More Turkey Calls

[Kurt Aebi]

I had a chance to make a couple more Turkey calls.

I've decided to name my calls "Tom Taker Turkey Calls"

One for myself and another for our local Police Chief who love to turkey hunt and has been looking for a new pot type friction call.

Mine is made from Bocote and has a slate surface with a glass soundboard. I made a striker from Tulipwood and glued on a cherry handle. This one will be My call and will not be sold!

The one I made for the Chief is Maple with a slate surface and a glass soundboard, but I left a large hole in the back of the call so that the glass could also be used as a friction surface, making this a double sided call. It has 2 distinct different pitches this way.

This has proven to be as addictive as turning bowls or pens!

I guess any Lathe work, in general, is addictive! :D

[Keel McDonald]

Nice work Kurt. It's always nice to see different types of turnings. Did you use a pattern, or just wing it?

[Kurt Aebi]

Just winged it, more or less.

I used one I bought at Wal Mart as sort of a pattern and then just made the openings for the friction surface and soundboard so that they would fit and have good spacing for sound. I have been frequenting a Custom Call Making message board for some time and they have been great at advice for me. Much like this site has been for my flat and turning work.

Bocote is some real nice wood to work with. The Paduk is kinda splintery-like and the striker really required some sharp tools to keep from having tear-out.

It's fun to different things, sometimes. It is a lot like Bowl & Box turning.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Kurt they look great. I like the fit and finish. Great work.

[Mark Cothren]

Great work, Kurt! Now go kill a bird with it! :)

[Paul Douglass]

Way cool! I don't know about turkey calls. So the holes around the middle hole impact the sound? If so how do you know what size, how many?

[Jim Becker]

I just wish our turkeys would come around...there is so much development going on in the area, that "our flock" has stopped visiting. I used to particularly enjoy a group of 4-5 males that would strut outside my shop...just a few feet away from me...while consuming the sunflower seeds I put out for them.
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Those calls look very nice, Kurt!

[Kurt Aebi]

Way cool! I don't know about turkey calls. So the holes around the middle hole impact the sound? If so how do you know what size, how many?


Paul,

They affect how the sound is dispersed a little, you really only need 1, but I like the "wheel" look of the 8-hole pattern. I've seen a single hole in the center, 4 hole, 6 hole and the 8 hole pattern. I think one guy even uses 12.

It's like a speaker type setup, where there is a friction surface on the top that you scrape the end of the striker across creating sound-waves. The smaller diameter glass below the slate top surface starts to vibrate and teh sound waves exit the holes in teh bottom. You hold the pot sort-of cupped in one hand working the striker with the other. The cupped hand acts like a deflector directing the sound out and away from you.

The friction surface, soundboard & wood type of the pot and striker have much more to do wiht the final sound than the holes on teh bottom. The holes will impact the Volume the call is capable of producing.

Jim,

That is too bad that they aren't coming around your shop anymore - i used to like seeing the pictures you'd take of them. Some people think they are a nuissance and want to get rid of them, so I hope that is not the reason you don't see tehm anymore.

Mark,

I certainly plan on getting a few this year. I have exclusive hunting rights on a horse farm a co-worker owns - they've lived there for 6 years and have not allowed anyone on there to hunt and they feel the flock is getting a little too large and needs thinning (lucky me - not so lucky for the birds). The flock has 56 birds in it right now with 6-10 Gobblers (4 or 5 very mature Toms!). Then the middle of May will find me at my dad's farm in SW PA to hunt with him, and the bird population is even better than the deer population down there. Good Luck to you and your son as well!

[John Hart]

Never been Turkey hunting...don't know why....just never did it. But those are definitely cool Kurt!

[Corey Hallagan]

Nice Kurt. My son has been asking for me to do one. He is going for his first turkey in the am. I wish I had but I don't think I am up to that yet! Stricker yeah, but the box no. Nice work!

Corey

[Paul Downes]

Nice lookin turkey foolers. Where did you get the glass and slate? Did you make them yerself? I have a commision to make a few box calls and might get them done this weekend. I'd like to try my hand at those round ones. I have made some strikers for myself and was suprised that the length of the striker has a remarked affect on the tone of the call. I am ging to use birdseye. Something about 'birdseye turkey killers' sounds right.

[Barry Stratton]

Those are GREAT looking turkey calls! Let us know how they work in the woods.

[Kurt Aebi]

Nice lookin turkey foolers. Where did you get the glass and slate? Did you make them yerself? I have a commision to make a few box calls and might get them done this weekend. I'd like to try my hand at those round ones. I have made some strikers for myself and was suprised that the length of the striker has a remarked affect on the tone of the call. I am ging to use birdseye. Something about 'birdseye turkey killers' sounds right.

Paul,

I've been thinking of trying my hand at box calls, any advice you have would be appreciated. Do you have plans for those, or just developed from trial & error.

The Glass, I get from the local glass shop in town. He cuts single strngth window glass into 3" & 3.5" circles for me. I use the craft store glass etch cream to surface the glass to be used on the top. The slate, I got from Grassy Creek Game Calls.

If you want to try the round one's I've attached a drawing to get you started.
It is from Custom sawing

[Curt Fuller]

Kurt, I made a few of the box type calls a while back. I found the web site that I got the instructions from....

http://customcalls.com/makeaturkeyboxcall.htm

The top one is butternut and poplar, the lower one is Utah Juniper that I cut myself from some wood that I got in the desert. It has a much better 'squawk' than the poplar but it's also a different style. I've never hunted turkeys but I tried the juniper call on some turkeys at the local nature center and they got all hot and bothered and started fanning their tails.

[Kurt Aebi]

Thanks, Curt!

I'll check that site out!

Real Nice work on those 2 calls. That long box looks like the 1/2 moon style - was it difficult to tune?

Kurt

[Keith Burns]

Nice job on the Turkey Calls Kurt:) :) I will continue to get my Turkeys at Kroger though:D

[Kurt Aebi]

So Keith,

Don't like spitting out BB's, huh?? ;)

These are fun to make, and a local Outfitter/Guide wants one to use for his clients and will give each of them my card, if they want to buy one for themselves.

It's a good way to use up scrap from (plug your ears! :eek: ) Flat Work!!:D

I actually have a few friends that don't hunt, but have turkeys that visit their back yards that have bought these, so they can make the Tom's Gobble a little. Their kids really get a charge from it!

[Kurt Aebi]

I was busy in the shop again!

Here's one I made from Padauk with a Zebrawood Striker
Slate-over-Glass

http://www.hunt101.com/img/397233.jpg
http://www.hunt101.com/img/397232.jpg

This one is Mahogany with a Walnut Striker
Slate-over-Glass

http://www.hunt101.com/img/397235.jpg
http://www.hunt101.com/img/397234.jpg


This one is from a piece of Big Leaf Maple
Slate-over-Glass

http://www.hunt101.com/img/397231.jpg
http://www.hunt101.com/img/397230.jpg

I also made one from Spalted Yellow Poplar with a Padauk Striker, Glass-over-Glass. I finished it late Saturday and delivered it to a wife's friend at church on Sunday, so I didn't get a change to take a picture of it.

I'm running out of supplies!! ::)

Karen was out with me in the shop and made her first Bowl!!!!!

She used a piece of Ambrosia Maple I got from Jim Ketron.

I don't think she did bad at all for her first (I wish mine was as good!), but of course I'm biased. It is nice to share my shop with her!

http://www.hunt101.com/img/397295.jpg
http://www.hunt101.com/img/397294.jpg

[Michael Gibbons]

Kurt, Nice job!! Just in time for the season. I forgot to apply for the lottery here in Mi ,but maybe I can buy an over-the-counter license. Are you going to try an aluminum slate?

[Ernie Nyvall]

Nice work Kurt. I've never been turkey hunting... raised a few though.

Ernie

[Kurt Aebi]

Kurt, Nice job!! Just in time for the season. I forgot to apply for the lottery here in Mi ,but maybe I can buy an over-the-counter license. Are you going to try an aluminum slate?


Yea, I'm going to make a few Glass over glass, Glass over wood & some Aluminum over glass & slate.

I have the aluminum, just need to cut the circles from the anodized plate.

I've got 2 tags for Vermont and 1 for Pennsylvania.