Turkey call

[HoBow]

After eating on Thanksgiving, I made my annual wing calls. I started looking on-line wanting to learn how to make a slate call. Anyone made this type?  If so, where do you get the slate or is there an alternative?  The box calls are just wood on wood  

[mullet]

 Yes, and yes, and I have slate and thin, sliced , cedar and spanish cedar from Cohiba cigar boxes.

[JW_Halverson]

I found ONE piece of good slate here in the Black Hills and made a call from it.  I can't remember where I found it, and I'm more than a little upset with me for forgetting. 

One source is to call your local billiard table source...when they sell upscale pool tables they are invariably made with slate tops.  The best you can hope for is that someone dropped a corner and chipped it and the whole thin is junk....and you now have a source for about 39,485 slate turkey calls.  Slate splits easier than dry hickory! 

For giggles, find a turtle shell that is about 5 inches long and 3 1/3 to 4 inches wide.  Cut out the "plastron" or belly of his shell.  Fit the slate to the shell, secure it in place with no more than 4 small epoxy points - one in each corner...and you are good to go! 

Hit the local hobby stores and look for small chalkboards, sometimes they are made from real slate.  Try the upscale home remodling places.  Some of them have slate tiles and may give you a couple that are damaged. 

[sailordad]

as fas as alternatives for the slate
alot of things work well like glass,aluminum,copper,acrylic,sliced stone  etc
the depth and diameter of the pot,the thickness of the pot walls,the thickness of the friction surface and material
will all determine the sound of the call,also the number of sound ports and positioning of them,internal sound chambers too

box calls are just wood on wood as you put it
however there is more to it than that
the wall thickness,the space between the walls,the length,heigth,shape of the paddle/lid
wood choices matter too.all of these things taken in to proper consideration
and you can make a very fine call that sounds realistic too.

lets see them when you get them finished 

[mullet]

 Street signs work good but  you go to jail when you get caught using them. Jeff, I've got plenty of slate and can cut it to. You will just have to grind it. When you use turtle shells it works best to mount the slate in a piece of wood, like cedar and then form fit the cedar to the shell. It makes a nicer, prettier call. I've got box turtle shell to if you want that.

[JW_Halverson]

My all-time favorite slate call is just a thin slab of slate the size of a pack of cigarettes with a hole drilled in one corner.  A thong of braintanned deerskin goes thru the hole and ties onto a thinned down chunk of busted cedar arrow shaft with a half a corn cob stuck on the other end for a striker.  No pot, no frame, just a slab n striker.