CA Finish on the interior of the barrel.

[J. James]

It's over with. I'm sure you can remember your first few months as a call maker and how frustrating it can be with the simplest things. Things that you may think are routine now are new and challenging to me. All I ask is keep an open mind, we all have not done this for 30 years.

[Joe aka COLD @ J. A. Kolter Calls]

It's over with. I'm sure you can remember your first few months as a call maker and how frustrating it can be with the simplest things. Things that you may think are routine now are new and challenging to me. All I ask is keep an open mind, we all have not done this for 30 years.

Good for you . . . this is great.  Having thicker skin helps as one gets older.  Most of the better custom call makers all have one thing in common.  They have strong opinions and all have many anal things they insist on doing when making calls.  Its a mental thing being a perfectionist.  As a past semi-pro 14:1 pool player I could never play the perfect game like bowling a 300 game.  Often somewhere in the run or breaks of the 125 balls I would miss a shot.  This is why many of us love the supreme sport of waterfowling, as there is no perfect hunt.  Same reason I continue to make game calls as call making also cannot be perfected.  2014 will be my 35th year making calls and I am still learning, trying new things, changing, and yes, making mistakes.

[Robert A.]

Well now I just feel like a lazy call maker.. 

[J. James]

I had no idea that finishing the interior of the call was souch a touchy subject.  I think my next questions will be on Ford or Chevy? British or American lab? Mojos or No Mojos?   It seems like this fight has happened before and my question just opened up some old wounds. 

[Robert A.]

Its a chevy.... HA HA HA.. and yes I use Mojos.. American lab-- LOL I have a silver lab even worse.... 

You will find that i am only joking 90% of the time.. I take call making serious but at the end of the day it is gonna be the results you want and what works best for you.. and most of my experience in call making is from trial and error.. I really dont think there is a right way or a wrong way to make calls.

I am always excited to see a new member on the forum and good debates open up new ideas and allows us as call makers to expand our knowledge.. Beside if we all followed the same path we would just be a bunch of zombies....

Robert A.

[Caney Creek Calls]

I believe there are advantage's and disadvantage's to which ever way you decide to finish a call! Point in case with ca on the inside of the barrel and on the tone board it will have a more finished look, It will be resistant to moisture and it will be hard so hard that you can lose the tonal qualities of the individual wood, more like acrylic or a hard plastic.
Oil finish will resist moisture, have a finished look but can still effect the tonal qualities of the individual woods if only slightly.
Bare woods the tonal quality of the wood is unaffected but some of the less dense and less oily woods will be affected by the moisture! I remember hunting with a old Dixie mallard that would sound like crap until it got wet, I would even hold it under water when I started the hunt to soak it awhile then that baby was ready to hunt, So Chick had to have tuned that call wet.
Bottom line is there are many different ways to build a call! And no perfect call for the same two people, Stay open minded and experiment and you may be surprise with what you come up with.
Just my 

Lewis

[Caney Creek Calls]

I also would like to add I recently received a call from Joe and the man has some mad skill in call making, His fit is awesome and sound very ducky. I have already learned from his experience.

[J. James]

I don't doubt that. I just finished turning a Palm barrel with a bocote tone board. I dipped both the barrel and tone board in teak oil prior to cutting out the tone board (don't yell at me Joe) haha. I am going to let it cure overnight and aply the CA in the morning. Does anybody have any experience with Palm. I'm not sure what kind of sound palm makes but it's got a great hen look to it. I'll post some picks tomorrow if I can figure out how to do that on this forum.

I would also like to apologize for my ignorance in calling people lazy. I did not even think about how sealing the wood takes away from the distinct sound of the wood. I guess it defeats the purpose of buying quality wood if your going to wrap it in CA. However, I'm still going to put teak oil on every part except for the tone board.

[jcz]

That's the beauty of this forum compared to others. We can disagree and keep it civil.

I do not think the ca on the tone channel effects the sound. I still got the tonal qualities I want out of hedge and walnut. They do not sound like acrylic. If they did I'd use acrylic.
I do not use any type of finish on the cut toneboard. IMO this is where the wood tone comes into play so I don't mess with it.

And Robert nobody can call you lazy with all the beautiful calls you have been posting lately. Me on the other hand........ I swear I have made a few. Just a few. 

[Joe aka COLD @ J. A. Kolter Calls]

Mr. James,
Please don't let any comments on this forum bother you.  There is no fight here, simply a difference in opinion.
To finish the interior holes of a call or the top of the duck call toneboard is up to the call maker and how anal he wants to be.  Like I said I would never sell a turkey yelper or trumpet without finishing the interior step or tapered holes.  Some folks even on this great site will stir the pot to make for some bad feelings or simply to clown around.  Take it in stride to make your skin thicker.  If you gather a bunch of call makers in one place you will find serious conversation, a helpfulness, and yes, some clowning.

[J. James]

I know Joe. The last comment was meant to be a joke. No hard feelings here. But on a serious not, what do y'all think about palm. I have never heard a call made out of palm. My goal is to make a call I can hunt with before mid November but I am addicted to the look of palm. I am not using it on the tone board because the black specks peal off.

[Aaron at Wingerts Woodworks]

If you can turn a call from black palm, you can turn it from anything!  You'll see a lot of barrels made from it because it is pretty cool stuff, but it will sure make a guy pull his hair out.  I agree with you that you probably would be wasting your time trying to make a toneboard from it.

Having black palm stabilized helps keep it together, but it can definitely be turned in its natural state too.  I've found that taking steep cuts helps.  Cuts that are pretty parallel to the grain are more likely to peel out splinters.

[Joe Short]

I'm with Aaron, I'm still waiting for my hair to grow back    Black Palm sure looks cool but I would never EVER attempt a toneboard from that evil "wood." May never turn it again at all, unless it starts to bag me some serious monetary gain. On to main discussion... water off a duck's back, pal. If someone's been doing something forever, it doesn't mean it's the right way; only that it's THEIR way. If we stuck with that mentality on a global scale, we'd still be using horses as our primary mode of transportation. Do what you feel will give you the best call you are capable of producing. We should all share that goal.

[dogcatcher]

You can finish or not finish the inside, it is your customer that will either approve or not approve of what you have done.  I started making calls in the early 1960's, I finish the insides of my calls, I have never had a complaint. 

As to the CA, on the rare occasions that I use it, I use a 3/16" aluminum mandrel that was split to hold a piece of paper towel, and apply CA to it and then to the inside of the barrel.  First I put on 2 coats of an oil finish, sand lightly after the second coat and the apply the CA. 

Marvin

[Callen]

Last year I made roughly a dozen CA'd calls that myself and close friends used during the season.  Mostly to test finishes.  EVERY SINGLE ONE without CA on the inside of the barrel caused the CA to crack/warp/craze on the outer surface of the barrel.  There is no doubt in my mind this is from the moisture on the inside of the barrel causing the wood to move under the CA.  I'm not claiming that all finishes require that the inside be finished- there are some out there that are more flexible and CA is very brittle, but I would never feel comfortable giving a customer a CA'd call without the inside finished with something.   

I apply the CA to the inside of the barrel the same was as Marvin, except I use a 3/16" piece of acrylic instead of the aluminum.  I'd say he's where I got the idea somewhere along the line.  This forum is as close to a call maker think-tank as you'll find!
Cody