Something Different

[Austy]

I had a friend from Oregon cut up and send me an elk shed antler that he found and asked if I could make him a few elk calls out of what he sent me.  He was looking for 2 sets of calls out of what he sent me, 1 for him and one for his son.  Here is what I was able to do with what he sent me.  The open reed calls, the entire call, sound board, wedge and Barrel are all made out of the elk antler that he sent me, less the reed of course.  I also made him 1 additional elk call that is a combination of both calls, a Bite Type and Open Reed in one call body using the burr of the antler as the barrel for both calls.  This double call sounds as good as the singles that I make for each of the mouth pieces.  I will have one of these for myself before my next elk hunt!!!! 



He had also asked if I could make him some type of turkey call if I had any antler left over.  I ended up with a short piece where the main beam split into a point and decided that I would make him a Tube call out of the left over.  Again this entire call is made from the antler that he sent me.  All I need is some reed material to finish this call up properly!!


On the tube I thought I would try to carve a turkey head out of the point rather than just cut it off to give it a little more flash and to set the call off. 
Thanks for the Look.

[Chris @ STW Outdoors]

Holy CRAP!!!! That's awesome. I am curious as to how you did that double call. I am actually just curious how you turn partial sections on things like antler and horn.

[Austy]

On the Double Elk Call I drilled out the main beam part of the call first and then used a MT2 Reamer for the fit of the Bite Type call.  That was done on the drill press.  I did the same thing for the Elk Turkey Tube call.  After that I was done I put the call on a wooden dowel so that I could face and turn the end of the call where the Bite type mouth piece fit into the call body and the reed for the Tube and ring for the O ring would sit.  It was interesting being it was way out of balance.  I just took my time and turned it so that I cleaned up the end and tapered it somewhat.  I didn't want to loose too much of the natural antler look.  When I was done there back to the drill press  to drill the hole for the Open Reed mouth piece.  I started with a 1/2" drill all the way thru into the main chamber and then followed that up with a 5/8" drill to 3/4" depth which is how long I make the tenon for my open reed mouth pieces.  I wasn't able to put it back into the lathe to turn that because the hole ends inside the main body of the call so that was just cleaned up and the edges knocked off with a sander.

[Don Morse]

Very cool 

[Chris @ STW Outdoors]

Now I see. The open reed is an insert. I get it. Thank you for the explanation. Very sweet.

[Austy]

Yes the Open Reed mouth piece is an insert that I made out of the elk antler that he sent me.  The insert is 2 pieces, the tone board and a wedge both with an O-ring groove and a .010" Mylar reed that I cut myself for each call.