Maple calls

[FDR]

With the recent price increases in imported woods I have been using more of our domestic woods for call barrels.  Maple  is one of my favorites. Here are a couple that I recently finished. 

The first is natural finished  crouch maple with a stabilized maple insert and a sheep horn wedge.




The second is curly Maple with an antique stain like some of the early muzzleloading rifle makers used.
 Cocobolo insert.


I found the wood from a guy in N J name of Kevin Henry. Kevin is real easy to work with and has a good selection of fancy domestic woods.  Contact Kevin at   lakeridge3@yahoo.com
and no I paid the same price as you will .  Sometimes its all about sharing.

Fred

[Andre's Wood Works aka: TheDecoyDude]

Wow!!! Those are fantastic looking calls! That stain is amazing Got to try that. Would it work on walnut? ~Andre'

[jcz]

The first call is nice but dang the second one is stunning. Great work Fred.!!

[Benjamin Lyle]

I'm thinking that first one is my favorite of yours to date Fred!!!  That's even ahead of anything Cocobolo, and I'm pretty fond of Cocobolo on anything!!!   Nice work brother!! 

Bear

[Henry H]

Great work, Fred!

[Waylon at JWT Custom Game Calls]

Awesome calls Fred. I've done business with Kevin quite a bit. His maple and figured walnut is some of the best around.

[Mac Dietrich]

Fantastic looking calls right there! 

[FDR]

Thanks for the positive comments guys! 

 Andre, I have not tried the stain on walnut but suspect that it would just make the walnut a dark blob. Chromic acid is what I used to stain the maple.  Muzzleloader supply houses are a good source for maple stains.

Fred

[Bill Smith]

  sweet looking calls.  really like the finish

[J.Rode]

Very nice Fred, I like the accent wedge block. 

Jason

[Andre's Wood Works aka: TheDecoyDude]

Thanks for the positive comments guys! 

 Andre, I have not tried the stain on walnut but suspect that it would just make the walnut a dark blob. Chromic acid is what I used to stain the maple.  Muzzleloader supply houses are a good source for maple stains.

Fred

I had a feeling that if the stain made maple that dark, walnut would be way too dark. I do like it a lot. I bet that stain will make plain wood quite interesting as well. Thanks for the response.~Andre'

[VECtor Calls]

Fred,

What does that acid look like on a regular maple call?  Do you happen to know?  I suppose it is very permanent?

Outstanding work, I am just blown away by the look of that caller.

Vince

[John at Finish'em Custom Calls]

  Awesome looking calls.

[FDR]

Fred,

What does that acid look like on a regular maple call?  Do you happen to know?  I suppose it is very permanent?

Outstanding work, I am just blown away by the look of that caller.

Vince

I had never tried the stain on plane maple Vince so I ran a litttle test this afternoon. The test article is a plain 1 inch maple dowel. I did the following on the test piece:
Sanded to 400 grit
Applied the acid stain
Waited 1 hour for the acid to work
Re-sanded to 400 grit
Applied a coat of BLO to pop the grain and then wiped away all that I could.
Coated the test piece with Shellac and let it dry.

Here is a picture of the test article.

I thought it turned out pretty nice with a dark brown color. I would probably stain a second time after sanding.

Fred