THO Game Calls Forums
The Art of Handcrafting Custom Game Calls => Handcrafting Custom Turkey Calls => Topic started by: Duane Williams on April 08, 2019, 10:34:35 AM
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So I am a super-new at call making and am just wetting my feet. I am going with pre-made pots until I get the hang of things. So I have a few questions that I hope don't seem so stupid. Please remember I am a true newbie at this and have yet to make my first call. I have read a bunch of the tutorials, but didn't see any that directly addressed these questions.
1. Is there any "don't use this with that" advice? For example, never use a slate striker surface over an acrylic soundboard, or never use a cherry pot with a glass striker surface, etc.
2. I understand the dynamics of the hardness of the striker influencing the pitch of the call. Is there a list of wood hardnesses somewhere as it relates to strikers?
Thanks in advance.
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You will find the hardness of most common woods here:
https://www.wood-database.com/wood-finder/
There are several good woods for strikers but I find Purple Heart to work well with most surfaces. Osage, hickory, black locust, and others are also quite commonly used depending on the surface.
Fred
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Thank you. That helps. I have run across some exotic wood dowels lately like padauk, bubinga and cocobolo and was unsure how they would rate in hardness compared to more common woods.
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You will find what FDR said is a good rule of thumb on strikers.
I personally have found the for any unknown reason, some calls just "prefer" a different type of wood. For instance....I made a run of slate over glass pots out of cedar. 4 of them sounded perfect with purple heart strikers.....one of them sounded like squeaky trash.....until I tried a Maple striker.....now it is in my own turkey vest it sounds so good,
Play around!!!!
Every callmaker and every turkey hunter has a different "ear". I have been at shows and have a guy pick up a call, play it, shake his head and walk away, only to have the next guy who picks it up to play it claim it to have the best sound hes ever heard and whip out his wallet.....LOL.....
My favorites
Cedar.....slate over glass.....purpleheart striker.......low raspy hen sound
Maple......slate over glass......walnut striker........Beautiful clear tones....
Padouk.....slate over glass......whatever striker makes it work......This wood make the loudest pot calls over ever made. Dont know why.....Must be the physical/acoustic properties of the wood
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majordog thank you very much. It looks like you like slate over glass :2up: I don't want to get caught up in using exotic materials just because they are exotic. My focus right now is just to have fun, make a few calls for myself and see what comes of it. I have a personal affinity for aluminum so my first try is going to be aluminum over glass on a maple pot.
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I have made them with everything. Aluminum, bead blasted glass, copper, etc. But yes....I guess I am just old school. I prefer slate over glass.