A little shine

[Ken Hill]

Im smack dab in the middle of my busy season but have been managing to knock out calls here and there.

This is a another Squirrel call made from a piece of Oak Burl I salvaged from a tree that had to come down.

http://kenhill.smugmug.com/Other/Calls/DSC8947/864264760_9tLMu-O.jpg

I changed the lighting to kill the highlight so the grain could be better seen. I sanded in Teak oil then a coat or two of Tung oil, followed by dewaxed shellac and a coat of wipe on poly.

http://kenhill.smugmug.com/Other/Calls/DSC8955/864264681_KkGaX-O.jpg

[Jim Underwood]

This is a another Squirrel call made from a piece of Oak Burl I salvaged from a tree that had to come down.


If it had a burl in it, of course it had to come down! ;)

Wow! What a finish! Does your method you describe give the kind of finish I see in the first pic? And how many coats of each?

What kind of sanding did you do?

[John Keeton]

Ken, another beauty!! I assume you "dipped" this one in poly??

[Ken Hill]

80 through 600 grit....adding in some teak oil between grits here and there. No method to it, I just add it in as it helps slurry and fill grain and add some warmth. The Shellac is added to seal the teak and make sure the Poly will adhere. I usually had the shellac near the end of the sanding and wet sand with 600 and a little mineral spirits before the poly.

[Ken Hill]

Ken, another beauty!! I assume you "dipped" this one in poly??


No dip this go around, wipe on poly only

[Steve Schlumpf]

Very nice work Ken! Beautiful wood and finish!

[Ken Hill]

Thanks! The wood came from the stump section of one of my tree's that was felled to clear another area for more food plots for my Deer. I had a feeling it would give up something but you never know. The trunk formed a bell shape and sure enough it had all kinds of figure in it. The center part was hollow as many are in this area but I have quite a few more calls to make from that one stump!

[Edward Bartimmo]

Ken,

I have been experimenting with different oils to see which is best for different woods. I am interested in knowing why you used teak oil and then tung oil. What do you gain from Teak oil as an undercoat as compared to just using Tung Oil for all the coats?

Thanks

[Ken Hill]

I have to use up the Teak haha no other reason! the container is open and its getting some age on it.

[Edward Bartimmo]

Ken,

I got a good chuckle out of the your response. The scientific process gets trumped by the practical approach of "hate to waste it" . Now, I have to add Teak Oil to my matrix of finishes to test...

My list of oil related finishes:
Danish Oil (seveal different brands), Tung Oil, Boiled Linseed Oil, Walnut Oil, Teak Oil, Waterlox

Thanks


I have to use up the Teak haha no other reason! the container is open and its getting some age on it.

[Ken Hill]

Well, depending on the wood, the Teak or any other oil that dries to a very hard finish helps with the sound. A soft wood may play soft but if I can add a few coats of teak or tung to "harden" the call, it will play sharper and be more crisp. Osage seems to not care, but an open graned oak really responds to having the grain tightened up. Maple is good to go as well. I do alot of reading on music sites to try and get a handle on acustics but still have a ton to learn!

Getting them shiney is the easy part....making sure they sound true is my main goal:D

[David Walser]

Well, depending on the wood, the Teak or any other oil that dries to a very hard finish helps with the sound. A soft wood may play soft but if I can add a few coats of teak or tung to "harden" the call, it will play sharper and be more crisp. Osage seems to not care, but an open graned oak really responds to having the grain tightened up. Maple is good to go as well. ...

That's very interesting. I'd have never thought the finish would make a difference to the sound of a call. (Why I wouldn't have thought of finish making a difference is another, and unflattering, question. After all, it's often speculated that a Stradivarius violin's unique sound is due, in part, to the finish.) Is a hard finish, like poly, insufficient by itself to stabilize softer woods or does the finish need to penetrate the wood fibers? Is it possible to make the wood "too hard" by using a CA finish?

[Ken Hill]

I havent done alot with CA finishes, but it is very popular on calls.

[Edward Bartimmo]

David...goood reference on Stardivarius...I was thinking of that as I read your reply and then there it was. A few years back I saw a documentary on a guy who believed he had cracked Stardivarius' recipe for soaking and treating the wood.

Aside from the wood treatment the wood structure was different. Supper dense tight growth rings from original old growth timber. Something that we haven't seen for over 100 years in America. For this reason the sinker lumber that is being pulled out of the Great Lakes is highly prized by high end furniture makers and musical instrument makers. I read an article last month about old growth mahogany being reclaimed from rivers in Belize. The grain is 30-50 growth rings per inch!!! As they uncover lower levels (older wood) they are anticipating 80 - 100 growth rings per inch!

[Karl Card]

I do like teak oil myself but I am being told that teak oil will not harden on certain softer woods. Therefore I really only use teak oil on teak, rosewoods, brazilian hardwoods etc....


The finish is just awesome and so is the wood... wow.

[Roland Martin]

Very nice call. The finish is amazing.

[brian watts]

your pics are allways very good. really like the call to...

[Bernie Weishapl]

Beautiful wood and finish.