Cutting the sides of your call

Cutting the sides is the important part. The thickness should start out at roughly ¼ inch at the bottom and gently slope into 1/8 inch at the top of the call. The slimming of the sides should take place gradually. You should never simply sand down the top of the call to make it 1/8 inch. Gradually slope the call from ¼ at the bottom to about 1/8 at the top.

The rounding (radius) of the call box curve is, in my opinion the most important part. Many callmakers use chalk to enhance the sound of their calls. I did too until I met a man named James Remington. He taught me something very important about call making. He told me to make a few calls that sound great rather than make many calls that sound good. His theory is, if it takes chalk to get the sound out of the call, you built it wrong. At almost 90 years of age, he knows his business.

I have this friend that's one of those vegetarians. She's always yelling at me for shooting animals for food, so I went out in her garden and shot a head of lettuce...she was just as mad! Somehow I bet if you look in a book, vegetarian is a Native American word for "Lousy Hunter."

I sometimes still apply a bit of chalk, but always make sure my call sounds good before I put on the chalk. Chalk helps keep the call dry and therefore helps in humid or damp conditions. The white chalkboard chalk is the best. Some of the colored chalk contains wax that can impede the sound of your call.

The curve at the top of the call should start out at it's lowest point in front and finish at the same point at the back of the call. In the middle the curve should raise 1/5 inch above the lowest points. Clear as mud?

Take this template ( figure 3) and scan or copy it. Use the enlarge button on your scanner or copier to resize the image.When the template measures 7 inches from end to end it's ready to use. If for some reason you can't resize the image just drop me a note at:

Chip Brown
P.O. Box 363
Maynardville, TN 37807

Include a stamped self addressed envelope and I'll mail you the templates free of charge.

Using this template means you can build this call and never really understand what I just said about the curve. Simply cut out the template and use it to trace the outline onto your wood. Cut it out twice and you just made the two sides. Don't worry about the slope from ¼ to 1/8 inch just yet, we'll do that later.

That's about it for the sides right now, we'll come back to them later.

The secret of making the perfect turkey call is knowing what you're doing. Once you can fake that you've got it made.

Section 3 Making the paddle

About the only reliable way to make the paddle is with a belt sander. James Remington helped me make a machine to produce paddles. It works great, but it's not necessary, a belt bench sander will do. In fact, I make most of my paddles with a belt sander.

Cut your wood about 2 inches wide and about 3/8 inch thick. Resize the template above (figure 4 ) on a scanner or copier to measure 10 inches and use it to cut out your blank paddle. It's okay to laminate (glue) two pieces together to get the thickness. Probably this isn't something you'll want to do making calls for other folks, but for this call it's okay.

Now, apply the wood to the sander lengthwise. Never sand the paddle across the grain. Carefully, as the bench sander turns, rock the wood back and forth to form a radius on one side. The perfect radius is based in a 3.5 inch diameter circle.

This takes a while to make a good paddle. Remember to wear a dust mask. But keep this in mind, the more time you spend getting your paddle sanded right, means less time tuning the call. Get good at this and you'll eventually end up making calls that need no tuning.

I guess, over all, more time should be spent making the paddle than any other part of the call.

When done you should have a paddle about 10 inches long and shaped like figure 4. The bottom of the paddle should be shaped like figure 5.

I was raised in a very strict home, in fact I didn't learn to curse until I learned to drive. Fortunately, my 2 year old daughter Hannah has it better, she's learning just by driving around with me.

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