Turning a Sprig Whistle

[preacherman]

Any of ya'll know how to turn a "sprig whistle?"  Any insight would be appreciated.  Thanks!

[nebo]

Welcome to the site Preacher. You have come to a place that is full of info. Not sure if you have noticed or not, but we love pics. Jump right in and have fun. You will not get slammed for asking any question.

Now for turning a Sprig whistle, I do not have a clue, but welcome anyway. Hopefully someone here will help you out soon.


Neel

[pete woolley]

I'm new here too, but turning whistles is what made me buy the dreaded lathe in the first place.  I make one like the original Iverson whistle.  It has always been a favorite of mine as it does great for wigeon, sprig, teal and drake mallard sounds.

I'm not photo savvy yet on posting up, but I think you can see a picture of one on the Iverson website www.iversonduckcalls.com, and Orvis has a similar whistle in their catalog made by Greg Keats.

Once you see these, if that is what you are thinking of, I can help you.  Maybe this willl get me to post a photo.

This is a great forum... thanks for the helpful posts.  I made my first celtic knot mallard call yesterday.  I didn't get things to line up perfectly as I didn't match the thickness of the inserts to my saw kerf, but it came out pretty nice.

Good luck,

Pete

[pete woolley]

I don''t know how to post photos, and couldn't come up with anything by searching.  Any help is appreciated.

These are some calls from recent time in the garage. 

As for the sprig whistle, I turn the barrel to .75-.80 inches and turn the lip at the mouthpiece end, and then the lanyard groove.  The overall length is 4".  The bore is .5" and the two holes are approx.  13/8 and 2.5" from the mouthpiece end.  The bore should extend only 1/16" past the second hole.  The holes are 1/4" or just smaller.

The wooden plug for the whistle is given a flat spot on the top for
the airway and glued in.  The plug just shows itself at the edge of the first hole.

When you blow it, you cover the further hole from the mouthpiece to get your pintail sounds (rolling your tongue), and the teal, widgeon and drake mallard sounds are all made with both holes open.

The older Iverson whistles had one hole and really only made pintail pitch sounds, but the two holer is much better.

Hope this helps.

Pete

[Braz]

Pete, I fixed your post so the picture now just comes up. And they are some dandy looking calls too. What you can do is to read this great tutorial to help you do it the next time around. http://thogamecalls.com/forums/index.php?topic=1320.0 By the way, this can be found on the main page here under Call Making Tutorials. Lots of good stuff there.

I would like to see you practice this tutorial by posting a picture of that Sprig Whistle.  ;D I don't think I have ever seen one before.  :(

[pete woolley]

Here is a shot of one.  The flat spot on the plug goes on the same side as the holes.  I also forgot to mention that I use a countersink after boring the holes.  I put a scrap dowel inside the bore to prevent blowouts when drilling the holes.

Good luck.

Pete

[GN-1]

Oh Man!! I just found my weekend project! Thanks a lot for the explanation. I have wanted to make one of these for a while. Are those measurements from your Iverson? How about a picture of the stopper? Shawn

[pete woolley]

The photo is of one of mine in ebony without much finishing. 

I hunted the same spot in the early 80's with Emery Mitchell, the owner and maker of Iverson calls for many years, and sold his calls in my stores over the years.  I always liked the versatility and tone of  the call and it was the first thing I wanted to make with the lathe. 

The stopper is just the fairly tight fitting dowel that you sand flat on one side to about a 16th below the radius.

You'll figure it out from there.  I wish I could figure my soundboards out.

Thanks,

Pete

[dogcatcher]

Can someone enlighten me as to why they are called "sprig whistles"?  All I have ever heard them called is duck whistles.  I have a guess that it is called that because it works on the same principle as a kid's whistle that is made out of a small branch.  Sprig?  Branch?  The same?  

Is the 4" overall length a standard?  I have some old ones that are about 3" long, I think they came out of Louisiana, one is made from a piece of bamboo, the others are all wood.  I will find them if I can and post photos, I cannot remember if they have 1 or 2 holes.  All I ever did was copy the store bought versions, but they were always destined for a kid's toy box.  

Thanks for the info.

Marvin

[GN-1]

Marvin,
   In a lot of areas we call a Pintail a "sprig" because of the tail they have at maturity. These whistle are a lot more versatile than just as a sprig call though.

Pete,
   Thanks again for the info. Shawn