Author Topic: How I make Scratch box calls  (Read 55640 times)

Offline Prairie Game Calls

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How I make Scratch box calls
« on: July 31, 2009, 05:48:36 PM »
Frist thing I do is select a nice piece of wood. Pictured is a piece of air dried Cherry. Direction of the grain has not been a issue for me so you can try it running length ways or up and down short ways and see what works best for you. I like to use pieces 7/8" - 1" thick 4" long and 2" wide you can choose what ever size you like it is not a issue.
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Offline Prairie Game Calls

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Re: How I make Scratch box calls
« Reply #1 on: July 31, 2009, 05:53:20 PM »
Next I drill the centers out with a 1/2" mortise bit but you may use a forstner bit then clean the sides up with a sharp wood chisel. I drill the box off of center keeping one side 3/16" thick and the other about 3/8" thick on a 1" block.
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Offline Prairie Game Calls

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Re: How I make Scratch box calls
« Reply #2 on: July 31, 2009, 05:55:37 PM »
Next thing I do is cut one side down/off leaving one lip approx 3/8" high.
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Offline Prairie Game Calls

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Re: How I make Scratch box calls
« Reply #3 on: July 31, 2009, 05:59:29 PM »
Next I take a small piece of thin wood 1/8" thick and sand a half moon slot into one side using my belt sander. Then glue this piece to the top on the box leaving the lip protrude above the thin piece you just glued. Be sure to clamp it using 3 clamps but not over tight. Don't press all the glue out of the joint.
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Offline Prairie Game Calls

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Re: How I make Scratch box calls
« Reply #4 on: July 31, 2009, 06:07:39 PM »
Once your box is dried take it to your belt sander and start sanding the sides and ends smooth. Start to shape the box the way you want it to look. When you get it close to finish sanding thats when I start to tune the call. I select several types of wood for my strikers and have them ready to play the call on them. Choose a shape you want for your striker and then tune your box to play your striker. Thickness, length, width and type of wood affects the sound of the call. I make several strikers the same size but different woods and then sand my box until I hit the sound I want then you fine tune it by sanding the lip some rounding it off and you can also drill a hole in the center of the sound board side with a forstner bit and that will change the sound too. Thicker sound board side higher pitched - thinner sound board side lower pitched sound so go slow and check it often.
 
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Offline Prairie Game Calls

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Re: How I make Scratch box calls
« Reply #5 on: July 31, 2009, 06:10:08 PM »
In the end you can pretty them up with inlays on the side opposite the sound board or just leave them plain there are hundreds of things you can do to a scratch box to make it your own unique call.

Any Questions??
Larry
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Offline BigB

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Re: How I make Scratch box calls
« Reply #6 on: July 31, 2009, 07:35:26 PM »


Very nice tutorial!


How do you play them?  More specifically, how do you hold the scratch box and striker to get the caller to play?


Brian
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Offline Braz

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Re: How I make Scratch box calls
« Reply #7 on: July 31, 2009, 07:59:26 PM »
Great tutorial. And I have the same question as Brian, how do you make it work. Thanks for posting this, it's always great to read a tutorial to see how one of our great call makers constructs his or her call.
Braz
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Offline Prairie Game Calls

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Re: How I make Scratch box calls
« Reply #8 on: July 31, 2009, 10:02:25 PM »
Here's a few pic's of how you hold them with 2 different strikers. Use chalk on the striker boards. Pull the call toward you using some downward pressure and vari the pressure to make the various turkey sounds also vari the lenght of the strokes to get the yelp, clucks and purrs you want. You can even KeeKee on these after you practice a bit.



Please excuse the dirty finger nails I was digging Red Potatos this morning!  :rofl: :rofl:

Larry
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Offline Lonehowl

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Re: How I make Scratch box calls
« Reply #9 on: August 01, 2009, 01:06:02 AM »
Sweet tutorial Larry! Thank you!

Offline VECtor Calls

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Re: How I make Scratch box calls
« Reply #10 on: August 01, 2009, 01:16:44 AM »
 :rofl:  LARRY!  You make that look EASY!   :bigup:

GREAT stuff!  I've never seen a tutorial made on them.

The thing I would really enjoy about making a couple of them, is there is a lot of flat surface on those little callers where I could play with my wood burning equipment!

THANK YOU!

Parker
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Re: How I make Scratch box calls
« Reply #11 on: August 01, 2009, 08:27:18 AM »
Good Post Larry!  :bigup: :bigup: :bigup: :punk: :punk:

Offline Prairie Game Calls

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Re: How I make Scratch box calls
« Reply #12 on: August 05, 2009, 09:15:46 PM »
:rofl:  LARRY!  You make that look EASY!   :bigup:

GREAT stuff!  I've never seen a tutorial made on them.

The thing I would really enjoy about making a couple of them, is there is a lot of flat surface on those little callers where I could play with my wood burning equipment!

THANK YOU!

Parker


Parker you could do some really nice wood burning on those boxes I'm sure. You could do both sides too if you had a mind to.

Larry
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Offline jqcargle

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Re: How I make Scratch box calls
« Reply #13 on: February 09, 2010, 04:16:45 PM »
Hey on the third picture I see a little indention of wood, do you leave that or does it get cut flush with the sides?
Thanks,
Jeff

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Re: How I make Scratch box calls
« Reply #14 on: February 09, 2010, 09:30:34 PM »
That gets sanded flush with the sides so the top piece fits flat across the opening.

Larry
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