tbartley
01-07-2014, 09:11 PM
ShawneeB asked, in another thread, how I made some calls, so I thought I would put up a couple pics of those I made over the holidays. What I did was go out into the www and check some youtube videos. There is one of a gentleman who basically makes the entire thing in a short time in his shop. I don’t have all the tools he had or all the same materials, so I used what I had. It’s a place to start and learn, right?
The first I made has the wooden tone board and clear plastic reed and is at the bottom of the four. That call is sooooo loud I hate to use it in the house when playing around. It is a great rabbit distress and I can get some hurt pup yelps out of it, too. The plastic reed is from the blister packaging off an EGW scope rail and it is a tad thick, actually too thick. The wooden tone board mouth piece was made by itself and I used Elmers wood glue to glue it to a piece of poplar that I had in the house. The hole in the tone board is 3/16” and the hole in the poplar “horn” is 1/2" all the way through. I enlarged the groove under the reed a little to make it a bit bigger than the 3/16 that runs from the end of the reed to the end of the tone board. I used Shoe Goop to glue it in place because I did not cut a proper groove to hold the reed, so o-rings were useless. I used a hacksaw and the cut was too wide. But hey, it worked and I doubt that reed will ever wear out.
http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m242/iamtyronne/Irvine-20140107-00191_zpse4201b5b.jpg (http://s106.photobucket.com/user/iamtyronne/media/Irvine-20140107-00191_zpse4201b5b.jpg.html)
I made a second wood tone board call (third one down) and used a coping saw (nice thin cut) to make the reed groove and then utilized o-rings to hold the reed in place. That horn has a ¾” inch hole through it and the wooden tone board has a 3/16” hole just like the first that was enlarged a bit under the reed. I used plastic from the bottom of a milk jug to make the “white” reed. Side plastic is too thin, but the bottom of the jug is thickest at the center seams and thins out as it approaches the edge. Ya gotta use what you have…right? The softer reed yields lower volume and is a good low volume distress call and I can get a howl out of it, too, at low volume. It’s also good for pup noises. It is glued to the horn as its predecessor.
http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m242/iamtyronne/Irvine-20140107-00192_zps8eece5db.jpg (http://s106.photobucket.com/user/iamtyronne/media/Irvine-20140107-00192_zps8eece5db.jpg.html)
The two calls at the top of the pics with the mysterious gray plastic looking tone boards are just this…the tone boards are made from toilet supply line. Yep, that little 3/8” line that runs from the floor to your toilet, unless you have a braided or metal line. Maybe now it’s time to upgrade and use that ole plastic one to help you make some calls. :) I had a new one and was looking at it and decided to try it. Without the horns, these little guys are handy as can be, but I wanted horns for them too. The tone boards were cut with a box opener because that line is soft. The reeds are scissor cut from the plastic of Crosman pellet blister packaging. The next time you are in your favorite Walmart and are looking at Crosman pellets in their package, you will know that you are looking at several reeds that can be cut from that clear plastic. I first used side plastic from a milk jug, but it would get soft as it warmed up. I kept them though in case they work well in the cold. Little o-rings hold the reeds in place and I used a coping saw again for the small groove you see that holds the reed in place. The top one howls great and the second one howls at a higher pitch. Even though I tried to cut them the same, they differ that little bit. The horn doesn’t affect their respective pitch because they sound the same with or without their horn. But that’s okay because I have to slightly different calls.
I put the ruler on there with them so you can get an idea of the scale of things.
http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m242/iamtyronne/Irvine-20140107-00193_zps675a20ca.jpg (http://s106.photobucket.com/user/iamtyronne/media/Irvine-20140107-00193_zps675a20ca.jpg.html)
So if ya wanna burn some time during a cold day when you’ve nothing else to do. Try making some calls and post on here how ya did it. I’m sure someone has already completed some DIY reed calls and they are a lot better than mine. I just like doing stuff like this and gave it a shot. Hey, I’ve got four calls that I didn’t have a month ago. Bottom line is that if I can do it, anyone can.
With these things, you learn as you go along. Try different plastics for reeds and if you find something that works well, let people here know. I cut extra reeds and put them in a little ziplock bag in case they break in the cold or I lose the one on the call.
I've only gotten to field test them here at the house and they fire up the neighbor's dogs as soon as I cut loose, so hopefully they'll work on those wiley dogs, too.
Hope this helps and, if nothing else, you got a good laugh looking at these.
The first I made has the wooden tone board and clear plastic reed and is at the bottom of the four. That call is sooooo loud I hate to use it in the house when playing around. It is a great rabbit distress and I can get some hurt pup yelps out of it, too. The plastic reed is from the blister packaging off an EGW scope rail and it is a tad thick, actually too thick. The wooden tone board mouth piece was made by itself and I used Elmers wood glue to glue it to a piece of poplar that I had in the house. The hole in the tone board is 3/16” and the hole in the poplar “horn” is 1/2" all the way through. I enlarged the groove under the reed a little to make it a bit bigger than the 3/16 that runs from the end of the reed to the end of the tone board. I used Shoe Goop to glue it in place because I did not cut a proper groove to hold the reed, so o-rings were useless. I used a hacksaw and the cut was too wide. But hey, it worked and I doubt that reed will ever wear out.
http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m242/iamtyronne/Irvine-20140107-00191_zpse4201b5b.jpg (http://s106.photobucket.com/user/iamtyronne/media/Irvine-20140107-00191_zpse4201b5b.jpg.html)
I made a second wood tone board call (third one down) and used a coping saw (nice thin cut) to make the reed groove and then utilized o-rings to hold the reed in place. That horn has a ¾” inch hole through it and the wooden tone board has a 3/16” hole just like the first that was enlarged a bit under the reed. I used plastic from the bottom of a milk jug to make the “white” reed. Side plastic is too thin, but the bottom of the jug is thickest at the center seams and thins out as it approaches the edge. Ya gotta use what you have…right? The softer reed yields lower volume and is a good low volume distress call and I can get a howl out of it, too, at low volume. It’s also good for pup noises. It is glued to the horn as its predecessor.
http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m242/iamtyronne/Irvine-20140107-00192_zps8eece5db.jpg (http://s106.photobucket.com/user/iamtyronne/media/Irvine-20140107-00192_zps8eece5db.jpg.html)
The two calls at the top of the pics with the mysterious gray plastic looking tone boards are just this…the tone boards are made from toilet supply line. Yep, that little 3/8” line that runs from the floor to your toilet, unless you have a braided or metal line. Maybe now it’s time to upgrade and use that ole plastic one to help you make some calls. :) I had a new one and was looking at it and decided to try it. Without the horns, these little guys are handy as can be, but I wanted horns for them too. The tone boards were cut with a box opener because that line is soft. The reeds are scissor cut from the plastic of Crosman pellet blister packaging. The next time you are in your favorite Walmart and are looking at Crosman pellets in their package, you will know that you are looking at several reeds that can be cut from that clear plastic. I first used side plastic from a milk jug, but it would get soft as it warmed up. I kept them though in case they work well in the cold. Little o-rings hold the reeds in place and I used a coping saw again for the small groove you see that holds the reed in place. The top one howls great and the second one howls at a higher pitch. Even though I tried to cut them the same, they differ that little bit. The horn doesn’t affect their respective pitch because they sound the same with or without their horn. But that’s okay because I have to slightly different calls.
I put the ruler on there with them so you can get an idea of the scale of things.
http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m242/iamtyronne/Irvine-20140107-00193_zps675a20ca.jpg (http://s106.photobucket.com/user/iamtyronne/media/Irvine-20140107-00193_zps675a20ca.jpg.html)
So if ya wanna burn some time during a cold day when you’ve nothing else to do. Try making some calls and post on here how ya did it. I’m sure someone has already completed some DIY reed calls and they are a lot better than mine. I just like doing stuff like this and gave it a shot. Hey, I’ve got four calls that I didn’t have a month ago. Bottom line is that if I can do it, anyone can.
With these things, you learn as you go along. Try different plastics for reeds and if you find something that works well, let people here know. I cut extra reeds and put them in a little ziplock bag in case they break in the cold or I lose the one on the call.
I've only gotten to field test them here at the house and they fire up the neighbor's dogs as soon as I cut loose, so hopefully they'll work on those wiley dogs, too.
Hope this helps and, if nothing else, you got a good laugh looking at these.