Osage Box Call

[Talondale]

A few years back I cut an osage for staves.  I had a lot of good sized limbs I saved for small projects.  One such project was a longbox turkey call I wanted to make for my father.  I have never made a box call and did a lot of research and posting on call making websites for design info.  I tried to make it last year but couldn’t get it done before the turkey season.  I had an apple tree that died and I saved the stump and bigger parts for wood as well.  My idea was to make a solid base from osage with apple sides and osage lid.  I don’t have much of a workshop or tools.  I used my father’s table saw to cut the osage limb into a board with the sides cut at 6 degrees.  
 

The apple was too big for the saw so I used my reciprocating saw to cut pieces out and then used the table saw to make thin slats.
 

[Talondale]

I used an old bench sander my father-in-law gave me to sand the sides flat and then I put a bevel on them as well.
 

I had a general idea of what I wanted it to look like so I traced a pattern on the side of the osage and cut it out to rough dimensions using my jigsaw.
 

[Talondale]

After that I used the sander and scraper to shape it.  Osage scrapes easily and shapes well.  I figured I was getting an idea of how it would be to shape a bow handle as well.
 
One thing I learned is a belt sander can take off the wood quick and it can be easy to mess up.  I started to sand down the sides to a smaller height when I noticed a raised splinter from a crack.  I didn’t have any spare pieces so I had to glue and clamp.
 

[Talondale]

After that dried I sanded both the side and body to get them to match as close as possible to minimize the glue lines.  I glued and clamped the sides leaving a little excess on all sides so that I could sand it flush.  After it dried I trimmed the sides in the handle area so I could sand evenly.  It was about this time the belt sander’s drive belt broke.  It needed a  new belt and pulleys (I said it was old).  I ordered the parts but didn’t have the time to wait for them so I had to use a rasp, hand sand, and to some degree my orbital sander.  After the body was close to finished I started working on the lid.  I had a piece of osage roughly the size I wanted and I used the rasp to take the bottom corners off and give it a more rounded look.  Thankfully at this time I was able to get my dad’s old jointer/planer working (hadn’t been used in 20+ years).  That allowed me to reduce the 1” osage board down to a more manageable thickness.  Then using a rocking motion on my orbital sander held between my knees I was able to create a curve under the length of the handle.  At this point time was running out and picture taking wasn’t a top priority.  I tested the lid and the two hard woods (apple and osage) created too high a squeak for my liking, and probably tom’s too.  I had some old cedar planks from my wife’s grandfather’s old farmhouse we tore down so I cut a piece from that and shaped it for the handle.  It was good dry wood but almost too dry.  It cracked while I was flat sanding it and I used some CV glue to fix it and sealed the top with it while I was at it.  After that I drilled and countersunk a hole for a brass wood screw to attach it to the box.  I used a piece of spiral from a vendor calendar for the spring.  It’s not as much a work of art as some of the great things I see on here but I’m proud for a first effort.  The apple had some interesting mineral deposits or something throughout the wood, which is the white-ish spots on the side.  
 
 

[Talondale]

I took it out for a test run this morning and had a tom gobbling to it but he was with a hen and she dragged him away.  My birthday is this weekend and my Dad and I will be hunting the old family farm Friday and Saturday.  Hopefully after he gets his bird I can use the call to get a tom with my bow.
 

[b.glass]

Very nice! Now that's what I call a home made turkey call!

[Steelhead]

Very nice!Love the look

[oneshot-onekill]

That is gorgeous...very nice work. Your dad will love it! Good Luck! Look forward to seeing the pic's following the hunt.

[Forester]

That's great Talondale!  I really like the way that call turned out.  It looks like you will have no problem working on your staves.

I hope you and your father have a great weekend hunting together.  Maybe it will be a little nicer weather than today....is it snowing at your house too?

[Whip]

That is just beautiful Chuck!  I love the looks of that.  How does it sound?  

I have some osage, some apple wood, some cedar, and a wood shop.  I could do that!

What are the most helpful call making websites that you found?

Great job, and a very helpful tutorial.      

[Chris Surtees]

Sweet call Chuck...hope you get to put it to good use this season.

[4runr]

Chuck, that is fantastic!!

I hope you and your Dad can have a great hunt together this weekend!

[swp]

COOL! Tell your dad goodluck, I hope he gets a bigun'.

[Jack Denbow]

Very cool Chuck.
   
Jack

[Izzy]

Thats a wondrous piece of all American art.Good luck calling with it.It it doesnt produce for you in the woods thats nice enough to just gawk at on a shelf.

[Talondale]

Originally posted by Forester:
  Maybe it will be a little nicer weather than today....is it snowing at your house too?

No, it was a beautiful morning this morning.  42F at 05:30.  Wind even held off for me.  It's windy now though.  Blue skies.

Whip,
  The most helpful how-to is no longer available.    :(     It gave a lot of the why's and well as the whats.  But here's a couple of good links:
  A  How To on CustomCalls.com .  His are a little fancier and he has more/better tools too.   There\\'s also a simpler design on the same site.  
And here's   real good one for a glue up version.
It's definitely not as hard as it seems. The thing seems to be that most agree the sides need to be around a 6 degree angle and thin.  The paddle rounded to taste and the radius on the side should be about 1/4" high in the middle fading to flush at the ends.  I would also suggest doing either the apple or the osage with cedar sides and paddle.  That's what my next one will be.  For a big box the hard wood makes a high tone.  I'm sure an expert could tune it better.  It sounds good when you really go at it with yelps and cutting but it's impossible to do any gentle purrs or soft clucks without it squeeking.  Hope that helps and look forward to your pics.

[JEFF B]

well done bro      

[Steve O]

That is COOL!

Joe--when you start making them, keep one of your practice calls for me  

[trad_bowhunter1965]

Wow that is some beautiful craftsmanship,

[wollelybugger]

I used to make some small box calls and cedar is a nice wood to get a good sound out of. That call is a beauty.