How I make a pintail whistle

[jcz]

I make my pintail whistles a little different than anyone else I know of so I figured I would share my method. This is by no means the easiest way make one but it is what works for me.
Start with your blank in the 4 jaw chuck. I dimple the end so the ½’’ drill bit will hit dead center.

Here is the blank after drilling all the way through.

Turn it down to roughly the size you want it to end up being. I am using a 12ga brass so I left it slightly oversized.

Turned down the end so the brass would fit. It will slide on with a little force but not too loose.

Here is where I cut out the holes instead of drilling them on a drill press. I didn’t like the chatter marks I always got from using a bit. This way I can use a skew to do the work. Mark the call where you want the holes to be and line one up using the live center. It is not rocket science so it doesn’t have to be perfectly centered.


Here is what you should end up with. I did use some sandpaper to clean up the hole just a bit. You will get a little tear out but you can clean it out by rolling some sandpaper up and running it through the hole. You want the hole to be about ¼’’ so don’t sand too much.  Be sure to keep the edges of the hole sharp. IF you are going to use a CA finish put a couple coats in the hole before taking it out of the chuck.

Here I have moved on to the second hole and turned it the same way as the first. You can see the CA will make a bit of a mess but it gets cleaned up later.

More to come.

[jcz]

Next I turn down the wedge and plug.

Once I get it turned down to fit in the ½’’ hole I sand it with 120 or 180 grit so glue will stick to it good. Then cut the wedge to fit.

You can see I like my wedge to fit from the tip of the call to the edge of the first hole. The second piece will plug the 1/2’’ hole when the call is done.

Now to drill out the wedge. Put it in the 4jaw at an angle and turn just like the sound holes.


This is what is should look like after turning and drilling. I use a 7/32’’ bit. Only drill halfway through. Do not go all the way through.

Now turn the wedge around and drill out the end to meet the 7/32’’ hole. Again do not drill all the way through. Just need to meet the two holes so you have an air channel.

If you look close you can see the light in the top where it is drilled out.

After I get done drilling it I put a couple drops of CA on the air channel to keep moisture for the callers breath from making it swell up. (Forgot to take pic)
I put the call back on the collet chuck and sand and put a couple coats of CA on. Then I glue in the wedge. I use wood glue because it allows time to move the wedge back and forth to get the best sound. CA sets up too fast for my liking. Once the wood glue dries I put a couple drops of CA on the backside to lock it in.

After the glue has dried I finish sanding and apply my final CA coats. Then glue in the plug and brass.
Here is the finished product. Zebrawood pintail and woodie calls.



Hope this didn’t confuse everyone.

[FDR]

Nice tutorial. I am going to have to try one of these things.

Thanks for sharing!

Fred

[Bill Smith]

  really like the way ya do it n if am not mistaken the angle is on the wedge at angle.

[jcz]

Yes Bill, the wedge is drilled and the end turned at an angle so the air gets directed to the top of the call. It needs to be directed to the sharp edge of the first hole. The second hole toward the brass is not as important. It is just used to change the pitch of the sound.

[Aaron at Wingerts Woodworks]

Awesome tutorial!  JCZ's whistles sound incredible. 

The way you cut your holes intrigues me, because chatter is a never ending fight for me.  Innovative!

[Mac Dietrich]

Awesome tutorial man! 

[VECtor Calls]

jcz, you ought to see about coming up with a way to get a 1/2" poplar dowel (available easily at the hardware store as you know) to stay inside of the pintail call while you are turning it to place your side air holes.  (1 tiny drop of CA on it maybe that would break loose easily?  No, better yet, GOOP.  A little drop would hold it in place for turning, but it would still gum out to where you can remove the dowel.)

This is awesome stuff man. Nice to see someone doing it differently. 

Vince

[Tobin at Copeland Duck Calls]

That's pretty slick!  Nice tut. J.

T

[jcz]

Vince, I have used the dowel and wrapped painters tape around the ends of the call to keep it in place. It worked just fine but I couldn't tell when my hole was the right size without stopping the lathe and moving the dowel. It works better with darker color woods.

I also used a rubber band to hold the dowel once. I stress the word once. 3'' long 1/2'' dowel rod ended up in the front yard. My shop was in the back yard. Never again. It flew out while turning at top speed and went clear over the house. I saw it go in that direction but never thought it would go that far. Took me weeks to find that darn thing.

[VECtor Calls]

Gotcha!  Maybe a delrin dowel would allow you to see it a lot better.  Flying objects that size would not be good!

Vince

[dogcatcher]

Good job.

Marvin

[LANEY REECE]

NICE TUTORIAL. LANEY REECE