I have several pieces of pecan in my garage and my grandmother-in-law cut down a bunch of crepe myrtle about 5 years ago that has been drying in her barn ever since.
What do I need to do to the wood after cutting down the tree to prepare it for a callmaker to use?
- cut the tree down
- cut to pieces that can be carried easily
- remove the bark
- split the wood
- let the wood dry
I really don't have a clue here I am just shooting in the dark.
I assume its in firewood form, and you have little to know woodworking knowledge?
I would find a cabinet shop to resaw it for you on a big band saw. Not worth losing fingers or eyes.
Find the callmaker you want to use and ask them for rough size and grain orientation, let the shop know the specs.
Once you have the tree cut down, and ripped into slabs or split. You'll want to seal the end grains to keep it from splitting, with a wax coating or sanding sealer or latex paint, anything to keep it sealed. Then let the wood dry. It takes about a year to dry per inch thickness. Stack your wood so air can get to all side of the wood. After it dries then you can cut it to size, wood will shirink as it dries, so your rough cut will be bigger than what is needed to use for the call. A pot call needs to be 4x4, your rough cut would be 1-1/2x6x6 and then let it dry. The call maker can trim it down to the size they need to turn a call.
Like mentioned , you have to seal the ends , sometimes the whole piece - ( like ebony ) I will coat a whole piece in melted wax sometimes , depends ...some woods are astronomical in price and extra precautions are justified - Glue , Wax , CA glue are some that I will use -
I live in a hot humid area ,the rapid increase and drop in temperature from day to night all summer long is asking for trouble , so I will take some (most) pieces of wood and place them inside my house (a/c) and store them there
A book could be made on drying out wood for use in calls , stacking , placement etc... I have a preference for air dried wood , and avoid kiln dried wood at all costs - some guys make different types of calls with different woods so their needs may be different