TURKEY TIME

Well the spring is here and it's time for turkey.  I've moved the lathe outta the basement and out to the shop.  In order to celebrate, I thought nothing better than to turn some pots and make some sawdust.  First off here is a whole mess of calls I'm donating to a local disabled and special needs youth turkey clinic and hunt next weekend.  They are all made from composite decking and are 2.5" glass over 2" painted glass.  I've termed them "Pocket Rockets" and they are the perfect size for kids hands or just to slip in your pocket while on the run.

I also turned a couple of full size pots but only have pictures of this one.  3.5" slate over glass in a purpleheart pot.  it has an 1-1/4" sound hole on the back so you can play the glass soundboard as well for putts and purrs.  Turned out pretty slick.

Trout fishing is just around the corner and i'm feeling the heat on the drift boat.  So, it's time to retire the lathe for a moment and start putting some effort into that.  Stay tuned....

Last Two Grunters for a while

Here's two spectraply grunters that I finished up this weekend.  Both have CA finish.  I'm really starting to get the hang of this finish.  It's really nice to turn and finish a call all in one night.

The big snow has finally melted away and the temperatures are warming up.  That means two things.. trout season is approaching and I need to get my butt in gear on the drift boat.  Should be able to get some good shop time in the upcoming weeks.  Of course, making turkey calls is a priority as well.  What to do!!

Some new duck calls

Here are two new duck calls from the shop.  One is Spectraply with a stainless steel band and a smoke colored double reed timber insert from Echo Calls.  It's finished with a CA (Superglue) finish.  The other call is osage orange (Hedge) that has been flamed with a torch.  It has an anodized aluminum band with a clear double reed timber insert from Echo Calls.  It's finished with a hand rubbed oil finish.

Two more calls

Here's a coyote distress/howler and a turkey pot I've made.  The coyote call is made from chartreuse Dymalux with my first attempt at a CA finish and the pot is made from Tiger wood with a hand rubbed oil finish.  The pot's playing surface is ceramic over glass.  I also turned a couple duck calls but won't have a finish on them until sometime tomorrow.  Stay tuned for more.

Some notes of progress

Last Saturday was a good day to get a little work accomplished.  I decided to go over to the lumberyard and use the radial arm saw there instead of trying to cut everything with a circular saw.  Here's a pic of the setup I was working with.

Once I got everything set up I went ahead and ripped to width all the bottom ribs.  For the bottom ribs, I've decided to go with 3 inches for the bottom rib.  Here's a stack of all the bottom ribs ripped to width and cut to length.

I layed out all the ribs to see what the profile of the bottom of the boat will look like.  I'm thinking it looks pretty good, but I'm gonna narrow up the transom about 6 inches.  It sits at 18 inches on the keel line right now and feel 12 inches would be a better size.

The next step was to cut all the side ribs.  For this I ripped some 1x6 to 5 inches.  Then measured in 1-1/2" on one side and 3-1/2" on the other side.  By doing this I'm able to cut two ribs out of one piece of stock.

So after about half an hour I have all the ribs cut and am ready for the next steps.  Next thing is to build the strongback, assemble the ribs, bevel all the angles, skin the boat, etc.  So needless to say, just a few more weeks worth of work.  Or months!!

Going to try and turn some duck calls tonight so come on back in the next day or so for some pics of that.

See ya soon.

Driftboat Info

My friend and I decided it would be really nice to have a drift boat after a trip out to Wyoming this summer.  However, the price of a drift boat quickly checked us back into reality.  After drooling over some pictures of some amazing wooden drift boats, I decided I was going to try and build one.  So I purchased a great book on the subject, Drift Boats and River Dories: Their History, Design, Construction, and Use by Roger Fletcher.

I've finally come up with somewhat of an idea of what I am wanting to build.

I want a two man boat that's small enough to fit in the back of a truck but yet still have the classic lines of a McKenzie drift boat.  Not finding exactly what I was looking for, I'm modifying the model known as the Trapper to fit what I'm looking for.  Although with all the changes, I don't think it will resemble a Trapper at all.  Since I'm modifying it so heavily, I'm going to build a strongback for this boat.  I think it's going to be the best way to make sure everything planes out and works well.  Stay tuned.....

Trapper pic

16' McKenzie with transom pic

First Post

Well hello everyone

I've decided to start a blog here to chronicle all the different projects I've got going on in the shop.
Deer season has past and now the main focus on calls is going to be turkey with a few predator and duck calls thrown in for variety's sake.  I'm also starting to finally lay down some lines on the driftboat prototype.  Pictures to follow of current work.  For right now you'll just have to look at previous works.  Enjoy.