curly claro walnut turkey call

[Aaron Wingert]

I make custom turkey calls, and here's one I just finished that I'm proud of. It is from a chunk of curly claro walnut that I bought green a couple months ago and DNA soaked (my first DNA attempt was a batch of claro call blanks and it worked great). I wish I had a thousand pieces of claro walnut, because I think I could sell every last one...I currently have a waiting list for claro walnut calls.

The call was sanded to 2000 grit and finished with two coats of waterlox. The 2nd coat was buffed out with 0000 steel wool after drying to knock down the gloss and give the hand-rubbed oil look like a nice gun stock. I then rubbed on a coat of paste wax.

It is a slate call with a glass soundboard. For those that don't know, you're looking at the bottom of the call. The striker is held sort of like a pencil and rubbed on the slate top surface to make turkey sounds. A non-hunter friend of mine was in the shop the other night and was blowing as hard as he could into the holes thinking that's how to use it. I of course let him try that for a minute before letting him off the hook.

This one's not getting sold. It is getting entered into a big callmaking competition as a "working" (non-decorative) call. It sounds awesome and they do judge them on craftsmanship as well, so I hope it does well.

Critiques welcome!

[Jarrod McGehee]

Man oh man Aaron. that sure is a good looking call. and better looking wood! nice stuff there

[Don Eddard]

Very nice work and superb wood. Good luck in the competition.

[jack richington]

It's so pretty even a turkey couldn't resist comin' in for a look

[Chris Stolicky]

Nice piece of wood...

[Bernie Weishapl]

Very nice looking call and some really pretty wood.

[Steve Schlumpf]

A non-hunter friend of mine was in the shop the other night and was blowing as hard as he could into the holes thinking that's how to use it. I of course let him try that for a minute before letting him off the hook.

Now that's funny!

Beautiful call and amazing wood! I can see why you have a waiting list for these!

Best of luck in the competition!

[Don Carter]

Beautiful call! Those things are hard to blow.;)

Good luck in the competition. It is a winner in my book.

[Aaron Wingert]

Thanks everybody. The competition submission deadline is in about a week but the results won't be out until around October. The competition is through a turkey hunting magazine. That's a long time to wait! Not planning on winning, but I hope it fares well regardless.

[John W Dixon]

Very nice job Aaron! I haven't done a turkey call but it is on my short list. I have a couple of hunter friends who are after to me to make one. Looks like a great project and yours is simply beautiful. Where do you purchase your slate and glass inserts?

John

[Mark Norman]

The wood is simply stunning!

I wish you luck in the competition.

[Mark Hix]

That is beautiful wood. Let us know how you do in the competition.

[Jim Kountz]

Excellent job, love the wood!!

[Steve Mawson]

Great piece, all the best in the competition. Any time you want to do a tutorial I for one would be one of the first to read it. Extremely nice work.

[Jerry Rhoads]

SWEET

Jerry

[Aaron Wingert]

Very nice job Aaron! I haven't done a turkey call but it is on my short list. I have a couple of hunter friends who are after to me to make one. Looks like a great project and yours is simply beautiful. Where do you purchase your slate and glass inserts?

John

The slate and glass inserts can be bought through only a couple places that I'm aware of. The one that has a website is called Grassy Creek Game Calls.

As for tutorials, I can't divulge all my secrets but would be more than happy to talk to anyone that has questions by phone. One thing I've learned about callmakers is that they don't give out the exact secrets and dimensions that make their particular calls unique, but a general understanding of how things should be will get you on the road to making a successful call, and most of them will happily give you that. I can honestly say that probably 50 pots and 35 completed calls hit the trash can before I had something that sounded perfect, and most callmakers will tell you the same thing unless they just copied another's design. The rewarding part is the work!

Basically you turn the pot and leave a pedestal for the soundboard to sit on. Sound needs to be able to get around the soundboard at the sides. Good sound comes from the wall dimensions of the pot, sound chamber dimensions, and spacing between the soundboard and the surface (approx 1/8"). I've found that the size, orientation, and number of sound holes doesn't do much to the acoustics. Use plumbers goop for the adhesive for both the soundboard and the surface. CA glue has no place in callmaking, and I learned that the hard way.

If anybody has more specific questions and wants to make a call for themself, shoot me a PM and we can talk!