I have been playing calls for many years and have never known why a box call makes no sound on the back stroke. I started making scratch boxes a couple of years ago and noticed the same thing about them. This is what allows us to play calls with out having to pick the striker up on the back stroke. Can anyone explain why it does not make sound on the back stroke? I know it really doesn't matter, but I have wondered about it many times.
The concave nature of the lid would be my guess—increasing friction on the forward stroke vs. decreasing friction on the back stroke. If you think of it like a hill, going uphill forward, downhill back. That and the angle of the walls/rails. But that's just a guess as I'm certainly no callmaker.
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Even with a flat striker on a scratch box it does not make sound on the back stroke.