Been bored...

[Eugene Dixon]

...waiting for closing on the new house/shop. Daughter suggested duck calls for the family X-mas retreat in a few days. It should be a quacky time!

446503

[Ted Calver]

Nice!! Hoping you have a very quacky Christmas.

[David Walser]

It's not always a good thing when the women in our lives learn how to keep us entertained and out of the way...

The calls look very nice!

[Eugene Dixon]

LOL! thanks.

[John K Jordan]

...waiting for closing on the new house/shop. Daughter suggested duck calls for the family X-mas retreat in a few days. It should be a quacky time!

446503

Nice work!

Hey Eugene,

I got a call just this morning asking for recommendations on the type of wood to use on calls. I've never made one but my instinct was to use a fine-grain, dense wood like cocobolo or dogwood.

Can you share your thoughts on the wood?

JKJ

[Stan Calow]

It's not always a good thing when the women in our lives learn how to keep us entertained and out of the way...


Oh. . . . now I get it! {w/ self-administered dope slap}

[Eugene Dixon]

JKJ. First, I'm no duck hunter. I made the calls without any consideration for technical accuracy related to sound. I had some walnut on hand and thought the red heart would look cool. Frankly, I can't tell the difference in sound. I just wanted wood that was non-allergenic for the most part. I know some folks have nut allergies and checked with the fam - none of my peeps have allergies so I used the walnut.

I also used food grade finishes.

FWIW, I bought kits from WoodCraft and Craft Supplies USA. All of the WC kits fit nicely into the required 5/8" holes. The Craft Supplies did not fully insert into the 5/8" holes. The rest of the story is that I stabilized the red heart by heating to dry and heating to cure the Cactus Juice - this was after I drilled the holes. As you would expect, the round hole went oval. Still the WC kits slid right in with a hand bump or two. Not so the CS kits.

We are currently in the NC mountains with the fam and exchanged gifts yesterday. The duck calls went last. There was 5 mins of joy, laughter, and quacks - at least until the 5 mo old got scared. Still, I won the Christmas best gift competition - yeah it's a family thing.

[David Walser]

"FWIW, I bought kits from WoodCraft and Craft Supplies USA. All of the WC kits fit nicely into the required 5/8" holes. The Craft Supplies did not fully insert into the 5/8" holes. The rest of the story is that I stabilized the red heart by heating to dry and heating to cure the Cactus Juice - this was after I drilled the holes. As you would expect, the round hole went oval. Still the WC kits slid right in with a hand bump or two. Not so the CS kits."

Two comments: First, from your description, it sounds like the WoodCraft pieces were slightly undersized. That can be, but usually isn't, an advantage.

Second, because stabilization can change the wood's dimensions, I believe the best practice is to pre-drill the blanks with undersized drill bits. Then, after stabilizing the blanks, dill the blanks to the proper dimensions. Pre-drilling is important because it allows the resin to penetrate more deeply into the wood and because it uses less resin. (You don't use resin to stabilize the parts of the blank that will simply be drilled away.) This method ensures proper sized holes and well-stabilized blanks.

[John K Jordan]

David, from your comments and those of Eugene, it appears that stabilizing blanks for calls may be common. Is it necessary? If so, what is the reason for stabilizing? Is the stabilizing primarily for open-grained wood? For the sound, or for water proofing? I was thinking dense with small or filled pores may be good. Cocobolo, for example, has pores filled with some kind of resin, visible with a microscope. Species like Osage Orange and Black Locust have the pores packed with tyloses and can withstand moisture. Lignum Vitae, of course, is practically impervious to water.

So is the stabilization only needed for some species and does it affect the function/sound of the calls?

JKJ

[David Walser]

John -- Stabilization is not 'necessary'. Many calls are made without it. However, stabilization is frequently used for a number of reasons. First, if not foremost, calls are designed to be used in wet conditions. Stabilized wood is all but impervious to moisture. Second, calls use slip-fit joints. the parts need to fit easily together without coming apart on their own. A wood that moves with changes in humidity makes that joint harder to make/work in a range of environments. Stabilized wood, as the name suggests, move hardly at all. With many 'natural' woods, the amount of movement is unlikely to make a difference. With some it does. Which brings me to the biggest reason for using stabilized woods when making a call: Appearance. Wood that is so spalted as to be too punky to turn, can yield a beautiful call when the wood is stabilized. Often, interesting wood is cast in resin to make a blank. For example, a slice of burl cap or grape vines might be cast in resin. The wood in such blanks may not 'need' to be stabilized, but might be stabilized anyway so that the mixed medium blank is easier to turn. Stabilizing makes the wood almost as dense and hard as the resin it is cast in, which makes it easier to turn and sand. Otherwise, the blank would have soft and hard materials, which make it harder to get a clean cut or a good finish. And, of course, stabilizing can be a way to introduce color deep into the wood. Many turners double or triple stabilize, using a different color each time. (The result can be spectacular. It can also be a muddy mess.)

Stabilizing can change the tone of a call -- just as using dense wood as opposed to lighter wood can change the tone. However, I've never heard anyone say they stabilized just to get a better sound. So much of the sound from a call depends on the talent of the person using it. While that's true of violins, we're not comparing musical instruments.

[John K Jordan]

Good information! I suspected the moisture issue and knew about appearance benefits but didn't imagine slip-fit joints compromised by wood movement.

JKJ



John -- Stabilization is not 'necessary'. Many calls are made without it. However, stabilization is frequently used for a number of reasons. First, if not foremost, calls are designed to be used in wet conditions. Stabilized wood is all but impervious to moisture. Second, calls use slip-fit joints. the parts need to fit easily together without coming apart on their own. A wood that moves with changes in humidity makes that joint harder to make/work in a range of environments. Stabilized wood, as the name suggests, move hardly at all. With many 'natural' woods, the amount of movement is unlikely to make a difference. With some it does. Which brings me to the biggest reason for using stabilized woods when making a call: Appearance. Wood that is so spalted as to be too punky to turn, can yield a beautiful call when the wood is stabilized. Often, interesting wood is cast in resin to make a blank. For example, a slice of burl cap or grape vines might be cast in resin. The wood in such blanks may not 'need' to be stabilized, but might be stabilized anyway so that the mixed medium blank is easier to turn. Stabilizing makes the wood almost as dense and hard as the resin it is cast in, which makes it easier to turn and sand. Otherwise, the blank would have soft and hard materials, which make it harder to get a clean cut or a good finish. And, of course, stabilizing can be a way to introduce color deep into the wood. Many turners double or triple stabilize, using a different color each time. (The result can be spectacular. It can also be a muddy mess.)

Stabilizing can change the tone of a call -- just as using dense wood as opposed to lighter wood can change the tone. However, I've never heard anyone say they stabilized just to get a better sound. So much of the sound from a call depends on the talent of the person using it. While that's true of violins, we're not comparing musical instruments.