Call wood staining????

[Steve_In]

Why does it seem to be taboo for call makers to stain their calls?  I am into muzzle loaders and you almost never see a longrifle with an unstained maple stock.  The stains really add a lot to some woods.  Some woods such as walnut and cherry really don't need stains.  Just curious.

[misfire]

I for one hate stains for most anything, includig furniture. I dont want to hide the natural beauty of a wood.

[WillowRidgeCalls]

Well for one reason you stain a longrifle is for looks and to help protect it and seal the wood, it dosen't have to carry a tune. When you stain a wood it seals it and plugs the pores of the wood. On calls the sound has to travel through the wood for it to play right, like on a box call. So if you plug the pores the sound can't get through it very easy and the call will sound flat.

[Everyday Hunter]

ORIGINAL: WillowRidgeCalls

Well for one reason you stain a longrifle is for looks and to help protect it and seal the wood, it dosen't have to carry a tune. When you stain a wood it seals it and plugs the pores of the wood. On calls the sound has to travel through the wood for it to play right, like on a box call. So if you plug the pores the sound can't get through it very easy and the call will sound flat.

WRC is probably right, although most of us don't have good enough ears to hear the difference. I sure don't. But turkeys have much better ears than any of us do. Their virgin ears are only 3-4 years old at most, and they don't subject their ears to lawnmowers, chain saws, rock music, gunshots, and a million other things that incrementally reduce and destroy our hearing.

Protect your ears.

Steve

P.S. Welcome to the T&TH forums, WRC. You're gonna like it here.

[Steve_In]

Violins and cellos are stained and they produce great sounds.  The stain it self does not penetrate that far, barely only beyond the surface.  The applied finish would have more affect on sound.  Linseed does not really dry but some varnishes dry quite hard and almost all calls have some sort of finish.  Just curious.

[WillowRidgeCalls]

Your right Steve, but in those cases it's the strings that make them play. The body of the instrament is an echo chamber, and the sound bounces around inside before exciting the sound holes, allot like a pot call. But on a box call the sound comes from the woods used to make the with, and the tones come from the density of the woods. Yes almost all calls have some sort of finish on them, and that's to protect them and keep them from warping dew to the rain. The finishes are put on in thin coats, sanded off and repeted untill you get a film like finish on them.

[Everyday Hunter]

WRC, good answer. A turkey call is much like a musical instrument, but having no strings the sound comes from the wood itself. Some box calls do use the box as a sort of echo chamber, but it is the sides that produce the sound. Some makers claim that their calls make the sound directional, but I don't know whether there's much to that since the edges of the box are what the sound comes from, and the inside of the box can't channel sounds that come directly off the sides of the box.

You will see that most wooden calls have some kind of finish. But the contact surfaces that make the sound do not. It is critical that the edge and paddle of a box have certain features in order to create a consistent sound. One of those features is the absence of whatever finish is applied to the rest of the call.

Steve

[hoosierhunter]

To stain or not to stain..... hmmm.....personal choice. I have never used any stain on my boxes, but that is only 'cause I want what God made to show its own beauty, and it does so quite well without my help, although I would'nt tell someone mine is better because it isn't stained.
 I do not believe that stain or finish,( properly applied) has any effect on sound quality of a call, though I would never enter a box call with stain in any competition and expect a favorable outcome from a judge.
Sound does not come from the wood used, rather tone comes from the wood used, and you can achieve different tones(sometimes folks say,it has a different sound when what is heard is a tone or note) by using different woods in your box calls, scratch boxes, etc. For example most folks are familiar with the popularity of a Purple Heart Paddle on say a Mahogany box, and the ability of that combination to make a reliable and consistent yelp, but, you'll have a different tone if you change the wood your striker is made from, and or the box. Different woods = different tones due to density of the wood.
 The tone can also be manipulated by changing the thickness of the sound boards, over which the striker glides. I measure my sound boards by the thousandth of an inch, knowing that by doing so I can change the tone and much more so, the pitch of the call. Also the size of the sound chamber plays a large role in a calls ability to project sound or noise. For example a long box is generaly louder than a short box. All box calls can be aimed and made to be directional, by pointing the chamber towards the target. Musical instuments are a good example.
 All sound is made from vibrations, which generate soundwaves, with varying distances betwwen the waves and different durations of the wave. Sound from a box call , comes from the vibrations made when the paddle glides over the sound boards of the box. The sound boards vibrate and too will the paddle if it isn't being held too tightly. Apply pressure to either the boards or the paddle and you can change the pitch and tone.
  Vibrations will move through stain unimpeded and unless too much finish coat is used,(ie oil, laquer, poly, etc) it will also travel well through finishes.
I used to think that the glue used in the glue up boxes impeded sound quality, but I have heard some darn nice sounding glue-ups, so I no longer make that statement, and anyways it isn't used on the sound boards.
 
 Well, thats my nickels worth, and I sure don't have any intention of telling others they are wrong, just trying to be informative while sharing years worth of experience. Take what ya can use and leave the rest.
 
 
GOOD LUCK, GOD BLESS, AND STAY SAFE !
L.K.LESLIE
HOOSIER HUNTER CUSTOM CALLS
MOSSY OAK PROSTAFF-TURKEYS           

[rutnstrutgamecalls]

ORIGINAL: Steve_In

Violins and cellos are stained and they produce great sounds.  The stain it self does not penetrate that far, barely only beyond the surface.  The applied finish would have more affect on sound.  Linseed does not really dry but some varnishes dry quite hard and almost all calls have some sort of finish.  Just curious.

Steve, I agree with you on staining wood and it not affecting the sound that a Musical Instrument or a Turkey Call makes. As long as you do not get the stain or finish on the calling surface or sound board edge of a call it will have little or no affect on the sound that a call makes. It is a personal choice. Some people like to see what Mother Nature created without modifying it and some people like to enhance the look that Mother Nature provided using stain! A Violin or Cello creates sound by running a Bow over the strings. The Strings Vibrate and the Vibrations are amplified in the sound chamber (the Violin or Cello Body). The same principle applies to a Turkey Box Call or Pot Call. When you stroke the lid of a Box Call over the edge of the call it sends vibrations down the side of the call. The Chamber acts as an amplifier of these vibrations. With a Pot Call when you scratch a Striker over the calling surface you create Vibrations that go down the sides of the call and cascade over the sound board. If the spacing between the Calling Surface and the Sound Board and the shape and size of the Sound Chamber is the correct size and shape you will realize an amplified effect (the call will be louder than either surface individually. There are a lot of factors involved in creating a call. Some of them include: Calling Surface Thickness and Diameter, Sound Board Diameter and Thickness, Pot Depth, Bottom Thickness, Side Thickness, Hole Pattern and placement, Glue used to put call together, Striker used to call etc. etc.  

[hoosierhunter]

Yea, what he said ! [:)]
 
 
GOOD LUCK, GOD BLESS, AND STAY SAFE!
L.K.LESLIE
HOOSIER HUNTER CUSTOM CALLS
MOSSY OAK PROSTAFF-TURKEYS