# Zebrawood Duck Call



## leehljp (Apr 12, 2007)

This is my first duck call, made for my 9 year old grandson in Arkansas. It is a little odd shaped but with no duck calls here to go by, I just made it up as I went. The diagrams were not quite helpful as the reed units were not as the picture showed. I made it to fit a smaller hand too.

I used 3/4 square zebrawood X-cut and lamanated/glued them together.

Finish is CA. I found the duck call easier to finish than pens generally are for me.


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## mrcook4570 (Apr 12, 2007)

Finish is spectacular.  Looks great!


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## Rifleman1776 (Apr 12, 2007)

Very nice. He will enjoy. Arkansas is the duck hunting capitol of the world. The call shows your usual artistry. But, I'm puzzled by your description of the dimensions. If you started with a 3/4" square blank, how did you bore the required 3/4" hole in the center?


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## pssherman (Apr 12, 2007)

Frank,
If you look closely you will see the seams where he glued it together. It looks like he glued four 3/4 inch blanks together to make a 1.5 inch square blank.

BTW, great looking duck call.

Paul in AR


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## leehljp (Apr 12, 2007)

> _Originally posted by pssherman_
> <br />Frank,
> If you look closely you will see the seams where he glued it together. It looks like he glued four 3/4 inch blanks together to make a 1.5 inch square blank.
> 
> ...




That is correct Paul. Four 3/4 in blanks glued together. Too much Japanese thinking here for me - makes my English wording too vague! I was more proud of the finish on this than any pen that I have done. Now I can hopefuly take this experience to finishing pens. 

Thanks fellows.


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## NavyDiver (Apr 12, 2007)

Excellent work!  The finish is superb!


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## Boomer (Apr 23, 2007)

Nice job on the call.  That is my next move and that is to turn a few calls so I can use them myself.  The satisfaction of using your own call in the field.  

Dave
Cedar Rapids Iowa


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## Penmonkey (Apr 23, 2007)

Really cool duck call! I have just got into making them, they are fun.


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## TellicoTurning (Apr 23, 2007)

Lee,
Duck calls are one of my favorite projects.. don't worry about the design.. they are more or less free form anyway.  Who did you use for a kit supplier.. I normally use HUT for their reeds.. or did you do the reed holder inside as well.. I usually just use the kit reed, but I want to try to cut my own reeds soon... just not sure about spending $180 for a jig to shape the reed holder.(wrong terminology, can't think of proper name right now.. )


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## leehljp (Apr 24, 2007)

> _Originally posted by ozmandus_
> <br />Lee,
> Duck calls are one of my favorite projects.. don't worry about the design.. they are more or less free form anyway.  Who did you use for a kit supplier.. I normally use HUT for their reeds.. or did you do the reed holder inside as well.. I usually just use the kit reed, but I want to try to cut my own reeds soon... just not sure about spending $180 for a jig to shape the reed holder.(wrong terminology, can't think of proper name right now.. )



I bought the reed kit from CSUSA. I actually bought three different reed kits to see which one sounded best. Then I bought three more single reed metal because that one sounded best on the DC above. However, I made a second call out of purple heart and with the single reed metal, it sound very different. I then changed the reed from the one DC that is posted here and put it in the purple heart and it also sounds different there. 

Saying this in different terms. The purple heart has a double resonance and higher pitch; the Zebra Wood has a lower pitch and single resonance, even when switching the reeds.

QUESTION:
Am I learning something that is common among duck calls that I was not aware of? They ARE different shaped on the outside but the insides and lengths are exactly the same.

MODIFICATION:
I am about to modify the above DC by adding a brass ring to it. The Zebra Wood is laminated and I am afraid that seasonal changes in temp and humidity, in conjunction with the pressure from the inserted part will cause too much expansion at the glue joints and damage it in a year or two.


PART 2: I know the feeling of not remember the proper names for words. Age and not using words as often as I used to causes me to have lots of senior moments. Been doing woodworking of and on since I was a kid in the 50's, but can't tell you the number of joint and cut terminology words I can't remember, and I still do woodworking quite a bit.


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## Tom McMillan (Apr 24, 2007)

Very pretty Hank!!!  I've just made a couple calls for my Son so far, but am getting ready to make more game calls.  I have a sheet from Hut that shows patterns for possible shapes (by the way Hut finally does have a new and improved website that you can order from too www.hutproducts.com ).  There are some good call makers here, so hopefully they can give you the advice you want.  Also, there is a good call maker site (so far, I've had trouble registering there, but you can view the posts and such).  The site is:  www.customcalls.com


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## laspringer (Apr 24, 2007)

Hank,
If you go to a o-ring fit for your exhaust you will not have as 
many problems with the change of temp or humidity, but the band
will look good on the zebrawood call.

Alan


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## BigRob777 (Apr 25, 2007)

Hank,
Great job segmenting and finishing this work of art (turning is also awesome).
Rob


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