I got to playing sound in the duck house the other day and experimented with silver inlay. This is scrap pieces of walnut and cocobolo. The silver color metal is aluminum cut from a backing panel that held rod holders on the Cage of the airboat when I bought it. I can see a lot more of these in my future. It is labor intensive as there are three piers of wood in the barrel. The lower piece with the band is cut with a tenon that goes up to within a half an inch of the lip rest.

Wayne, thats some good looking playing around. Might have to order one of those

Thank you Bmowatt. I need to get some things fixed before I let one of these out of the shop. I think it woul dlook better with all cocobolo instead of walnut and cocobolo together. This was my first one and I learned a lot from it. I think I can up the quality now that I have an idea of how and what to do.

Really like the shape of the barrel

Good looking call Wayne, glad to see those tutorials on THO are paying off.. May want to align your grains also, helps to make it flow a lil better.. Keep up the good work!

really nice. Love the silver and walnut.

Nice looking Call - now I know why I caught so much grief when I said I wanted a "certain" call made by another company,

Lol. That was just my peeps getting gangsta all up on this forum:). It's all in fun.

Keep it up!

That's a cool looking call.

Well dern! Thank you guys. My next inlay call will be African black wood and cocobolo with dividing silver inlay. That one should smash it.

I like using the darker wood on my inlays mainly because it helps cover any glue lines. On Coco & blackwood try brass. It is easier to turn than aluminum and on those dark combos I personally think it gives it that timeless look that will look good hanging in the gun cabinets during the off season..

I might have some brass out in the barn. If I do I will throw that in there. I have racked my brain to find
"My" design rather than following what others have done.

Have you ever thought about putting a layer of ivory or bone in one. I know nothing about making calls so may not be possible. Just it would be cool to have one with elephant or mammoth tusk.

Wayne, I would say make sure it flows well with your call and try to think outside the box. My first signature calls all had antler liprest and back then I had not seen anyone making them. After my tutorial on how too it seemed like everyone was trying to do it.. David Mitchell "FnA Custom Calls" was doing a sweet mix with Acrylic and dyed box elder, this was and still is a Bad a** design.. After his tutorial there were plenty of potlickers to follow.. Go for something nobody else is doing, give it plenty of thought and make a few drawings play with differnt materials. I use alot of camel bone, deer antler, Water buffalo ect... and there are a ton of other materials that have not been tried.. Good luck and I hope you find something that fits your style and you can call yours..

Robert A.

You are exactly correct in the fact I do not want to be called a potlicker. The piece displayed here is my first attempt at a tenon with a metalic/wood mix. I had some end pieces left of the walnut and cocobolo. I just couldn't find myelf throwing it away. Well I was playing around and decided to use them to teach myself the process. It worked I learned heat will screw it up immediately

Ha! Aluminum is the worst for heating up.. Light cuts and sharp tools.. You may try using an air hose and keep it blowing on the aluminum to help keep it semi cool while you turn it.. Also I like to use a crush mandrel for roughing out these type of projects to help keep every thing tight and then finish it out on an expanding madrel.

Robert A.

I never thought of a crush mandrel. In fact never heard of one but I think I got the idea it would sandwich the pieces end to end while ou work.

Yep you nailed it.. I had mine made years ago by a friend from Aluminum kind of a technical piece with multi uses. If you use your 4 jaw chuck you can make one from wood, essentually make a 5/8" rod between centers and on one end leave a lip, drill another piece 5/8" and turn down on your expanding mandrel to desired diameter.. Chuck up your 5/8" rod and slide your barrel on the rod and then slide your second piece on the rod behind it. Use the tail stock and live center to compress it togther..

Robert A.