I'm interested in starting call making and I can't seem to find a good place to buy blanks for strikers. Where do you guys get your call blanks? I've started collecting some wood myself but it takes time to season. And I would like to know the best way to season wood to prevent bad cracking? Should I cut it into blanks before seasoning to speed things up or should I just seal the ends after I cut it into small logs? I'm new to this and any help will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance for your help.
I think one place is like bell products, or bell forests, something like that. Im not positive if you need more help shoot me a PM and ill be glad to help!
If you are looking to make strikers any 1" thick board can be cut to make strikers, hickory,cherry,walnut,the list goes on and on. You would be surprised what you can find, I just picked up a bunch of ipe scraps from a deck project which make great strikers. Try Craig's list for a local saw mill.
Dave
What kind of blanks are you looking for. I may be able to help you.
Curt
Quote from: C W on March 18, 2014, 09:52:06 PM
What kind of blanks are you looking for. I may be able to help you.
Curt
Right now I'm really just making a few strikers, so I need blanks that are about 9x1x1. Sadly I don't have a lathe and it takes forever for me to get a decent looking striker made. I have been using a pocket knife, round file, and a drill for sanding. They do turn out better than I would expect but it just takes forever. I'm looking into getting a drill press or a lathe later on. I may post a pic of a few tonight if I can figure out how to add pics.
Currently I have a little bit of cedar and hickory left. I'd like to try walnut, maple, cherry, or purple heart.
Here are a few I've made.
KY Gobbler, Welcome to the addiction of call making. I started the same way you are doing it. All by hand. To keep the wood from checking, I put wood glue on the ends. Titebond 3 works well. Get wood anywhere you can. Pallets, tree trimming, firewood piles etc. Work free or cheap wood first.
There are lots of places to buy exotics. Go to google and search the type of wood that you are looking for. Ebay and Woodcraft also carry a lot of exotic and domestic woods.