# DIY Turkey Calls



## bow_dmen (Dec 15, 2009)

Talk to a flooring company, i.e. tile. They can get you a piece of slate tile, or a billard supply house. Porcelain tile makes a good surface too. Witht he porcelain you have to remove the glaze, I use a diamond blade on my 4" grinder. I have made the base out of a 3.5" copper pipe cap for a guy from work, drilled some holes in the bottom of the cap and glue in my slate. The 4" diamond wheels at Lowes made by task force are a must to have, when doing this makes cutting tile, slate, and glass a breeze. As far as your base goes. For your first I would do a cedar base in the shape of a box; say 2.5"x3.5" and around 2" thick. Your boards only need to be around 1/4" to 3/8" thick. Make your baox in this fashion, it needs to be hollow. So you need two peices of cedar 2"x3"x3/8", then you will need to some peices of cedar 1.25" tall by 3/8" thick. make your box out of theese peices using the 1.25 pieces for the sides and the 2.5x3.5 peices for the top and bottm. Take your porcelain tile and cut it 2x3 to make your striking surface. When you have your box complete, before you mount the tile. take a 1/2" or a 3/8" drill bit and drill 3 holes down the center line of one side of the box this will be the side you put the tile on, so make sure the tile peice will cover the holes. Now flip the box over and drill large hole with a spade bit lets say 1" or 1.25" right in the center of the box. Now you are ready to put your tile on. Glue your tile on with a strong adhesive something like a gorilla glue but not the foaming type. You dont want to use any type of rubber adhesive though cause it will change the tone of the call. You want to use a hard type of adhesive. Now that this is all done, you need a really rough grit sandpaper, something that is a carbon based, the black or grey stuff works well. Since the glaze is knocked off just rub the face of the tile like crazy to rough it up. For the strikers I like to make many different ones. Use hard wood dowels; hickory, oak, etc. Here is one I really like to make: use an old carbon arrow. Get you a length of 1.25 pine dowel rod for the striker handle from the hardware store and cut it into lengths about 3 inches or so. Drill a hole in the end of the 3 inch peices so you can glue your hardwood dowels into it or the carbon arrow. On my hardwood strikers I like to char the ends of the strikers with a lighter. Anyway these are some quick directions, but they are the basic idea. Play around with it and you can make any variation you want on it, play around and come up with your own style. When you get it right then you have your own call. I have made a lot growing up and it was always fun to make them look different and use different woods to get different sounds. Hope it helps you get going on it bud, remember you can make it however you want just give it the port holes and give it a go.


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## madarchery (May 28, 2003)

Just go to THO game calls. There you will find tutorials to do exactly what you want. Now a lot is done on a lathe. But a little ingenuity and a router will suffice just fine. Heck you can use a shallow tin cup if you want. Imagination is the limit.

As far as the surfaces. Look into the sales adds there. Sometimes buying is your best option. They have the best stuff, milled to your wishes.

Here ya go http://thogamecallsforums.com/index.php/board,3.0.html


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## Hunter Dave (Jul 17, 2007)

Just Google "turkey call kits". Lots of stuff out there.


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## biggameslayer (Jun 17, 2008)

i just went to lowes and got thin piece of flooring then made a box for it


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## archerykid13 (Aug 11, 2009)

Thanks guys. I just made an account on that we call website.

Jake


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## madarchery (May 28, 2003)

Its addicting!!!


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## snowhill (Apr 11, 2009)

www.broocksidegamecalls.com


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## maineguide (Jul 12, 2009)

You can get plexie glass in a hardware store


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## squeaks (May 10, 2009)

Try the old gobbler web site it is a wanderful site lots of help and everybody is willing to heolp and answer ?


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## dustyvarmint (Dec 22, 2005)

*Here is a three part tutorial on turning your own turkey pots* that I wrote for my blog. I don't post the measurements, but if you e-mail from my blog I'll e-mail them to you.

Also, *here is a link to my blog's link page* - you will find no cheaper source for slate or glass than Stumpy Glassman - his contact info is there.

Finally, on Monday I'll be posting the long overdue continuation of the pot call series - How To Turn a Striker.

happy hunting, dv


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## treetoppredator (Oct 19, 2006)

Jake,
I make Custom Game calls. I use to make all of my own Slate, Frictionite, Glass and Crystal but found that it was less expensive for me to buy from a supply company. I get the 3.5" slates for $1.40 each. Good luck if you need help let me know.
Mel


archerykid13 said:


> I'd really like to make a slate call for turkey hunting. But I don't know how to go about making one or where to get the slate/glass for the strike surface. Help me out guys!!
> 
> Jake


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## archerykid13 (Aug 11, 2009)

Do you guys know where I can find a cheap lathe??

Jake


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## dustyvarmint (Dec 22, 2005)

Check out Penn State Industries. You can get cheap ones at Menards and Harbor Freight, but I would stay as far away from them as possible...

happy hunting, dv


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## bohmer2 (May 14, 2010)

archerykid13 said:


> Do you guys know where I can find a cheap lathe??
> 
> Jake


Check your local craigslist, I have been looking for a lathe capable of turning metal and have seen probably 10 times as many wood lathes with decent prices.


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## DKime (Sep 14, 2010)

Basically what I did was went to menards picked up a piece of slate tile and cut out a section that looked relatively smooth to begin with. Then I began to try and achieve uniform thickness by LIGHTLY chipping of the non smooth side with a chizel. Im no expert on call making but if you want as much of a uniform sound throughout the call it needs to be as uniform in thickness also. Sound Vibrations travel better through solids then they do through air so I just tried shooting For right around .250 THK everywhere I went. To achieve the smoothness of the slate put a puddle of water on your garage floor (assuming its a power trowled surface and not broomed) then place the surface you will be striking against down into the water and make figure 8's this will remove any ridges in the slate. Im sure theres other ways of doing it but this worked for me. Then I began my final sanding attempts with your preference of sand paper. I like my slate fairly rough it makes for excellent fighting purrs and cutts. Onto the wood. All I had available at the time was some oak slabs left over from ord knows what so after planing down both sides I traced my slate's profile on to the wood and used a router to cut a cavity .250 deep. If its a little snug its fine nothing a little more sanding cant take care of. After that I went even deeper but left several tabs around the outside for the slate to rest on and one boss in the middle for a little more support. Drill a couple holes in the bottom glue your slate in, Take a wood burner put a fancy label on it and sell them to your buddies for $50 saying that its a brand new custom call you picked up straight from the distributor and you're gonna make them a deal. Hahaha Hope this helps I would post some pictures but am not gooing to be home for quite a while. Heading down to Florida Div 1 NCAA baseball starts this week. Big Ten Big East Challenge and my brother throws for Louisville. GO CARDS!


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## treetoppredator (Oct 19, 2006)

Criagslist is a good place to start. I started out using a drillpress and mounted the call on the mandrell. you can get all info on pennstate industries. 


archerykid13 said:


> Do you guys know where I can find a cheap lathe??
> 
> Jake


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## treetoppredator (Oct 19, 2006)

*kee kee run and yelps*

I remember a few years back going out of town to hunt with a friend and and forgot my calls in the truck after taking them out waiting for him to pick me up sanding them. We went through McDonalds and I got a drinking straw that I used as a call. I used it as a trumpet and made perfect kee kee runs and yelps. We both harvested turkey the same day.


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