First Custom Call Attempt...
 

Here she is Numero Uno...finished it about 8:30 tonight...took a solid 5 hours complete from a 4x4 piece of cherry (1.5" thick) to this awesome animal. Sound's awesome, just as good if not better than my Lohman Heirloom series, thanks to Brookside Game call's for the slate! It's kinda big but i like it!

Frontside



Backside

RE: First Custom Call Attempt...
 

Good job!!! I really wanna try and make one before next season.

RE: First Custom Call Attempt...
 

howd you carve that out?? please tell me you didnt use a chisle or something! that would be absolutely nuts.....but it looks good....and sure it sounds liek a turkey......congrats either way.....buy yourself a hobby lathe....you can get a small one to do work like that fairly cheap!!! id like to know how you did it though....i am the nutcase that splits logs down to the heart wood and uses a pocket knife to carve my strikers out of it.....so im game for anything....i used a lathe to make my 2 calls.....but that was in shop....i dont have shop now......howd you do it?? just curious......neat design too........congrats......

RE: First Custom Call Attempt...
 

Thanks guys!

Mauser...what i did was we have a local furniture mill, one of my buddies works there. He got me the piece of wood (cherry) and rounded it for me...but for the most part i took my piece of slate, traced it, and then found a 3" circle (on duck tape or something) and proceeded to drill (yes drill) it out as much as possible, going about 1" down. I got out all the big pieces and then my nieghbor has a little dremel tool. I took that with some 80 grit paper on a round thing and sanded it out as much as i could...(see pic below for final) as then it was all open in the 3" circle so i guesstimated 1/8" deep and sanded out the lip for the slate. I drilled the holes as shown and then took it to my nieghbor for acceptance (bunch of turkey hunters were there too, they all liked it and the sound) so i just clear coated it and glued the slate in.

Tools involved :
19V Drill and bits of your choice
Dremel Tool with Sanding Bits
Chisel for breaking off big pieces
Tape measure
5.5 hours of a beginner's time

Here's the pic:
(It shows the inside of the finished call.)

RE: First Custom Call Attempt...
 

Excellent Job.....

RE: First Custom Call Attempt...
 

GOOD JOB

RE: First Custom Call Attempt...
 

That's one nice looking call MDManiac. Hope it works really well for you.

Zap me an e-mail if you want. I'm curious where in Central New York you are located. I'm in the Southern Tier of NY myself, born and raised. Love going after those long beards !!!!

Thanks,
MicArcher.

RE: First Custom Call Attempt...
 

Thanks guys...I dont believe it wasnt bad for a first try! thanks for all the encouragment!

You've got a PM MicArcher...

RE: First Custom Call Attempt...
 

I made one as well. Do you have a piece of glass underneath of the slate?
Do you think the kind of wood used makes a difference. Mine sounds ok but not that loud. How thick is your piece of slate?
Chuck

RE: First Custom Call Attempt...
 

:D
Outstanding job. I've tried my hand and wing bone yelpers and plan on making this years better. But I too want to start making my own pot calls.

Really nice job. I hope by next year to have some of my own like you.;)

RE: First Custom Call Attempt...
 

wow, good job but you took the hard way. find a buddy or friend who will let you use their wood lathe for about 5 minuts and u can crank out 5 of them. i made them in wood shop in high school but couldnt get the slate :(. all you do is mount your 4x4 piece of wood on the end of the lathe and go to work. doesnt take long at all.

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nice call makes me want to make one of my own. It would be pretty sweet to call in a turkey with a call I made.

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Thanks guys...

Chuck my slate is 1/32 thick I think.

the only tools i had available i used! how would i go about getting a lathe? i dont know what exactly it is...?

Also I wanna get my next one more raspier, any idea how to do that. the next call is out of maple, and may be a slate over glass, would that make it raspier than just plain slate? thanks...!

RE: First Custom Call Attempt...
 

I made one lately as well using a router and a band saw. Thanks for the info. I thought my slate was too thick. It was.1/32 is very thin. You can buy lots of 5 pieces of circular slate on ebay. Very Cheap. Mine sounds very nice but I thick I would get more volumn if the slate was thinner and the wood harder. Some people just by a cheap laminated cutting board from Walmart for a few bucks. You did a very nice job. Mine was fast and sloppy. I just wanted to see if it would work. It does . I plan on using it Friday along with my Primos Freak.
Chuck