My first attempt at a pot call and a striker

[Robert Reed]

Well i didn't quite pull it off but I did learn a few things. I attempted to follow Mac Dietrich's tutorial for the pot. I didn't have high hopes for it working out as I was using some cherry that a friend gave me and it was only about 13/16" thick and I'm still waiting on some forstner bits to come in so I drilled the center hole with a spade bit and the outer holes with regular bits. Surprisingly it was going pretty well until I got a bit to close to the pedestal and blew through it.

I was actually pretty happy with how the striker came out especially since I just guessed on how to do it but it doesn't seems to sound very good on any of my calls, maybe I can tweak it a bit.

Anyway, thanks to everyone sharing their knowledge on this forum, I have a lot to learn but loving this already!

[K.Ruge calls]

That's a bummer
Nice looking PEICE of cherry
Striker looks good
I'm not saying that this was your problem BUT
Keeping the tools sharp helps ALOT  ....

[Robert Reed]

That's a bummer
Nice looking PEICE of cherry
Striker looks good
I'm not saying that this was your problem BUT
Keeping the tools sharp helps ALOT  ....

I will be getting more pieces, these were scraps from a personal sawmill, hopefully in the future I can get stuff that is a little thicker. I have some 1"+ cherry blanks that I got off of ebay that I will try with again once my forstner bits come in next week.

The problem was that I mad the center whole too large or I thinned the pedestal down too much, which ever way you want to look at it. I turned the pot around and and clamped it in my chuck using the pedestal, as soon as I touched it the call broke free. Hopefully a mistake I will learn from and avoid in the future.

I was happy with how the striker came out physically, unfortunately it sounds terrible right now on every call I have tried it on but I will work on tuning it. Thinking I may need to shorten it.

All in all I'm happy with what I was able to don considering I have touched a lathe in 16 or 17 years and even then I only used it once or twice in shop class.

[FDR]

Strikers are tough! Purple heart makes some of the best strikers and seems to sound good on most playing surfaces. Try a striker from a commercial call to see how they sound with your pot.

Don't know if you have found these folks yet but I buy a lot of material from them. They have instructions on the site and kits available.

https://www.shipleysoutdoors.com/pot-calls.aspx

Fred

[Robert Reed]

Strikers are tough! Purple heart makes some of the best strikers and seems to sound good on most playing surfaces. Try a striker from a commercial call to see how they sound with your pot.

Don't know if you have found these folks yet but I buy a lot of material from them. They have instructions on the site and kits available.

https://www.shipleysoutdoors.com/pot-calls.aspx

Fred

Yes, I have a bunch of strikers and calls to compare with. This one is high pitched, almost squeaky on everything I have tried it on and seems to catch/jump on the surface rather than glide. I will try re-profiling it or shortening it. Currently it is slightly flare tipped as well so maybe taking it down past the flare would help as well.

I am aware of shipley's but I just placed my first order from grassy creek for some surfaces and soundboards.

Thanks!

[FDR]

Looks heavy to me. You might try drilling a cavity in the handle to remove some of the weight. What is the striker made from?

FYI one of the best strikers I have used was a plastic chop stick from a local Chinese restaurant. The thing is light and maybe 10 inches long. Long is not necessarily a bad thing! Heavy will kill the resonance of the pot.

Fred

[Robert Reed]

Looks heavy to me. You might try drilling a cavity in the handle to remove some of the weight. What is the striker made from?

FYI one of the best strikers I have used was a plastic chop stick from a local Chinese restaurant. The thing is light and maybe 10 inches long. Long is not necessarily a bad thing! Heavy will kill the resonance of the pot.

Fred

It's made of cherry and compared to my other strikers actually feels quite light to me.  The material I started with was quite thin so the larger part of the striker is actually kind of small. I was thinking about trying to hollow it out but haven't quite worked out how to do that yet.

[FDR]

Some cherry I have worked is actually pretty soft. Cheery does make a great pot!
How does the call sound with your best commercial striker? Acrylic striker?
If the striker is too soft you might be able to save the striker by soaking the tip in CA (super glue) and then re-sanding/reshaping the tip.

Fred

[Evan @ CBC Custom Calls]

From my experience, a cherry striker alone can be too lightweight.  Adding a little weight can help bring the tone down.  Several times I've glued a penny to the head and had good luck.  Cherry can make an excellent striker for a slate surface.  Just my 2 cents!