New Wingbones

[DLO]

I had three buddies come out first season and I made calls for them, each from their own bird. I kept the other wings for my calls.

The collection:

 

[Shredder]

Nice work man.....they look awesome

 

[bjkpharmd]

ART!

 

[Daver]

I've made a number of wingbone calls over the years, but they have never looked that nice! Congrats!

How are you marking them? Is that an etching or an ink, etc? If it is ink or paint, how do you keep it from rubbing off?

Also, what material/glue are you using to bond the pieces together?

They look great!

 

[DLO]

Thanks D! All the drawing/writing on the calls are done with Indian Ink brush pens. Faber-Castell makes some really nice ones. You can get a 6-pen package for $10.00. I just use the "Shades of Gray" set.( you can pick them up at about any hobby place) The ink is let to dry and sprayed with several coats of clear satin enamel...make sure to put a very light coat on first, it helps set the ink. After the first coat is dry, you can put as many coats on as you want. I ended up going with the satin finish instead of the gloss, it's better when you're in the field. The color near/on the joints is just thread of different colors, tied in a serving knot. I hijacked a bottle of my wife's clear fingernail polish to set the thread in place before I sprayed the whole call with the clear coat. The joints are packed with cotton to fill any voids and any two part apoxy works to cement it all togather. After the apoxy cures, the call is sanded, decorated, clear coated and... there you have it.

If you guys want one made, PM me. I'll just ask that you send me 2 wings, I'll keep one. Let me know the date of kill, weight, beard length and spur length and I'll put all that data on your call. You can send the spurs if you like and I'll string them on the lanyard like the two calls in the pics. I've been doing some screwing around with tuning the calls made from larger birds. The problem with using Tom wingbones is that they really sound a lot deeper than calls made from hens. I can change the pitch if you want.

It's a fun pass time, I'd be happy to put a call togather for you guys.

 

[Full Quiver]

WOW! Those look great, nice work. You are definitely an artist with those.

 

[Daver]

I also am of the opinion that the tom bones produce a deeper sound than the hen bones. In fact my best call, and the one I use pretty much exclusively, came from a bearded hen that I shot about 15 years ago. I also normally only used two bone segments, not the three that you have. That could influence the tonal qualities too.

To bind the separate pieces together I used the liquid rubber product found in hardware stores that is normally used to dip the handles of tools for a better grip, etc. It was available in red or blue, so that gave it a little color, but yours are definitely more colorful yet. You had to be sure to let that stuff dry well before you started sucking on that puppy, if you know what I mean!

I've already got wings and bones to last me awhile. I might build a couple more for my boys kind of like yours though too. I can't draw as well you can, but I think my youngest boy might be able to, he is quite artistic. Thanks for the info.

 

[KPM]

Nice work Dave! I will have to work on getting a pair to you.

 

[Kat]

WOW!!! They look great Dave!

 

[DLO]

I appreciate all the kudos everyone, but it's really easy to do, you just have to take the time and do it. Seriously, anyone can do it!