Long overdue, this week’s post covers how to make a striker for your turkey call.

Two recent dustyvarmint woodwork’s calls with strikers.

For the sake of brevity there are a lot of details missing. If you have questions, ask. I have no secrets.

Safety – Make sure you practice safety in the shop including eye, ear, respiratory and body part safety practices.

I start with some 1″ thick wood, poplar here, and rip it to 1″ wide on my table saw. I mark the center of the end and tap it with an awl for better centering on the tailstock live center.

I mount it in my PSI Barracuda chuck and bring up the tailstock.  

dv’s Time-Out Corner:  Strikers can be turned on a spur drive.  However, deflection (the spinning wood bouncing away and then back into the gouge’s cutting edge) at the transition from fat to skinny, or top to bottom, caused me to break a number of them.  This occurred even with sharp tools.  Having a broken striker come flying off the lathe at me wasn’t much fun.  I’ve not broken a single striker since switching to a jaw chuck.

I rough it with a 3/4″ roughing gouge.

I mark it according to my spec sheet, size it in with the parting tool and verify the measurement with calipers. Determine your sizes by your preference or using a commercial sample.

I finish the top with a 3/8″ detail gouge.

I size in the bottom a little more and will begin turning the bottom end. I do this in stages as I’ll start to encounter deflection the smaller the diameter becomes.

With my detail gouge I turn the bottom of the balance and verify measurements.

I round over the top end. Then I get out the turner’s friend, sandpaper, and smooth everything out.

I use a story stick to lay out some decorative lines.

I score the lines with a skew and then burn them in with some florist wire. 

*Caution *Caution *Caution – Never, ever wrap the wire around your fingers and always wear eye protection.  You could lose fingers if the wire gets caught up on the striker or lathe.  Use dowels as handles and hold very slightly with finger tips. 

I add some sanding sealer. I keep all finish 1″ from the end using tape.  I used to use Myland’s Melamine Lacquer as a sealer, which I really liked, but I couldn’t find it locally and the hazardous material shipping charge made it too expensive.  So, I switched to Deft thinned 50% with lacquer thinner which works well. 

I cut the top and bottom waste off at the bandsaw.

I sand the nub on the top down with some 150 grit on the belt sander.

I form a rounded tip on the end with the belt sander.

Here I give the top a little TLC with sand paper, refine the rounded tip with some 100 grit and then 60 grit sand paper and add two coats of sanding sealer to the top.  The striker is now ready for 2-3 coats of Custom Oil matte gun stock finish (available from Brownell’s).   

happy call making, dv

If you liked this blog you may like the following:    

• Custom Turkey Call Interview On Up North Journal
• No Bird Left Behind - A Turkey Tale
• Got Glass & Slate for Your Turkey Calls?
• How To – Make Your Own Turkey Friction Call
• How To – Make Your Own Turkey Friction Call – Part 2
• How To – Make Your Own Turkey Friction Call – Part 3
• Judging An NWTF Turkey Calling Contest

Feedback, Questions & Comments   

I’d like to hear your tips, feedback, comments or questions.  Please leave them below.     

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Copyright © Jerry E Long, 2009-2011

 By Jerry Long, April 14, 2010  

Tune in to the Up North Journal where we discuss my participation as a judge in a recent National Wild Turkey Federation sanctioned turkey calling contest. 

I recently had the privilege of participating as a judge in a NWTF sanctioned turkey calling contest. As I told my Regional Director, “It was an awesome experience.”  In Episode 155, available for download directly from the site or via iTunes, of the Up North Journal podcast Mike interviews me about how it was conducted and shares some interviews from participants. 

happy hunting, dv

If you liked this blog you may like the following:  

• Custom Turkey Call Interview On Up North Journal
• No Bird Left Behind - A Turkey Tale
• dustyvarmint On Up North Journal Tonight!
• Got Glass & Slate for Your Turkey Calls?
• How To – Make Your Own Turkey Friction Call
• How To – Make Your Own Turkey Friction Call – Part 2
• How To – Make Your Own Turkey Friction Call – Part 3

Feedback, Questions & Comments 

I’d like to hear your tips, feedback, comments or questions.  Please leave them below.   

Subscribe  

Like this blog? Want to be notified of updates? Subscribe via RSS feed by clicking here

Part Three of a Three Part Series

This is the final part of a three part series on making the “pot” portion of your own turkey friction call.   You can find Part 1 here and Part 2 here.  There will be another series on making the striker.

Safety
Be sure to follow all eye, ear, and body part control safety precautions when working in the shop.

15) I’ve formed the rim, sanded from 150-220 and marked some lines for grooves I’ll cut with the skew and burn in with some wire.  Then I sand to 320.  I’ve also applied two coats of cellulose sanding sealer to the inside. (more…)

Part Two of a Three Part Series

This is part 2 of a three part series on making the “pot” portion of your own turkey friction call.   You can find Part 1 here.  There will be another series on making the striker.

Safety
Be sure to follow all eye, ear, and body part control safety precautions when working in the shop. (more…)

First of a Three Part Series

This is the first of a three part series on making the “pot” portion of your own turkey friction call.   There will be another series on making the striker.

Terminology

First off, I don’t like the name “friction call”.  Box calls, scratch boxes and pots and strikers (what I am making here), among others, are all friction calls.  Similarly, “slates” don’t cover it all either.  There are crystal, glass, aluminum, copper, slate and other surfaces available.  Here I’ll refer to them as “pots and strikers”.

Secrecy

I think it is illegal to share these instructions in several southeastern states, so please keep the contents of the following to yourself. (more…)

The Call Doesn’t Make Much Sound

I looked at the call in my hand incredulously.  I kept silent out of respect for a fellow hunter and in the interest of passing on the hunting tradition.  He said it didn’t make much sound.  I wasn’t surprised.  I held a M.A.D. Heavy Metal turkey call.  Someone had attempted to “condition” the recessed portion of its back side.  I dug a Primos Slick Stick from my fanny pack and conditioned the call’s pristine striking surface.  The sounds were much more “turkey like” then.

To “Condition” the Call

To get consistent sound from our glass friction or “pot” calls we must keep them conditioned.  People often don’t know what I mean when I say “conditioned”.  I’m talking about breaking that hard, clear crust on the glass and giving it some texture so that the striker has something to “play” against and make turkey sounds.  We need a couple of things for this.  I condition a lot of calls every year and highly recommend the previously mentioned Slick Stick pictured below.  (more…)

Up North Journal Interview

Listen to dustyvarmint discuss custom turkey calls on the Up North Journal podcast here for tips, tricks and discussion on custom turkey calls.

Check out dustyvarmint woodworks custom turkey calls here.

Feedback, Questions & Comments
I’d like to hear your tips, feedback, comments or questions. Please leave them below.

Subscribe
Like this blog? Want to be notified of updates? Subscribe via RSS feed by clicking here.

Coming up on Mostly Archery

• Outfitter Reports – Why We Should Be Doing Them
• Overhauling My Bow
• Support Our Outdoors Troops

Join dustyvarmint on the Up North Journal podcast call-in show tonight, Saturday, February 7, 2009 at 8:00 p.m. EST as we discuss custom turkey calls.  

For log on information and more visit Up North Journal.

dv