Some wood turning and some non-wood turning

[Jamie]

wind shakes are often darker colored on the edges of the cracks from oxidation. you know how osage turns very dark brown eventually from exposure? some really old osage bows are almost purple looking. anyway, shakes can be made to stay still with c/a glue.

if that wood was very green and those are drying checks, the shrinkage from drying will not be stopped by glue. osage very bad for this, and why drying it for bows is so very, very critical.

 

[Creamer]

So far, so good. No increase in the cracks. I'll keep an eye on it and see how she holds up.

 

[finelyshedded]

Those are some beautiful pieces you’ve created! Is there a reed inserted inside?

 

[Creamer]

Those are some beautiful pieces you’ve created! Is there a reed inserted inside?

Yes, adjustable deer reed. They range from a mature buck to a doe grunt, depending on the o-ring adjustments.

 

[finelyshedded]

Yes, adjustable deer reed. They range from a mature buck to a doe grunt, depending on the o-ring adjustments.

So you bought the reeds and basically turned these pieces to fit the reed?

 

[Creamer]

So you bought the reeds and basically turned these pieces to fit the reed?

Yep. The little reed kits come with the o-rings for securing the 2 pieces of the call together, as well as the reed assembly.

 

[Jamie]

So far, so good. No increase in the cracks. I'll keep an eye on it and see how she holds up.

With the wall thickness being thin, it may be dry enough to not shrink any further.

 

[Creamer]

First things first, that osage call has not gotten worse. The crack seems to be stabilized.

Second, I've been playing with something new (at least to me). This is a much more compact 2-piece call, cherry, and set up as a doe grunt/bleat.

The new bit is I experimented with an older call, drilling an extra hole in the "bell" area of the call. The results were interesting.

The secondary hole is a lot smaller than the 1/2" bore hole in the bottom of the call. When you grip the bell, your hand covers up the small extra hole. You get pretty decent volume using the call normally. Cover the bottom, and uncover the extra hole, and it does two things. One, it slightly changes the pitch. Second, more importantly to me, it really reduces the volume. I'm thinking about those dead calm, crisp mornings when sound really carries. I also shoot a trad bow, so I need deer close. I can call to a deer that's only 40-50 yards away without calling too loudly.

Finished call, just under 3.5" overall length.

 

[Creamer]

This little osage call took some effort.

 

[giles]

Thanks again man!

 

[Mike]

Ditto!

 

[Dustinb80]

Yessur, thanks

 

["J"]

Jeff, much appreciated buddy. Great talking with you. Hopefully I’ll have a hero picture with that call around some antlers.

 

[Creamer]

I got a chunk of wood through my dad (his buddy had it, didn't need it) and have been testing with it a bit. It's chestnut, I'm not sure any more specifics like species of chestnut. Dad cut the block down into more usable blanks for me. I could tell just through inspection that most of the pieces looked to have some splitting issues.

I started with a 2-piece buck grunt. I got the blank sort of laid out and cut into two pieces. I had to tackle a split on the bottom piece. It was pretty bad, and I wasn't sure if I could stabilize it. I could actually force the split slightly open, so my hopes were low. I worked as much liquid super glue in there as I could and put a couple of little clamps on it. I let it sit overnight.

To my shock, it held up. If you look closely at the bottom "bell" in this pic, you can see where I glued the crack. The wood turned real easy, it seemed pretty soft. The grain was pretty sexy.

I wanted to make a matching doe bleat, so I picked a smaller piece with decent figuring. This piece had no splitting issues so it was smoother sailing.

Lightly stained and finished.

 

[Creamer]

I've started to get a few fresh predator calls done in hopes of actually going coyote hunting this winter. The first little project was a birdseye maple open reed distress call.

Then I was going through my old calls and found a little open reed distress call called a Verminator Tweety. I like it, it's called in dogs, but the call was a little boring looking.

I figured out I could pop the reed assembly out, and found a short chunk of Spectraply that I figured would make a good barrel for it.

 

[Big_Holla]

I've started to get a few fresh predator calls done in hopes of actually going coyote hunting this winter. The first little project was a birdseye maple open reed distress call.

Then I was going through my old calls and found a little open reed distress call called a Verminator Tweety. I like it, it's called in dogs, but the call was a little boring looking.

I figured out I could pop the reed assembly out, and found a short chunk of Spectraply that I figured would make a good barrel for it.

Now that one is purdy!

 

[switchhitter]

That is cool I have never had any chestnut to work with
I actually fired up the lathe last week so maybe a call next

 

[Creamer]

I've been on the search for a specific call that is no longer made for quite a while. I have an old Woods Wise howler that is retro-fitted into a Johnny Stewart megaphone. I love the reed assembly in that howler and have been unable to find another like it anywhere. I happened to be on eBay the other day, did yet another search...and couldn't believe my eyes. I found one, new in the package. It arrived from Oregon yesterday.

You know a call is old when the rubber bands on the lanyard were dry rotted.

I didn't care much about the call barrel, all I wanted was the guts. 1) I wanted to make a new howler using this reed system and 2) I needed a backup for my old howler. Who knows how much longer it will last.

The new barrel was made last night.

5 coats of finish later, and a little tweaking of the reed assembly, and she's singing a beautiful tune.

 

[Creamer]

This is a quick and easy little coaxer/squeeze call I made, also. Basically a wood version of one of the little bulb squeakers.

 

[Creamer]

So what I have been up to, bigger picture, is getting a waterfowler's lanyard loaded up for predator hunting this winter.

Counter-clockwise, left to right around the lanyard, I have 1) cherry rodent coaxer squeeze/bulb, 2) osage cottontail distress closed reed call w/coaxer, 3) "camo" Spectraply (laminate) open reed howler, 4) the new Woods Wise howler reed assembly in an osage barrel, 5) birds eye maple open reed distress, 6) Verminator tweety open reed distress in a "coffee" Spectraply barrel, and 7) a walnut closed double-reed jackrabbit distress.

I organized it how it made sense to me. Howlers on the bottom, quieter distress calls on one side, louder distress calls on the other side. There's some common shapes or designs but I tried to use a variety of woods to help make it obvious to me what I am grabbing. Hopefully this lanyard of doom will be put to work soon. I'm itching to chase some coyotes.