kevin1

I finally got this slate call done today. The pot is sassafras with 1/8" thick by 3.5" Pennsylvania slate over 1/8" thick by 3" glass . The finish is semigloss polyurethane, the striker is purpleheart/ash . All of the rough turning was done by the material supplier , I did the edge relief and side turnings .The materials were procured from this site: http://www.customsawing.com/, the guy who owns the shop produces finished calls and sells call supplies at pretty reasonable prices , I assembled mine for a total of $25 .

jalvja

Nice lookin call Kevin,How's it sound?

kevin1

I'm still conditioning the surface of the slate to rid it of "squealer" spots , but otherwise it sounds very good . That purpleheart striker is a little harder than the chestnut striker I'm used to , but it's coming along . My next one will either be walnut or Zebrawood , haven't decided whether to do another slate/glass or double glass yet .

huntnma

very nice.........

mauser06

how did you do the side turnings?? just curious.....if you have a lathe i dont see why you bought the pre cutout pots...ive delt with custom sawing before....great company...i ordered my slate and glass from them...i broke the glass though lol.....i turned my own pots from scratch...and made a glass over glass...the inside glass i glued a pic of my first turkey in it...it looked awesome....but i forgot to order the washers...so i made some little pieces of dowel rod for it to sit on..some turned out a hair longer and shorter then others...so when tuning id pop it out with a pencil through the sound portsinthe bottom..wasnt a good idea...after a couple times it broke lol..but ill order more one day....and ill have it fixed lol..i want to put a piece of glass under my slate too...it has a real high pitch to it...but they both look alright for being my first turnings on a lathe

kevin1

I don't have a lathe Mauser , I clamped a drill to a cart in my kitchen and chucked the arbor in it with the pot on the arbor . After I got done I used a pad sander clamped the same way to smooth out the arbor impression on the bottom and smoothed the turnings . Not bad for freehand , eh ? I'd like to get a small lathe , but I don't really do much wood working so I have to improvise sometimes . He does the hard part better than I would anyway , and for $6.50 to get that much work done for me is a bargain . I may still buy a craft lathe for turning custom strikers though .

mauser06

heck thats pretty danged good for doing it freehand lol.....i figured you rigged something up since you bought a cut out pot....using a lathe isnt all that hard..my shop teacher was the kind that taught us saftey and how to turn the machines on...other then that he had a seat lol.....so i taught myself...he wouldnt let me turn strikers though....we had a full sized lathe and the speed wasnt very adjustable....when i turned strikers it would whistle or hum when i got down thin.....he told me not to go any thinner for saftey reasons...which i understand....he was a great guy..just not a teacher....but i carve my own strikers with a knife....but i dont have any college shop classes lol.....so ill be ordering from custom sawing sometime soon......