Chalk won’t stick to paddle

[AppalachianHollers]

No matter how many times I slide the chalk over where the point of contact, the paddle seems to look like this (only building up chalk dust around until is blows off). Is this normal? Just don't want wood-on-wood wear.


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[AppalachianHollers]

Here's the picture of the rails, if it's of any help.


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[Greg Massey]

Question , what kind or brand of chalk are you using ?

[AppalachianHollers]

I don't know. It's a piece of white railroad chalk Lonnie Mabry gave me when I bought it from him.


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[packmule]

That's a lot of chalk.

[Greg Massey]

I don't know. It's a piece of white railroad chalk Lonnie Mabry gave me when I bought it from him.


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It's hard to tell , but it almost looks like the chalk has a lot of moisture in it ... you can search in the forum on how to maintain or clean your paddle with scotoh-bite and re-chalk the lid without me having to tell you how to do it..

[AppalachianHollers]

It's hard to tell , but it almost looks like the chalk has a lot of moisture in it ... you can search in the forum on how to maintain or clean your paddle with scotoh-bite and re-chalk the lid without me having to tell you how to do it..

Perfect! Thanks, Greg.


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[AppalachianHollers]

That's a lot of chalk.

I didn't put it over that much of the paddle, originally. That's how much coverage it had.


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[HFultzjr]

You could try this:

Wipe off all chalk with paper towel.
Lightly wipe of paddle and rails with Green Scotch Bright.
Wipe again with paper towels.
LIGHTLY sand paddle and rails with 320 grit sand paper. And I do mean LIGHTLY, as you don't want to change the contour, but just remove anything preventing the chalk from adhering. Do the rails on the top, inside and outside. Remember LIGHTLY.
Wipe again with paper towels.
Re-apply chalk to paddle only.
If your chalk is wet or damp, try putting it in direct sunlight to help remove moisture. If all else fails, I've found Rainchalk to do wonders on stubborn calls.

[AppalachianHollers]

Mr. Mabry strongly discouraged using sandpaper on his calls, but I'll give paper towel and light Scotch Brite a shot.


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[yelpy]

It looks to me like you ran the call enough to smooth out the lid. I have a couple like that. Most of the time I dont even worry about it. The green scotch bright will help.

[AppalachianHollers]

He mentioned something about a "butterfly" pattern eventually appearing. I've obviously run it more from the right hand rail (that is, from the perspective of when I'm holding it).


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[J Lacey]

I'm anxious to see the results after you clean it up and start running it again. Those pics are like crime scenes. You can learn a lot about the way that call is built and the way it runs by the evidence left by the chalk and where the lid is running in relation to both sides and the differences in contact. Look where the lid is running on the right side. Outer edge up front and then drops off during the break. Notice the difference how the left side runs. I think that's cool stuff.  Burnishing is going to occur in contact areas thus the chalk wont stick to a slick spot. It's a constant battle for me. I build a better box without chalk but it's still gonna burnish and lose it's edge and have to be tended often. I'll chalk em to when its an improvement and most times a little chalk will help a call.  Like others have said, I'd clean it up and see what happens.  Mr. Mabry is a fine man. I only live 20 minutes from him but have yet to visit his shop. I have spent time with him at Unicoi and enjoyed every minute. Good luck

Jeff

[AppalachianHollers]

Chalk seems to stick better. Were still just a couple burnish spots that I brushed again with a bit of Scotch Brite and re-chalked. Probably won't risk targeting a small area like that again.

One thing I noticed—and it might be from all the chalk that's gone through it at this point—is it no longer sings from high on the rail, when I hold the paddle really wide. I don't call that way, anyhow, since you lose so much volume and it's not how they're made to run. But I wonder if I should ever try to clean that section of rails from all the accumulation. Won't until I hear back.

Mr. Mabry's shop is quite something. I felt bad trying out a bunch of calls because it distracted me from speaking with him and hearing all his stories! Definitely the place you want to set aside a few hours to soak in when going to buy a call.


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[TauntoHawk]

I've switched to almost exclusively using rain chalk on my wood Friction calls, I got it for scratch boxes but use on many of my box calls. I don't get build up, it seems to last longer and handle moisture better.

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