"Blast from the Past"....

[HuntnCarve]

I was cleaning off my old radial arm saw yesterday.  It had become a make shift table over the years, serving as a easy place to toss all the clutter.  Buried beneath all the debris (small cut offs that I thought I would use, scraps of sandpaper of unknown grit, partially empty cans of finish, etc, etc), I found a small cardboard box?
Opening the box it was the "Past" hitting me full in the face!  It was the very first goose call I had ever made.  In fact, it was probably the first call I ever made, I'm guessing circa 1992?  The Cherry wood is poorly sanded, where I chose to sand it...The bore is off center.  As for the toneboard?  Looks like a 1/2" dowel rod I bored out...The reed is a piece of clear plastic from a molded package...The scrimshaw/wood burning is tolerable for a first attempt? I probably made every mistake possible in the construction of this call? LOL!  But it does a body good to dig up the past I suppose.  "You have to know where you've been, inorder to know where you are going"....
So Old hand call makers take heed and take time to reflect on the past.  And new call makers, don't despair.  It only gets better!

Thanks for looking!

HuntnCarve
Dave

[Chris at Owens Custom Calls]

I had some pics of some of my first calls on a facebook page that were buried.  Every now and again, a customer would ask about a certain wood and would show one of these pics.  Those calls were flat out ugly, and I thought of deleting them or at least hiding them where nobody could see.  Then it hit me.  It was my call making history.  I was just as proud of those calls back then as I am of the ones I make now.  I still go back and look at the progress I've made.  10 years from now, I hope I have improved even more.