Vintage Styled Reelfoot Call

Finished this metal reed call. Bois D'arc with an oil finish. It has a thin brass band in the style of the makers of old, along with some carvings that you might have seen many years ago. A phosphor bronze reed gives it a great sound.

 

Email me if you'd like me to build a call like this for you! 

 

Latest Reelfoot Metal Reed Call

Below is my latest Reelfoot Metal Reed call.

Red Dyed and stabilized curly maple over ABW. A nice white inlay to make the layup stand out. Stainless reed. Great ringing hail and solid bottom end.

I now make Reelfoot Calls

I've been working on this design in my head for a while now. Last parts (reed material) finally arrived! So I spent today building the jig, the reamer and finally building my first Reelfoot Metal Reed call. It is a runner! 11/16" bore, so a little different than any other I've seen.

Thanks much to fellow callmakers Ryan Roosa, and Benny Floyd for their tips and help getting this project going.

This call is curly maple and ABW. Email me if to order yours!

 

 

 



My lanyard for 2017......

Well, this is my lanyard for 2017..... at least for now.

The blue call is a new prototype I've been working on for quite a while, blue dyed spalted maple and African blackwood. The center call is one of my classics in bois d'arc and African blackwood. The whistle is in desert ironwood burl and has a carved drake feather on it.

I've got this hanging from a Pegleg lanyard. If you don't have a lanyard, look up Pegleg's paracord on Facebook. He's great!

Veterans' Day 2017

As Americans, we are lucky people. We are lucky to have wonderful people that are willing to give more of themselves to our country than ordinary citizens. Those people that do that, we call them soldiers and veterans.

 

I participated this year in a Veterans' Day hunters giveaway and had the honor of shipping this call to an active duty solider at Ft Hood. He was very excited when he received it and I'm proud its in his collection.

 

A little Red, White and Blue inlay for Veterans' Day. 

 

New Whistles and Carvings.

Some new drake whistles and carvings. In both desert ironwood burl and Bolivian rosewood. These are sold, but email me and I'll make one for you!

 

Ready for Reelfoot.

Reelfoot is coming up shortly. I'm ready!

 

 

Lagrue Drake Whistle

Below is an order recently shipped. Its new owner was very happy on delivery.

Paduak Drake whistle with Heavishot brass. Oil and wax finish. Great sounding whistle.

You need one on your lanyard - Email me at Lagrue AT Hotmail.com (replace the At with an @ symbol).

Some Recently Completed Calls.

Below are some recently completed calls from the lathe. Descriptions are below each call.

 Stabilized Flaming Boxelder with brass and color accents, and African Blackwood.

 Dyed, stabilized maple burl with brass accent and African Blackwood.

 Stabilized spalted maple with brass and color accents along with stippled African Blackwood. SOLD

 Stabilized, spalted burl maple with brass accents and African Blackwood.

 Bois D'arc with brass and color accent, with African Blackwood.

 Claro Walnut with brass accent and African Blackwood band and ends. SOLD

 Stabilized spalted burl maple with brass and color accents with stippled African Blackwood. SOLD

Stabilized maple burl with brass and color accents, with African Blackwood. SOLD

New Inlay Options Available.

I've been working on this for quite some time and frankly, I'm pretty proud of the result.

I can now offer inlays in the call in different colors in addition to different metals. The call pictured includes Red, White and Blue inlays sandwiched in between brass inlays. These set off the Claro Walnut endcaps.

This is an absolutely gorgeous call in person and is a real runner! I hope the new owner really loves it! (This call is sold, but I can make one like it for you!)

April Trade Call

Made this nice lookin call for a callmaking buddy in Arkansas as part of the recent trade run.

I hope he loves it.

The New Classic

I've been working on this design in my head for quite some time. It is a little something old, and a little something new. It takes some design cues from some of the callmakers of old, but most specifically, my great uncle, Chick Majors.

My goal in designing this call was to take some of what made the calls of the 50's and 60's great and then take some of what I've learned in the past 30 years that makes modern calls great, put them all into the mix to make an awesome call that has a mix of both.

I've succeeded in doing so. I have a call now with the character of the calls of the 50's and 60's, but with the volume and control of a modern call. It is a classic Arkansas style call and it sounds that way. I shot birds over the prototypes this past season and that is what matters most!

You need one on your lanyard! Email me at Lagrue at Hotmail.com to order one up.

National Wild Turkey Federation (NWTF) Duck Call Makers' Competition

This past weekend, I participated in the National Wild Turkey Federation (NWTF) Duck Call Makers' Competition. This was my first time participating in this competition, and my third Call Makers' competition.

I really enjoyed the competition and the show even more. The calls were all auctioned off after the competition to new owners, with the proceeds going to the NWTF. This is a great competition and I'm glad I took part.

I did not place, however this was one of the largest contests for 'Working Calls' (not carved decorative calls) ever held. Over 47 call makers participated, and the competition was definitely tough!

Below are my two entries. Both include African blackwood with brass bands and orbits. One is made with dyed and stabilized maple burl. The other is made with black and white ebony. Both have a gloss CA finish and single reed, o-ring construction. Both are definitely runners!

Last day of the season.....

Last day of the season hit and I managed to get the 'hall pass' to get over to Arkansas one more time for one more day in the woods.

Dad and I planned to hit Bayou Meto with my brother-in-law for the 'all day' hunts that are allowed on the last 3 days of the year. I was hugely excited about this. Have never had the opportunity to do it before, so I was gunnin' to go.

It was definitely the adventure it promised to be. We did find the honey hole of honey holes. No I'm not tellin' where it is!

Unfortunately, we did not whack'em like we thought we would. Every time we got a great group circling, another hunting group up the slough would shoot. It would be enough to flare the birds off.

We ended up the day with nothing in our bag but a good bunch of stories!

 

 

Claro Walnut And African Blackwood - A Great Combination

Recently delivered this call to a customer. They requested Walnut, so I looked for a blank that had some great coloration and figure. I love the coloration in this call, and the finish really brought it out.

Adding African Blackwood tips with brass orbits to set them off really added some character to the call.

Email me if you'd like have a similar call!

Mid-January Hunt - Rockin!

Hunted Stuttgart again and we hit it right. Hunted my farm, a friends farm as well as Bayou Meto.

I managed to get out with my Uncle Larry, who I hunted with for most of my life, but who has not gotten out with us in the past 5-10 years. It was great to have him in the blind with us again!

 

We also timed it right with the birds, the weather and where we hunted. Hunting is a lot like Real Estate. Its all about 'Location Location Location'. Well, we had the location right.

 

 

Burnt Bois D'arc!

My Great Uncle used to 'burn' calls by holding a rag to them as they spun on the lathe. With careful application of pressure, he could create beautiful patterns in Bois D'arc to highlight the grain and make the call look great!

I recently made a Bois D'arc call with a African Blackwood Stopper which needed a little more character. I dug out the butane torch and gave this one a flame pattern!

Call is not for sale, but I can make one for you. Email me to get one started.