Thread: Wooden duck caller

Hi I have just aquired a wooden marksman single reed duck caller,anyone know much about these look old but in good nick cheers guys

Who would want to call a wooden duck?

I would guess at 1950's - 60's production but Google doesnt produce any information.

if it goes quack when you blow through it....all is good and DONT muck around with it....if you DO pull it apart.PLEASE take photos as you go and mark the read/readboard relationship carefully..a felt pen line is pure gold if cleaning in maimai as bit of bacon n egg pie goes in it in mad rush....
little bit of cooking oil on the wood wont go astray,just to norish it a bit and stop it from drying out completely.

Thanks for the advice it was a friends , with it was a gamebird license from 1975 but I’m afraid it’s been in a cupboard the last 50 yrs or more and was taken apart before I go it, i found 2 brass reeds , I tried it but don’t get much bar dust !

clean it up....look at another caller to see...or do utube search for how to tune /reassemble it and keep tweaking in LITTLE adjustments till it works....it is after all just two materials vibrating against each other as you blow through it.

Hello!!! I stumbled upon your thread and joined to reply. oh my God let me tell you there is only 1 man that could have made that duck call, my Grandfather Albert Wolfe from Amisfield Tokoroa he came with family from Kent England as part of a 13 man engineering crew who started up the No.1 Paper Machine at Kinleith 1951 and became the Training Officer for 24 years! He had a carpentry shed with machines and tools galore. He also taught me how to make them and some of mine were sold as well to NZ and Australia. He was making them from the late 60's to the 80's then he started making childrens toys. I spent endless days with Grandad knee deep in wood chips and sitting sanding, reeding, fitting, testing/tuning, varnishing, stickering & packing into boxes 1000's of them over the years! Sadly after he died in 1999 his 2nd wife sold everything without our consent and there was no trace of any of the machines or tools/callers etc we were too weak to speak up and we all lived elsewhere then were told she had been left everything after making him change his will sad story to be honest I cried when I saw the picture of the precious product. Feel free to message back or email gammon77@hotmail.com to discuss getting it working again. Is there a reed between the mouth pieces or has it been taken out? If you can pull out the mouthpieces you can cut a new piece and place it between and re fit or you can send it to me as a family heirloom I will pay the courier.

Addy....sad tale indeed.plurry families. You have the knowledge so you really should make the effort to make some yourself,there will always be a niche market for shed built duck calls that work.we waterfowlers are a bit of a weird bunch and like something different. Your late grandfather will have trained mine and my older brother more than likely.

I think the first caller I ever bought was one of those. Long gone now though.

Dogs loved them , lol .

Sad but cool story Addy.
Pretty sure I have one of them in my "box of tricks" at home.
@Finnwolf have you not seen a Wood Duck?
They a beautiful. I would love to call some in. I'm trying to find some eggs so I can hatch them.

I would have used the lathe if I had of acquired it and possibly made them in another tangent of life, so glad to see one of Grandads duck calls I've asked the guy to send it to me as a family heirloom it would at least be a sample to make more from. I remember the day he started to let me chip away at a block of spinning wood I was about 10, it was not easy the chisel kept knocking back so you have to get the pressure right and hold it secure running along the bar consistently. The chips flew everywhere mounting up on the floor, you can guess who swept it all up! Thanks for your reply.

Nice! I hope it worked well for you.

Really? I hope you can find it and put a pic up

Trained you in what? At the Kinleith Mill or with the duck calling? lol what is your sirname I probably know you if you're from Tokoroa