turning blanks about 150 so far

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Outside the beltway
over the weekend I cut a lot of blanks for pot calls. Got some beautiful wood grains from select cuts.
I like this black cutting part of making calls probably the best. Just finding the particular right cut for the piece on the band saw, kind of like finding the right tones for a section of a painting.
 

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Rob a friend in SC in the heart of turkey capital turkey hunting is big. John is a state champion caller and told me mine calls are some of the best he's ever played. He said if i wanted to take my calls to the National Wild Turkey Federation convention to sell he would work the booth. He then said I would need 350-400 calls. The last call maker he took there sold out 250 calls on the 1st day and took orders for 2 days. So yea there is a market. I'm not pushing sales so I can stock up.
Here are 4 cuts that represent what I'm going for out of the chunks I have.

Top line opens up.
 

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I took a couple dozen down for him to play this year during turkey season and he came up with 6 calls and said make all your calls like these. So we figured out what was the best turning , the best way to mount the sound boards: hard woods vs soft woods. How to adhere the sound board , proper placement and adhering the top playing board. So I'm into this.
I do hope to get back to painting soon but this has my attention ri h t now.
 
Interesting seeing different niche business opportunities. I always find it really interesting to be able to talk to folks like your friend who can help explain what it is about certain pieces that make them work better.

You've sure managed to get ahold of some top quality burl chunks there! If nothing else those should show pretty well.
 
With that much time in them I'm hoping they get a pretty penny!

I have no idea on the turkey calling tone part. Pretty interesting stuff from what little I've read about it, and seems to have a lot of subtlies. What's good and how to get there though is a mystery to me. I guess it's like most stuff like that, you gotta call a lot turkeys ;)
 
One of these days!

There's the Maryland wool and fiber show in West Friendship that loml had expressed interest in going someday that looks to be about an hour from you so we could do a double trip. Likely to be a couple of years before have the free time though... but when we're headed that way your can be assured I'll definitely look toy up!
 
Being a manufacturing man i can help but think when it gets to doing this kind of thing as a business, then a cnc router comes into play in my mind.
I would be taking a trip to Leo and see how to get production done on his rotary axis cnc. :)
 
Being a manufacturing man i can help but think when it gets to doing this kind of thing as a business, then a cnc router comes into play in my mind.
I would be taking a trip to Leo and see how to get production done on his rotary axis cnc. :)

When my turnings turn into a business and becomes work, I'm going to stop doing it.

Wish the calls sold better here, love making them.
 
Wish the calls sold better here, love making them.

Selling at a national convention is a no brainer if the product is good. My duck calls are lousy sellers at gun shows. But, if I went to a state or national duck hunt convention I'm sure they will sell well. Downside are booth space costs, travel, room and food expenses. I once planned to go to a state convention but first added up basic costs and decided profit, if any, would be very slim and my time was not even calculated into the picture.
 
Frank I hear ya. But the things I do breaking even with a little spending money and some profit would be nice but it's all about the ride for me. Like going on a hunting trip , I'd never get enough meet to justify the cost. Spend some time with good friends and enjoy myself.
Chuck and yes when it becomes like work it's the end of a season. Thank God the shop is a life long Hobby that has been a joy for the most part.
 
That's great Dave! You going to Nashville? I've sold several calls for money that I wouldn't think possible. I make plan jane cherry or walnut that sound just a good as the figured calls, but the figured ones go for a lot more. I tell people it's jewelry for men!
 
I wonder whats going to happen when you get into custom strikers given the plethora of wood types out there. I did some short runs for a turkey call makin friend. It seems the strikers that have a swamped apple core look to the head caused some kind of hypnotic effect on buyers. :)

Different density woods affect the tone quite a bit. along with variation in the size or mass of the head.

Definitely caught in the vortex...........
 
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