Call Making Essay Album by John Rowan. 1 - 16 of 23 Total. 1668 Visits.
1 Piece of unknown wood given to me. This would have been about a 3" diam. limb that was split in 1/2. First pass thru the bandsaw.
2 After getting somewhat square stock, I then use a sled that I put together to cut to length, in this case 3 1/4".
3 I then take to drill press to drill a 1/4" hole thru the blank. Usually have to use a rat-tail file to clean up enough to put on mandrel.
4 On mandrel & ready to turn down till round. On my Jet VS mini, I run the belts on the slowest and do all turning at max speed.
5 Roughing down with a 3/4" gouge.
6 Pic of the Wolverine Sharpening jig.
7 And another shot of the jig.
8 After turning down to round, I then take the blank back to the drill press & use a 1/2" forstner bit to drill in 1 1/4" for the bell end of the call.
9 I then put the chuck on the lathe and start by using a 1/2 round nose scraper to true up the end. Then using the 1/2" V scraper I do a gradual taper to the same depth as I drilled 1 1/4".
10 I also round off the inside edge. Then turn the speed to the slowest it will go & sand the inside of the bell.
11 Then the mandrel gets put back on the lathe & using a rubber bushing (comes in a call turning kit from Hut Products) that fits snugly inside the bell.
12 Another pic of the rubber bushing.
13 And another with everything tightened down.
14 I then do the rest of the turning with a 1/2" skew. Should note here that you want to make lite cuts to start off as you will have a little wobble.
15 Using a parting tool to a close to finish size.
16 You can get as creative as you want. I like a small mouth end, and a bell that is about 1 1/8" dia.
