Had a walnut blow down last weekend and would love to try and get a call, or two made out of it. Any advice on what I need to do to make it happen? Thought it might be cool to get a bird with a call made out of wood off of the same property.
I can't be of any help but saw this was your first post and wanted to welcome you to the site. I agree, it would be cool to use wood that came off the same property you are hunting. Best of luck to you.
It's going to be green for awhile. Quickest turn around would be to chunk it up and saw down to a few good sized blanks that would render several call blanks in case they check. From there they can be kiln dried and turned into a call much quicker than it air drying overtime until ready.
Just a question???
Much more time consuming but dosent air dryed wood make a better call or nicer look.
Quote from: Happy hooker on August 06, 2018, 04:00:39 PM
Just a question???
Much more time consuming but dosent air dryed wood make a better call or nicer look.
I don't turn wood, so that's beyond me. But from what I've gathered it's that kiln dried wood will often gauge out good on moisture content but there may be a small pocket from an inconsistency in the wood that will mess up the whole thing. While that's obviously possible from air dried wood too, I think it is a more common problem with using kiln dried wood fresh from the mill to the kiln to the lathe.
Asking because my turn on Steve Mann's waiting list is almost here and he's very excited about getting hold of some air dryed mahogany,,which is hard to come by
I can get it cut and planed, if need be. Have access to a kiln but will probably just air dry. Didn't know if there was a size that I should have it cut to for someone to work with. Might try and contact a few call makers and see if I can get some info from them.
Gdub,
I would suggest cutting it up in 8/4.. and quarter sawn if possible.. This will allow the call maker to orientate the grain the way he would like, and the 8/4 thickness will cover almost any type of call you would like made out of it!
Air drying is a bit risky. the Lumber has the potential to check and crack if not protected properly.. i.e, out of the weather elements, wind, rain, snow, etc..
I would highly encourage you to have it kiln dried if possible.
Matt
I did this very thing five years ago. A walnut tree came down. I cut it up like fire wood 18 inch pieces. painted the ends with latex paint. A old friend of mine has a saw mill and cut 2-1/4" slabs out of it and I piled them in my garage for three years with slats seperating them and have some of the finest air dried walnut you could ever want. There are some splits and a little warping but over all it is beautiful walnut. I have one turpin box I have made from it and the sound is good.
A lot of good advise, yes cut in into at least 8/4 which is 2" think. A whole log of walnut uncut will take forever to dry. Important to coat ends with Anchorseal 2 or wax, even latex paint to minimize cracking.
I took down a walnut tree tbis year and had it milled into boards, sealed ends and racked in a storage shed that gets hot. Seems to be drying pretty fast and almost no cracking.