Turning blowndown walnut into call?

[G-dub]

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.

[Sir-diealot]

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.

[HookedonHooks]

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.

[Happy hooker]

Just a question???
Much more time consuming but dosent air dryed wood make a better call or nicer look.

[HookedonHooks]

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.

[Happy hooker]

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

[G-dub]

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.

[TheBigSnood]

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

[Jacobson]

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.

[Mad_Baron]

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.