Any duck call makers on here?

[stevieray54]

The thing you have to look at in a lathe is the weight of it, if it is light in weight it will bounce all over the place or shake and you have problems with vibration. May want to look into seeing if their are any wood worker clubs or forums in your area, most will have a classified section, check out Houston wood workers club for a example.
What would want people to buy your call if it isn't proven..Sure are a whole lot of calls on the market these days??

[Eagle19]

I make 100% custom calls. And what most "make" is a barrel and stuff it with a $5 poly insert. I promise you can't make a tone board in 20-30 min.

My bois d arc calls all hand made and banded take me from start to finish about an he not counting polishing. And sell for $45... And they have been blown in competition in 4 states.

My higher end calls take most of a day to make and sell for $200-$300

99% of what I see sold as "custom calls " are a barrel that takes 10 min to make stuffed with a poly insert and an asking price of $80-$100. I can drill a 5/8" hole in a 2x4 and stuff with same insert and make the same sound.

Took me years to design a profile on a tone board that I was happy to put my name with. It's a learning process that I wouldn't trade for anything. Lots of fails to get where my calls are now.

Single reed Arkansas style. I had some pics in dyi a while back. "From scrap wood to killing machines" I think was the title

I completely agree. I hate that everybody uses an echo insert! I figured the best, fastest, and cheapest thing to do is to once I finally get that tone board down is to make a mold and cast my own from there. So that way you still have your own calls but might be a little faster than cutting a new one each time.

[Eagle19]

The thing you have to look at in a lathe is the weight of it, if it is light in weight it will bounce all over the place or shake and you have problems with vibration. May want to look into seeing if their are any wood worker clubs or forums in your area, most will have a classified section, check out Houston wood workers club for a example.
What would want people to buy your call if it isn't proven..Sure are a whole lot of calls on the market these days??

Well I think there are several parts to it. After I can get comfortable making one, I think I can make it work. I think it will come down to 4 factors. Factor 1, how it looks. Everybody wants a call that looks bad *** and different. Factor 2, if it can walk the walk it should talk the talk. As long as it sounds remotely like a duck and not a dying one it could sell. Factor 3, scarcity. I'll probably rarely sell more than one of the same call every week. The goal would be to have people follow me and keep coming back for more. Factor 4, the way you buy it. I'm going to auction these off via Instagram. Someone could get lucky and score one for $20 or they could over pay trying to out bid somebody. My hope is with 22,000 followers in a hunting/fishing niche I think I could bring in some money.

[tazhunter0]

Go with a Jet lathe. Check local craigslist for used ones. Seen one in the DFW area for $250 that appeared in great shape.

[Bill]

Back to the OP comment on selling on eBay. If he's making $50/call, what is he selling them for on eBay? I'd love to see what he posts, the description, etc. Doing some planning for what I do when I'm not hunting and fishing and cutting firefood when we retire in Montana.

[Eagle19]

Go with a Jet lathe. Check local craigslist for used ones. Seen one in the DFW area for $250 that appeared in great shape.

Yeah I've tried that. Not much tools pop up here in college station. I really want a stand up drill press. Most big cities have them for about $150. Nobody even has them here and that's a pretty basic tool. Too many college kids I guess.

[Eagle19]

Back to the OP comment on selling on eBay. If he's making $50/call, what is he selling them for on eBay? I'd love to see what he posts, the description, etc. Doing some planning for what I do when I'm not hunting and fishing and cutting firefood when we retire in Montana.

Well he's not selling them on eBay. He sells them on Facebook which has a more personal market than eBay. He makes his own inserts out of poly. Of course most of them are acrylic calls but the average sells for $70. He puts them up through out the day and calls the bidding at 10pm.

[Eagle19]

Anybody heard of fox shop lathes? They look pretty similar to jets and are a little cheaper too.