I've been a Duck hunter for over 60 years and just recently (last few years) started a hobby of making Duck Calls. Are there any other Call Makers on this site?
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I've been a Duck hunter for over 60 years and just recently (last few years) started a hobby of making Duck Calls. Are there any other Call Makers on this site?
I have made a few turkey calls. At least, one of them works well, as I have called in several toms with it. It's just a cedar paddle box call.
What do you make your duck calls out of ? I’m not much of a water Fowler so far but I like collecting stuff that can be used waterfowling .
Stabilized wood for the body. Then a plastic preform for the insert. Then you decide how many reeds it will have. I like a double reed for the hunting we did. Never had the lungs for the single reed.
Usually with dried Osage Orange, or Black Walnut. Neighbor and myself run a mill and cut for our own usage. The wood I have has been in the shed for over 10 years now.Quote:
Originally Posted by 6pt-sika
I like Osage and of course walnut ! Kinda have a soft spot for curly maple as well .Quote:
Originally Posted by sparky45
A co-worker started making calls after he retired. A Duck call is small enough that it does not get the full benefit of a nice grain like a gun stock does. Walnut comes out kind of plain. He ordered a lot of exotic tropical wood. Ebony was popular and looked nice. He also used Osage Orange or Bois d' arc a lot. He was always hunting for old fence post and used the part that was under ground. He also made them from man made materials like Corian. I remember that he always scoured dumping sites for thrown away brass beds. He made brass bands for his calls from the tubing from the bed. His wood calls were nice but a properly tuned call made from manmade material was more stable. The cold weather and the moisture in your breath could change the tone in a wood call.
I agree about the plain Jane grain patterns with Walnut, which is why I use Walnut crotch wood. It is spectacular!! Working on one right now (I was until Eye surgery) and I'll post a pic later.
This is one I made last fall; single reed made from Bocote I think. It works pretty good, I’m not much of a caller yet but I like tinkering on the lathe. I didn’t do much this winter, I need to move my MIDI lathe to the basement man cave and work on them while it’s -20 outside.
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