I had the pleasure of spendin' the mornin' visitin' with my good friend Ryan Bonjour of Cedar Falls, Iowa. I decided to bring along my camera and show some pics of Ryan's shop and how he goes about making a pot call or a turkey cage as I like to call em'.
Le' Wood
(http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e119/birdhunter50613/Ryan%20Bonjour/P1100356.jpg)
(http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e119/birdhunter50613/Ryan%20Bonjour/P1100357.jpg)
(http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e119/birdhunter50613/Ryan%20Bonjour/P1100359.jpg)
(http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e119/birdhunter50613/Ryan%20Bonjour/P1100361.jpg)
(http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e119/birdhunter50613/Ryan%20Bonjour/P1100371-1.jpg)
Check out the hunk of burl
(http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e119/birdhunter50613/Ryan%20Bonjour/P1100358.jpg)
(http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e119/birdhunter50613/Ryan%20Bonjour/P1100380.jpg)
(http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e119/birdhunter50613/Ryan%20Bonjour/P1100390.jpg)
Le' Shop
(http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e119/birdhunter50613/Ryan%20Bonjour/P1100363.jpg)
(http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e119/birdhunter50613/Ryan%20Bonjour/P1100364.jpg)
(http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e119/birdhunter50613/Ryan%20Bonjour/P1100365.jpg)
(http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e119/birdhunter50613/Ryan%20Bonjour/P1100366.jpg)
(http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e119/birdhunter50613/Ryan%20Bonjour/P1100368.jpg)
Ryan touchin' up a soundboard or is he trimmin' his finger nails
(http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e119/birdhunter50613/Ryan%20Bonjour/P1100393.jpg)
Takin' a piece of square wood and making it somewhat round for the lathe
(http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e119/birdhunter50613/Ryan%20Bonjour/P1100375.jpg)
Ready to be turn'd
(http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e119/birdhunter50613/Ryan%20Bonjour/P1100378.jpg)
Time to make that piece of wood into a round turkey cage
(http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e119/birdhunter50613/Ryan%20Bonjour/P1100399.jpg)
(http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e119/birdhunter50613/Ryan%20Bonjour/P1100397.jpg)
(http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e119/birdhunter50613/Ryan%20Bonjour/P1100490.jpg)
If you look inside the tube you can see the shavin's being sucked away
(http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e119/birdhunter50613/Ryan%20Bonjour/P1100497.jpg)
(http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e119/birdhunter50613/Ryan%20Bonjour/P1100527.jpg)
(http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e119/birdhunter50613/Ryan%20Bonjour/P1100563.jpg)
(http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e119/birdhunter50613/Ryan%20Bonjour/P1100570.jpg)
A still shot showin' the shavin's flying everywhere
(http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e119/birdhunter50613/Ryan%20Bonjour/P1100571.jpg)
(http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e119/birdhunter50613/Ryan%20Bonjour/P1100405.jpg)
(http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e119/birdhunter50613/Ryan%20Bonjour/P1100404.jpg)
A Bonjour pot takin' shape
(http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e119/birdhunter50613/Ryan%20Bonjour/P1100441.jpg)
(http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e119/birdhunter50613/Ryan%20Bonjour/P1100472.jpg)
(http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e119/birdhunter50613/Ryan%20Bonjour/P1100602.jpg)
Time to make her smooth like a babes' bottom
(http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e119/birdhunter50613/Ryan%20Bonjour/P1100540.jpg)
(http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e119/birdhunter50613/Ryan%20Bonjour/P1100483.jpg)
Measurin' and Markin'
(http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e119/birdhunter50613/Ryan%20Bonjour/P1100608.jpg)
He says "Awe" I say Ice Pick
(http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e119/birdhunter50613/Ryan%20Bonjour/P1100487.jpg)
(http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e119/birdhunter50613/Ryan%20Bonjour/P1100488.jpg)
(http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e119/birdhunter50613/Ryan%20Bonjour/P1100623.jpg)
Gotta have some air holes for them turkeys to breath through
(http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e119/birdhunter50613/Ryan%20Bonjour/P1100626.jpg)
(http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e119/birdhunter50613/Ryan%20Bonjour/P1100629.jpg)
(http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e119/birdhunter50613/Ryan%20Bonjour/P1100655.jpg)
A couple turkey cages of what will become a Bonjour pot call
(http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e119/birdhunter50613/Ryan%20Bonjour/P1100659.jpg)
Doin' a little detail sandin' on the inside of the pot
(http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e119/birdhunter50613/Ryan%20Bonjour/P1100662.jpg)
Ya gotta make sure them turkeys don't get splinters stickin' their heads out them air holes
(http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e119/birdhunter50613/Ryan%20Bonjour/P1100660.jpg)
(http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e119/birdhunter50613/Ryan%20Bonjour/P1100661.jpg)
That concludes this days visit. Time to go home and get something to eat.
Thanks for lettin' me visit today Ryan
Al
Great post bird! Thanks. It's fun to see someone in the shop. :icon_thumright: :icon_thumright:
Thanks for coming over Bird. It was fun, and those pics turned out great. Hope I didn't break your camera on a couple of those pics :TooFunny: Kind of cool how the camera made captured the chips flying so clearly. Now I just have to finish those cages and throw the surfaces in them for you. Can't wait till it warms up and I can get a chance to do some major cleaning in there, the place is a sty right now.
A sty? :TooFunny: :TooFunny: :TooFunny: Thats not even close to a sty. My shops 10 times worse then that. I thought to myself "man this guy has a clean shop".
Great post Al. I've spoke with Ryan on the phone a few times, seems like a great guy, it's great to finally put a face with the name. Thanks for this post, it's cool to see a great callmaker at work.
-Derick
Man, not only do I have shop envy, but major tool envy as well. Awesome photos of a great callmaker at work. Thanks Bird.
Quote from: Cut*N*Run on February 27, 2011, 01:44:57 PM
Great post bird! Thanks. It's fun to see someone in the shop. :icon_thumright: :icon_thumright:
:agreed: :thanks:
thats awesome!!! :happy0064:
That was really cool. I enjoy the how to post. Gotta question though. How is the call blank attached to the sacrificial piece behind the blank ? If screws are used how do you keep from hitting them with the tool when making the sound chamber.
VERY Cool Bird....I am going up Al's Shop (SS Custom Calls) sometime in the next couple of weeks to hang out. I'll post some pics too :icon_thumright: :icon_thumright: :icon_thumright:
Quote from: redarrow on February 28, 2011, 10:38:17 AM
That was really cool. I enjoy the how to post. Gotta question though. How is the call blank attached to the sacrificial piece behind the blank ? If screws are used how do you keep from hitting them with the tool when making the sound chamber.
There is a screw running through the piece of Osage to make it a homemade screw chuck. It only sticks out about 1/2 inch so I very rarely get into it. Close though most of the time.
Very cool, Al!
For those of us that don't know what goes into making those masterpieces, this was a real treat!
Nice work, Ryan! :icon_thumright:
Good stuff ya'll, enjoyed it very much, interest'n to see how it comes together.
Looks like a great day!!!
Awesome post Bird. It's cool to see where some of my favorite pots came from. :you_rock:
Cool shop Ryan! I seen a few pieces of equipment I wouldnt mind having in my shop too. Good lookin calls guys. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for taking the time to put up the pics. I really enjoyed my lunch break today.
Thanks for sharing those with us Al. I really enjoyed it. Ryan sure does pay attention to detail on his calls. I told him that when I spoke with him on the phone. Heck I started off buying just one call. Then I called him back and said make it 2. Then I ended up with 3 calls at once. :lol:
awesome post :icon_thumright:
Wow, Bird, that was awesome! Loved to see Ryan at work, only thing, now I am gonna have to clean my shop up, I got a fellow coming in from Illinois, ............. naw, he'll just have to wade through it like I do...pappy
Awesome pics man!!! Great lookin calls too...someone point me in the direction to where I can get my hands on a couple of them masterpieces...
Quote from: bamagobblergetter on March 03, 2011, 09:45:35 AM
Awesome pics man!!! Great lookin calls too...someone point me in the direction to where I can get my hands on a couple of them masterpieces...
Just send me a PM and we will get it worked out. Thanks for all the comments guys. Glad everyone enjoyed it.