slate call care

[picksbigwagon]

I just bought a new slate call at cabelas today and it is not just a coating on aluminum like I had before, I dropped some money on a cody slate call. How do I care for this? When do I rough it up, what do I use, what about the stiker, wood or acrylic, any help here woul be great. I have basically used up the other cheapo one that I had and scrubed it everytime I used it.........

Thanks for the help

[mechanictim]

To roughen up the surface of the slate use a scotchbright pad, should only need to be done when you notice a change in tone. Most people use a circular motion to roughen the slate but i also use a simple back and forth pattern on a small edge of the call that i use for a purr call.

I carry several strikers, glass, wood, aluminum and acrylic when hunting. A little change in tone and raspiness can sometimes be just the ticket to get a call shy bird to come on in. Use a little sandpaper to keep the striker in shape and clean.

[strat-o-caster]

I use a wood stricker and slate.. Mine came with a little piece of sand paper. Don't touch the bottem of your stricker the oils from you fingers and hands really mess it up... Strat

[Hotspotter]

I have a cody as well. The crystal is hard, so i've used a rougher grit sandpaper than you'd usually use.......80 or 120. Get the deep scours that the rough grit will do for you, then touch it up, only a bit with the scotchbrite pad. Make sure to rough it up in only one direction, east-west or north south. Use a sharpie to indicate the direction in the corner of the call somewhere. Drag the striker across the grain, not with. And let me know how it works for you. I can get mine to do pretty well, but not exactly the way I want it to sound.

Joel

[picksbigwagon]

jnelson, I could see scratching the heck out of it with a hard crytal one, but I have the slate one, do I really need to groove it like that? What part of SE MN are you from, I used to hunt around houston, and have lost access to that area this year, so I am hunting around the Spring Grove area, not as many birds unfortunately I fear do to the location.

[Hotspotter]

Geez...sorry about that.

I've only ever owned one true slate call, and then, all i did was give it a light brushing with fine sandpaper or scotchbrite. I do remember the striker being more of a problem than the slate. Rough up the end of the striker, or try different strikers if you can. As for gouging it, i'm not sure what effect that would have.

I'm from the Cannon Falls area......not quite the true SE, but it's nice. Not near as many birds as Spring Grove either, and the access is tougher I'd imagine. Smaller tracts of land, owned by more people, with less birds on it. I'm lucky to have grown up on a farm with some land, and do much of my hunting on it.

Let me know what you figure out with that slate, i'm curious.

Joel

[Borch]

Generally with a slate surface the scotchbrite willbe all you need. Usually slate is the easiest surface type to use. Be careful not to toouch the surface with your hands as the oils will cause it to need reconditioning more often. As far as strikers go I like Acrylic, purpleheart and hickory for my slate calls. Carbon is a bit tougher but you get higher pitches.

Borch