Howdy call making buddies! This is a problem that popped up a year ago and I honestly cannot figure out what is wrong with this wood that causes it to eat the finish. ???
It has only happened on 3 calls, made of American and Claro walnut. something is gradually eating away at the wood finish, and I am stumped.
These two calls I finished up a year ago and the problem popped up so I set them aside. Pulled them back out and wow, the finish is deteriorating. On all of these calls I gave them a pure tung oil finish. 7 coats of a 50/50 mix of citrus solvent and pure tung oil to get the finish down deep into the wood. Then 7 coats of hot hand rubbed pure tung oil, and allowed to cure for 30 days before waxing. The problem showed itself when I waxed the calls, as the wax would not adhere to the polluted areas of the wood.
Here are the calls from a year ago:
Here is a brand new English walnut call with claro walnut burl accents. I have a pencil pointed at the affected areas. I have waxed it with 4 coats and it still will not take the wax...
Go figure.
Something must be in the wood, an acid or something that is eating the tung oil and not allowing the wax to stick.
Anybody run across such a strange thing??
Doug
