black palm duck call

[Aaron Wingert]

Here's a duck call I just finished up. The barrel is black palm. Not exactly fun stuff to turn but with sharp tools and taking very tiny cuts it went ok. Had one fiber tear out on me but I managed to fill it and hide it with CA glue so it doesn't show. The band is black anodized aluminum and I turned/cut the insert from cast black acrylic rod.

It'll sound good after I tune it, but not tonight. The neighbors would most certainly object to me tuning a duck call this late at night. :D

Comments/critiques are welcome!

(had a heck of a time photographing this one)

[Gary Nicholls]

Awesome looking call. I have made a few, but never used black palm, I will have to try it. That really looks good.

[Roger Chandler]

Aaron,

Why, haven't you heard of those local "night ducks?" They come out after 10 pm and start their mating and feeding calls.........surely the neighbors would not call the police on the native ducks would they? :eek::D:D:D

Great looking call BTW!

[Mark Hubl]

Looks good, black palm is a challenge for sure.

[Aaron Wingert]

Why, haven't you heard of those local "night ducks?" They come out after 10 pm and start their mating and feeding calls.........surely the neighbors would not call the police on the native ducks would they? :eek::D:D:D


Oh, we have those in my neighborhood. Night turkeys too. :D I just try to cut them off by 10:00'ish.

[John Keeton]

Aaron, the black palm certainly made a nice looking call, though as you say, the high gloss and dark color makes for tricky pics.

Through your efforts, and those of others, it is obvious black palm can result in a beautiful turning, but I have yet to hear someone say they actually enjoyed turning it! So far, I haven't had the pleasure, and doubt I will - notwithstanding it sure looks good when you do it!;)

[David E Keller]

That's great... Probably one of my favorite calls ever! I'm not a hunter, so I view them purely from an aesthetic standpoint, and black palm makes one pretty call.

[Paul Douglass]

That is very pretty. Should go into the duck call hall of fame. I have just got to try some one day.

[Aaron Wingert]

Thanks guys. :)

[Bernie Weishapl]

That is a beauty Aaron. Really well done.

[Bill Hunt]

Aaron, I agree, beautiful work, it appears that you do your own tone boards. I just started doing duck calls this past fall and still haven't decided if I want to get involved to the point of developing my own jig. I don't duck hunt and don't have a lot of duck hunters around me. So doing the homework involved will be difficult
this is turkey country and I do a lot of those.

I've seen your work on the call sites too.
Bill

[Aaron Wingert]

Thanks Bill. Doing your own toneboards is hugely frustrating but very rewarding when you finally get it to work out. Just plan on "wasting" a lot of material and know that the results definitely don't come overnight!

I'd recommend practicing your duck calling skills before undertaking making and tuning your own duck calls' toneboards. There are some good calling CD's out there, and a cheap Echo insert is a good benchmark for what a duck call should sound like. But every call has to be able to do everything generally, so you have to be able to run it through all types of calls and range of sounds to make sure you have a good toneboard shape, tone channel length, and reed setup. A call that sounds perfect may take too much air to run effectively for instance. Best thing you can do is get your calls in the hands of people that can really run them, and ask for brutally honest feedback. It is a process, but a fun process. I'm getting mine where I want them to be finally but definitely have room for improvement.

Take notes on every call you make so you know what changes what (just like making turkey calls!).

[Larry Dice]

Nice job on the call . I have just bought some black palm at Woodcraft to use for the samething. Have you tried turning it with the Easy Wood Tools? I have a set of the mini EWT that I will try on the palm that I bought. I will be happy if mine even looks half as good as what you have done. What kind of finish did you use on the call? Once again great job.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Very nice and I can see why you would have troubles photographing it! You did good but that sure is black!

[Aaron Wingert]

Nice job on the call . I have just bought some black palm at Woodcraft to use for the samething. Have you tried turning it with the Easy Wood Tools? I have a set of the mini EWT that I will try on the palm that I bought. I will be happy if mine even looks half as good as what you have done. What kind of finish did you use on the call? Once again great job.

Howdy neighbor. Safe to say we got our black palm at the same store. I've had my eye on the EWT finishing tool for a while but haven't pulled the trigger. I'm skeptical that it might not go well since the long fibers have a tendencey to pop out, but there's only one way to find out.
The finish is dipped three times.

[Joe Shinall]

That looks awesome Aaron. Love the color and sheen.

[Larry Dice]

Aaron
I will be at the KC woodturners open turning night next thursday, and I will put the EWT'S to the test. I used them on a canary wood deer grunt call last Saturday, and I was very happy with the cut they made. I could have gone tho the final sanding grit it was so smooth. I had a few of the members in the club comment on the finish of the cut also. I can't make any claims as to how it will turn out (ha ha), but I will try it next week. Have you got any ideas on turning a turkey slate call i.e glass over slate or alum. , and what wood will give me the most realistic tone? I have not turned one yet but I am really looking forward to making one soon.
Thanks.
Larry

[wes murphy]

great looking call. far too nice for the blind but the owner would surley be the envy of all hunting with him.

[Aaron Wingert]

Aaron
I will be at the KC woodturners open turning night next thursday, and I will put the EWT'S to the test. I used them on a canary wood deer grunt call last Saturday, and I was very happy with the cut they made. I could have gone tho the final sanding grit it was so smooth. I had a few of the members in the club comment on the finish of the cut also. I can't make any claims as to how it will turn out (ha ha), but I will try it next week. Have you got any ideas on turning a turkey slate call i.e glass over slate or alum. , and what wood will give me the most realistic tone? I have not turned one yet but I am really looking forward to making one soon.
Thanks.
Larry

Larry I pulled the trigger on an EWT finishing tool at Woodcraft the other day. That thing is slick. My little side business is turkey calls...I've made hundreds of them! There are a million variables to what sound you'll get. I'd recommend something dense for your first tries. Cocobolo, hard maple, osage orange, bocote...All will make good calls if you configure them right with the correct distances between the surface and the soundboard, etc. There are some tricks to it and I'd be happy to walk you through it if you'd like, just get ahold of me (wingertswoodworks@hotmail.com). Start with slate over glass though. That is the most forgiving setup as far as getting decent sound. And use plumbers Goop to glue your surfaces. Nothing else works better, and stuff like CA glue won't work at all.

[Aaron Wingert]

great looking call. far too nice for the blind but the owner would surley be the envy of all hunting with him.

Thanks Wes. I make them to hunt though...They're tough and can take some abuse in the field!

[Donny Lawson]

Nice looking calls and finish.What's the high gloss finish you used?
Donny

[Aaron Wingert]

What's the high gloss finish you used?


Spar, cut 50/50 with mineral spirits, dipped

[brian watts]

Spar, cut 50/50 with mineral spirits, dipped


what brand do you use? thanks

[Aaron Wingert]

Brian the Cabot brand from Lowes is the best I've found, for spar at least. I've tried Minwax Helmsman, and have limited success with getting it to dry in a reasonable period of time. In low humidity conditions, you can usually sand and re-dip spar in a couple days.

[Aaron Wingert]

Since people are probably getting sick of new threads with pictures of duck calls, here are pics of a padauk call I finished yesterday.

[Christopher K. Hartley]

I Know nothing of duck calls but this is great work. Congrats!:)

[David DeCristoforo]

I've never heard of a "black palm duck". Do they taste good?

[Aaron Wingert]

I've never heard of a "black palm duck". Do they taste good?

David, it is a black duck that lives in areas with palm trees. They go great with coconut. :D

[David DeCristoforo]

"...black duck that lives in...palm trees..."

I forgot to say that the call looks great. Some years ago I built some casework using palm and I cannot recall ever having worked with a more uncooperative material.

Quack...