Acrylic duck calls

[Marcus@rco]

Hey guys new to call making and was wondering where the best place to buy acrylic.
Thanks Marcus

[Aaron Vice]

True acrylic would be either delvies or from Kelly @ midland plastics.

If you want the lava looking stuff...beartoothwoods.com

[Marcus@rco]

Is that the cheapest place?

[Chris Womack]

Get some casting resin from Hobby Lobby and make your own.  Its not true acrylic but it turns better, sounds great, and you can color it however you like.

[JP ( liljohn ) Wilkinson]

I pour them all the time. If you want pm me and I'll send you some pics and prices.

[tduff]

Hey Marcus,
Welcome to the forum. If you are new to callmaking, get your process down with wood first. It is more economical. If you insist on acrylic, Kelly at Midland Plastics will treat you right. My advice is not to buy casting resin at a hobby store. (It's more complicated than just mixing and pouring) Your finished product will be subpar.

Read everything you can here on the forum, especially the tutorials. A lot of good stuff on YouTube also. Ask a lot of questions. And most of all, have fun with it.

Troy

[Marcus@rco]

I have a lot of black walnut, is that hard enough or should I get something harder

[tduff]

Black walnut, hard maple, or Osage orange(also known as hedge, hedge Apple, bodark, bois d'ark and several other names that slip my mind) are perfect to get started.

Where are you from, Marcus?

[Chris Womack]

I made my first call a few weeks ago and have since made all these from resin cast at hobby lobby and I've been thrilled with all of them.  Some of them in the pictures may not have been completed but were really close.  Black and purple swirl is only rough sanded.  I didn't even have any desire to try acrylic shen I started and now I feel ill spend most my time on these.  If you want to try acrylic, I think its worth a shot.  Its about $4 per barrel blank. Its more time consuming than wood but less than true acrylic.  The few ppl that have tried them all like the hobby lobby resin casted calls.I've learned a few things already and although my process isn't perfect its vastly improved from the first blank I cast and it turned out fine.  Message me if you decide to try it and ill tell you my process.  Nothing earth shattering.  In turn, maybe you can improve on it too.

[JP ( liljohn ) Wilkinson]

When I first started I used the hobby resin. But now I use silmar 41. And will soon start with alumilite.  And I wouldn't go back. Not that the hobby resin isn't good enough. Just not as good I think. I pour call blanks for duck, goose, deer, ect. I also pour pot call blanks. Jcz ( John Roach ) is trying some of them out now. It is true wood is better and cheaper to practice on. If you want resin and don't want to try it on your own give me or one of these guys a buzz. We'll be glad to help you.

[Marcus@rco]

Thanks for all the help guys  and tduff I'm from central new your in the country outside of Syracuse. How much does it cost to pour your own resin and how much can you get for a call??

[Chris Womack]

When I first started I used the hobby resin. But now I use silmar 41. And will soon start with alumilite.  And I wouldn't go back. Not that the hobby resin isn't good enough. Just not as good I think.

Hobby Lobby (here anyway) sells three kinds of resin.  Two are pictured below.  The one on the left..........is alumilite clear.  Read the fine print on the box.  The stuff on the right isn't alumilite but still has its pros and cons.  The third one my local hobby lobby sells is the same thing as the alumilite that isn't clear.  White or whatever u want to call it.

[Chris Womack]

Thanks for all the help guys  and tduff I'm from central new your in the country outside of Syracuse. How much does it cost to pour your own resin and how much can you get for a call??

It cost me $4 - $5 for a barrel blank made of resin.

Price has 1,000 variables.

[COsby]

If you're just starting, I'd use cheap wood. I was actually getting dowel rods from home depot and making barrel after barrel. I had piles of those things. Then I did the same with inserts.

As for acrylic. You can get fairly cheap cast acrylic from McMaster-carr or one of those manufacturing based type sites. Delvies and midland are nice, but I don't make enough calls to justify getting that much material at once.

Beartooth definitely is the place for custom blanks. He can cut to about any length and has a wide variety.