I have a big advantage in a well equipped shop and a verrrry understanding wife (she thinks the squirrels juggle knives in my brain, but likes me anyway!). I buy wings at the grocery store when I can find them, boil them whole for about 45 minutes, and then pick the meat off and lay it aside for delicious turkey dishes. I pick the bones I want to use for the calls out of the mix and immediately go to the shop. I cut the very ends off the joints on an old band saw and then go to the drill press and use a 1/8" or so drill bit to drill and open the web of bone at the end of the cuts. For the mouthpiece, I cut the joint as close as possible to the joint, leaving an oval end - it feels better on my mouth! Then, I run a wire down the bones and step out back and blow out the the mushed up marrow with my mouth. I follow that up by running high pressure water through the bones to clean out the remaining marrow. Stubborn marrow is cleaned using a tiny bottle brush. I then go to a very soft wire wheel on a grinder and wire off the outside of the bones to get rid of any sticky meat that does not come off easily. I finish that day by washing and soaking the bones in Dawn dishwashing detergent to "degrease" them. I let them dry overnight. The next day, I start sizing them to see what fits together best, trimming on the bandsaw as needed. I stain the bones at this point using potassium permanganate crystals in an old glass bowl. I soak the bones 2-3 minutes and pull them out and dry them for a couple of hours. I then glue them together using a two-part expoxy mix (though I have done some with a pine pitch and charcoal mix known as cutler's resin) and let them lay for an hour or so. I finish some (cutler's resin finished) with natural sinew, but most I use fake sinew thinned down to 8 threads from a wide strand. I wrap them tightly and finish with a coating of superglue to seal the fake sinew. To tune them, I try a few yelps (I have developed a fair ear for what the birds like over the years) and may shorten the end slightly. Then, practice, practice, practice! I sell some and give many as gifts.
Your humble servant,
Just Dave
some years I eat ALOT of turkey :rotf: Thanks YMHS Birdman
