Need to talk to some call makers.

[The Waterfowler]

I got this from a friend accross the big pond. The history of this wood is this. It's Turkish Walnut and is hundreds of years old and estimated to be around 600 by the wood trader. It is a cut off from a stock blank sold to the likes of Holland and Holland, Purdey, etc. for 5000 Euros each that was for one rifle stock and exceeds the highest grade available in wood today. It was procured from a Turksih wood trader that deals in fine wood for the stock making industry. My friend had three calls made from it's twin piece and gave me this one. I'm looking for a good call maker and appreciate any help I can get. My two sons and I blow Arkansas single reeds and I don't like an overly wide mouthed call and several of the calls I blow have Echo inserts. Any advice I could get would be greatly appreciated as those that know me know how much I appreciate good wood in a duck call.



The middle call is one he had made out of another piece of Turkish Walnut like mine.

[LawDawg]

man that is gorgeous! what I would give for a piece of wood like that.

I would look at Mike Stelzner's calls. He makes an INCREDIBLE looking call. Although I cannot personally vouch for the sound (several others on here can, maybe even hugo), the stuff he can do with wood is remarkable.

here is his website. I would get in touch with him.

http://www.cscustomcalls.com/

[rbsdrake]

Wow that is some beautiful wood.any callmaker would be honored to make u a call mr. Pat.

[arduckslayer]

Dang Dad, that looks awesome. I can't wait to see what a finished call from that looks like.

[BJ Duplechain]

man that is gorgeous! what I would give for a piece of wood like that.

I would look at Mike Stelzner's calls. He makes an INCREDIBLE looking call. Although I cannot personally vouch for the sound (several others on here can, maybe even hugo), the stuff he can do with wood is remarkable.

here is his website. I would get in touch with him.

http://www.cscustomcalls.com/

Mike Stelzner w/C&S Custom Calls would get my vote. I have several of his calls and they very nice. His craftsmanship is second to none, and the sounds of his calls are on the same level.

Mike has has won "Callmaker Of The Year" the last 3 years in a row - he has some skills. Give him a call or shoot him an email. He would be glad to help you out.

Here are a couple of my "fancier" ones.

[gator]

from our conversation today i could tell it was gonna be a beautiful piece of wood......and, i was right. from someone that absolutely loves the look and sound of "just walnut", that is as pretty a piece of wood as i've ever seen.

stelzner is as good as they come - from what i understand having never met nor talked w/ him - and given the amount of publicity he gets over on teh fuge, i can't imagine you being disappointed.....

another accomplished call maker that is used to dealing w/ this "special" type wood is Jim Dester. his website is:

http://www.quackcalls.com/

i don't know if he does commission work considering i don't think he turns/carves but a handful each year but being versed in dealing w/ special woods, he'd be one i'd consider calling....

anyhow, bring them to the camp next year if these are gonna be more "mantle pieces" as i want to see what whoever turns them down comes up with!

-justin

[gator]

i should add, that in MY opinion, i'd want little to no carving done on these calls......maybe even "empty" panels if you want something different.

both stelzner and dester have a penchant to checker/panel/carve/scrimshaw a bit....not needed in this case as i think a minimalist approach would allow the beauty of the wood to show.....again, just my opinion.

now, i gotta get back to this "mallard feeder" pattern i'm drawing and fixing to cut out....i'm having trouble figuring out where the lil legs on this thing should come into and join the body. from my study mount and photos, it looks to be parallel to the anterior portion of the secondaries, almost at the posterior end of the side pocket where it terminates w/ the beasts underside ......meaning of course, not as far back as i had thought before looking

using 2D paper to get a 3D image is bullspit

-justin

[4dawgma]

not needed in this case as i think a minimalist approach would allow the beauty of the wood to show.....again, just my opinion

Gotta agree with this one, I bet there are some great highlights in there somewhere

[BJ Duplechain]

Here are a couple more that I have gotten from Mike at C&S

Birdseye Maple/Blackwood



Golden Honduran Rosewood Burl

[gumby]

how big a block is needed to make a call.. i have some black ash burl i was gonna use for a knife handle.. its about 6 x 1 3/4 x 1 3/4 it's also been stabilized.. not sure if that matters

[LawDawg]

how big a block is needed to make a call.. i have some black ash burl i was gonna use for a knife handle.. its about 6 x 1 3/4 x 1 3/4 it's also been stabilized.. not sure if that matters

That should be enough. I like to use 2 inch thick blanks, but I make a thicker call.

[aweyerman]

Check out http://www.dixielandcalls.com/
Brian makes a great call and runs a very small hands on shop and does a lot of custom work. He is located in Guntersville, AL. I personally am about to purchase one of his calls.