Call Making Essay Album by John Rowan. 1 - 23 of 23 Total. 1694 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.
17 Next I use a piece of piano wire to burn the lines in. This is not neccesary, but does add a little. Do all finish sanding on the exterior at this time. With this piece of wood it took very little sanding. You have to keep the skew sharp to keep from having to force it and risk a gouge.
18 I then go back to the drill press to drill to 9/32" (which is needed for reed sleeve). I use a thin piece of rubber to grip the call.
19 I then use a beveling bit to barely take any material off the inside. Just kind of smooths things up a bit.
20 This one is ready for the finishing process at this time.
21 Of these 5 calls shown the only wood I bought was the Bubinga.
Shown are Bubinga, Locust, Walnut, Aspen and the unknown.
From start of roughing out on bandsaw to last step on drill press was right at 1 hour. This time can be sped up by doing several at a time. That way you aren't putting the chuck on for just one call. I usually do 5 at a time thru all the different steps.
22 Pic of the bell end sitting on a 50 cent piece.
