Who pays 20$ or more for strikers? Why would you? I think some of these call makers have gone mad! plus then u gotta pay 5$ or more for shipping! Just can't see the worth in a stick! Sorry fellas!
As long as it's their money and not mine more power to them. We all spend money on some things that other people wouldn't think of.
I also think that is a little high, but if I had the money I would buy them.... sometimes though they are not what you think when you get them... I was quoted 30 for some recently , I would like to get about three but I am on rolling layoffs at the moment, need money for gas and turkey hunting.. ;D
As a callmaker, I do charge 10.99 for my strikers, and here is how I come to this conclusion...I use an exotic wood, a piece 10" long is needed to make a striker with 5" of stick ... this cost me 4.00 or more... I turn my strikers on mylathe, it runs on electricity ..this cost me at least a buck everytine I turn it one, it takes me 30 minutes to turn one out and sand it before I apply my finish, one bottle of Shellawax costs me 40.00 for 8 ounces.....I hope you are getting the picture, my time is important to me also as I am getting older every day instead of younger..lol...so I figure after all is said and done, I am getting just enough back for a striker to purchase another piece of wood .... the shipping I can do nothing about, talk to the post office , and besides, go to Walmart and buy a coupe of H&S or Knight and Hale strikers, you get Chinese work, shabby to say the least, and by the time you check out it is gonna run you 10.00 or 12.00 dollars plus your time and your gas.....you do the math...pappy
Well said Pappy the two you made for me work! The ones from Cabala's work also sort of. This is dear to my heart as for a cheap price we are selling out to China where the jobs are now oh but the pay is $20.00 a day Chinese and no free bowl of rice included.
Quote from: pagunslinger on April 24, 2011, 09:31:28 AM
Who pays 20$ or more for strikers? Why would you? I think some of these call makers have gone mad! plus then u gotta pay 5$ or more for shipping! Just can't see the worth in a stick! Sorry fellas!
What do you think is a fair price for a striker?
Should all strikers be priced the same?
Should one piece and two piece striker be priced the same?
Give me your recommendation for the price (without shipping) of a:
1.) Hickory Striker
2.) Ebony Striker
3.) Cocobolo Striker with Ivory tip
Striker prices are all across the board. Personally, I don't like turning them that much. It's the same thing over and over and you know how it is going to turn out when you are done. I'd rather play with a pot call where there is more creativity involved. But as a seller, I'd be interested to know how much a buyer thinks he should pay for a striker. Thanks....Andy
I get $10 ea. includes shipping and that is for all woods that I stock, I've sold a ton of them and I have won calling competitions useing them, Scheels also carries them and gets more for them than I do. That being said I can see why guys do get $20 for them their turned one at a time it takes time and $$$ don't blame them a bit, for me thats all I do is strikers so it don't bother me to take a little less money I enjoy doing it but if I was also building other calls I can see where it would be a pain to have to turn them.
Yes it is just a piece of wood but it's a piece that someone put their time in to making, to help other kill turkeys!!
Neal
So you think I should charge $10 for an ebony striker when the blank for the striker cost me $15 to buy. There is a reason that some strikers are more expensive than others. Corian takes a lot longer to make a striker out of also, and takes me about an hour from start to finish, so I feel that my time is worth more than $5 an hour to make them. That is why I charge more for these strikers.
In my opinion, the striker is the key to the call in as much as the bow is to the violin. It has to have balance in the hand and not feel like you are holding a club. You can have a super call and it sound like crap with the wrong striker or you may have a mediocre call and good striker makes music.
That being said, what are the advantages of exotic woods over say hickory? It looks good? No one else has one? Prestige?
Denny Emery
To each his own right?personally I like to collect different types of woods and work from different callmakers. $20 is perfectly reasonable for me if it's a piece I like. There are a few exotics that will cost more and are have a sound that you can't fin in domestics- padauk for one.
I really hope that call makers here don't feel i am attacking them! I fully understand that a man needs paid for his labor and that the cost of supplies need covered! I had just went lookin for a purple-heart striker from a local who i have bought from and liked his work but he raised all his prices from last year! the striker i bought last year for 12.99 went to 19.99! Just wondered if this was every1's prices or if this guy is tryin to kill us!? I have no-clue what it costs to make a striker so i apologize if offending any1 here!! Shipping is another story,dang usps!
Not offended in the least. I do charge $30.00 per striker delivered and won't apologize for it. It takes me over a week to make each. I do my work by hand and tune each striker on my hunting calls. Are they better than the $5.00 strikers from Wal Mart? A lot of very good turkey hunters think so. You may not. I have stopped taking orders because I can't keep up with demand. I am not offended in any way and wish you luck this spring.
Quote from: West Augusta on April 24, 2011, 04:53:13 PM
Not offended in the least. I do charge $30.00 per striker delivered and won't apologize for it. It takes me over a week to make each. I do my work by hand and tune each striker on my hunting calls. Are they better than the $5.00 strikers from Wal Mart? A lot of very good turkey hunters think so. You may not. I have stopped taking orders because I can't keep up with demand. I am not offended in any way and wish you luck this spring.
I know they r better! I guess i'm just bitter i cant afford it!
There are still going to be lots of good quality strikers in your price range. You'll find a bunch of them on ebay that you can get to your door for $10.99 or less. If your local guy can get $20 per- good for him, but there will be someone somewhere who doesn't have the reputation yet to command that much and can get you an equal quality striker for less. Nothing wrong with a little free market economics.
You can also make a killer corncob striker with parts from Brookside Game Calls for about $2. Or, widdle, rasp, file, and sandpaper your own one-piece from some dried wood. There are possibilities out there.
Quote from: pagunslinger on April 24, 2011, 03:50:50 PM
Shipping is another story,dang usps!
Boy you really know how to step from one pile of doo to another pile of doo. What does the cost of shipping (USPS) have to do with being another story in this discussion? Do you think that the USPS will ship your items for free? I don't think so pagunslinger. This whole discussion has to be one of the silliest conversations that I have ever seen on OG.
Pappy,
I could not have said it any better.
However, I looked into the cost of making calls/strikers the other day. My wife keeps telling me I can make more at walmart.
Here is some simply cost analysis. As I am writing this, I am looking at a piece of exotic wood that cost $4.99 for a twelve inch piece. This will make one striker. I will take this piece of wood and place it on one of my two lathes (each cost between $350 - $500). I will take one of my cutting tools which cost between $30 - $70 and turn the striker. It will take me 30 to 40 minutes to turn the striker. Minimum labor cost $5.00 (walmart pays $10.00 per hour). I have not included electricity, finishing materials, shipping, etc. I hope someone is getting the picture.
Once done, this striker may not give me the turkey sound I want, so it goes into the trash bin and I start over.
Why I still make turkey calls. Earlier this year, I had a turkey hunter call me and wondered if I could make him a couple calls for his sons for their birthdays. He wanted pictures of the boys in each call. One of his boys was paralysis-ed from the waist down due to a car wreck. I made him the calls and he called me after the birthday party. He said the boy in the wheel chair played his call for hours. By the time we finished our call, I had tears in my eyes.
The main reason I make calls is due to the great people I meet, surely not to make money.
I started doing this as a hobby and have no idea how someone can profit from it or simply cover start-up costs. A $10-$20 striker is a bargain in my book. Even if the wood was free, there has to be 1/2 an hours labor in just turning and finishing it (double this for me ;D). Add in some sharpening time for your tools, wear and tear on the equipment, clean-up cost and time, sandpaper, etc. I have often looked at prices that calls sell for and think that the buyers are getting a heck of a deal.
Just my 2 cents, but there are many overpriced things in this world - $20 custom strikers aren't one of them.
Quote from: bird on April 25, 2011, 10:53:36 AM
Quote from: pagunslinger on April 24, 2011, 03:50:50 PM
Shipping is another story,dang usps!
Boy you really know how to step from one pile of doo to another pile of doo. What does the cost of shipping (USPS) have to do with being another story in this discussion? Do you think that the USPS will ship your items for free? I don't think so pagunslinger. This whole discussion has to be one of the silliest conversations that I have ever seen on OG.
Shipping is another story!! Of course usps is rapin us!!! Now i'm feelin some call makers r gettin greedy!! That's what this is about!!
:TrainWreck1:
It would really make you upset to find out how much a diaphragm call costs to make, but companies have NO PROBLEM charging people paying $10-$15 for some. And if people will pay it, good for the company. At your job, I assume you do not give goods or services away for free, do you? To each his own. I'll gladly keep buying $20+ strikers and $50 calls. These guys are doing something that most can't do. It's the same as anything else, be it calls, strikers, dinner, vehicles, etc... You either do something yourself or pay someone else to do what you can't do, don't want to do, or don't know how to do. It's simple really...
My opinion is strikers are more time consuming than pots.....I make a one piece matched striker for each call I ship......trust me until you get into this don't judge what a callmaker charges.
Ricky