would save a bunch of weight........ you are all on to something.

I will talk more to ya all in a week
Fred T
 
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