Quack

Left to right: Cherry, Spalted maple from family cottage in MI, dyed maple.

Here are a few recent duck call bodies I made to pair with some nice double-reed Echo call inserts. Used some nice dry wood from the scrap bin. Bored them out to 5/8" and added brass bands for stability. A few coats of Danish Oil, a few coats of Tru-oil, and a good smoothing with #0000 steel wool. They look great and sound amazing with the Echo call inserts. Really nice top end hail calls, which have always been tricky with some of the single reed calls I've made.

Honestly, I can't wait to turn some more. Next time I'll experiment with pinning the bands on and see how they turn out.

Experiment in hollow forms

Something that I have wanted to try for a year or so. Hollow forms are wooden objects turned on the lathe where a bulk of the insides are removed with specialty tools (plus some careful technique and great luck). They are tricky and dangerous and take a steady hand and patience. However the outcome can be a really interesting conversation piece of art.

I experimented with turning some finial tops to add some visual interest and to cap off the small openings. I think they "turned" out well and have found some happy homes with family members.

Large 11" diameter hollow form made from American Cherry. Finial turned from Peruvian walnut (dyed black).

Medium hollow form turned from a piece of spalted maple. The photo shows (unfinished) Peruvian walnut finial and lid. The spalted maple was a bit punky to work with because of how soft it is. Next time I think I will run it through a stabilization process before finish turning.

The working (pre-finish) body of the spalted maple hollow form. Ready for sanding and Danish Oil. Notice the bit of chip out of the end grain around the inside of the opening. Drove me a bit nuts, but sometimes minor defeats lead to learning processes.

A photo of the hollow form on the lathe after turning the general shape of the bottom profile.