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Turkey friction pot calls

D

Dave DeJong

Joined
May 20, 2018
Messages
47
Likes
19
Location
Milroy, Minnesota
Does anyone here make these? A friend wants items for their silent auction at their annual deer hunters banquet. I'm trying to find out everything I can about these things and definitely want to make a quality item. Any kind of help and pointing me in the right direction will be appreciated. Thanks
Dave
 
Thanks Don and Tim. Apparently this forum doesn't have a PM function-none that I could find so I did a "Start a Conversation" with you. Hope this will work.
Dave
 
Dave DeJong said:
Thanks Don and Tim. Apparently this forum doesn't have a PM function-none that I could find so I did a "Start a Conversation" with you. Hope this will work.
Dave
Click to expand...

@Dave DeJong , "Conversation" is the XenForo name for "Private Message". I know the term "Conversation" is confusing and sounds a bit odd especially if you are accustomed to the vBulletin terminology, but XenForo is British software, so what can I say. :D (just kidinng ... actually, the real reason is probably related to copyright issues). Anyway, "private message" is something of a misnomer that gives the impression of privacy even though it actually isn't encrypted nor is it truly secure. I discovered that when we switched from vBulletin to XenForo. When the vBulletin database was ported over to XenForo there were many private messages that suddenly were in the full light of day for all to see. The developers probably could have been more clever in coming up with an alternate name for a sidebar discussion ... perhaps borrowing "tête-à-tête" from the French. :rolleyes:
 
I have made about a dozen various sized turkey pot calls, it takes a little trial and error to get the proper amount of wood removed from the wood "pot" depending on the type of wood used to get the desired sound from the call. I was having good luck using some Tiger wood which is a heavy and dense wood that looks good when turned. You also need to determine what kind of sound board material to use for the call, slate is available in a variety of sizes and provides for a traditional sounding call. There are other materials being used these days to provide different tones of sound that some of the birds seem to be interested in when they get used to the slate calls. Copper, glass, ceramic and aluminum is being used by some of the call makers to provide for different tones. The better quality calls usually use a larger striking surface on top and a smaller sound board directly below the striking surface with small air gap between them. Some of the calls have a small hole on the bottom side that allows striking the sound board to produce a different tone.

You can also use a carbon fiber arrow shaft to make a high quality strikers with or you can make a traditional striker out of various hard woods. When making a striker out of a carbon fiber shaft, you cut and glue the shaft into a wood handle and then cut the shaft or turn wood off of the handle to get the right kind of sound from the striker.

There are a number of YouTube videos that cover the basic process of turning a pot call on the wood lathe.
 
Thanks Mike. A lot of my questions are being answered. Tim Connell gave a link to a forum which gave me a link to another. I know turning the pot and strikers will not be a problem but getting the "sound" might be. Years ago I did some duck calls and getting the Quack that I liked was somewhat elusive. I got about a year to get this dialed in before the next deer hunters banquet. I'm going to start out with kiln dried maple which is rough sawn when we get it and is called Brown Maple. Comes from Canada. It's also heavy and dense and nice to turn. I have a bunch of it. Thanks
Dave
 
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