Duck call blanks are made from all sorts of different materials. Each has their own pros and cons. Our blanks are all cast by hand, using a special polyester resin. Polyester resin is a similar material to acrylic and epoxy, but they are made using a different process. PR is a soft material and turns and polishes very easy. PR is hand cast so it can be cast into thousands of colors, and can be easily cast in small amounts so you don’t have to order full sticks of material to get one blank.
It is a more fragile material so more care must be taken with it. Dropping onto a hard floor can break blanks or finished calls. We recommend putting mats down in your shop and not letting kids play with calls. When drilling inserts it is advised to use a cooling agent, and drill bits specially made for acrylic or plastic. While standard bits can be used more care bust be taken to go slow and not break or overheat the blank.
We do vacuum our resin in an chamber before casting, and while we take every precaution we can, sometimes there may be pinhole size voids in the blank. Most of the time these can be turned through with no real change in the call. There is almost always casting marks from the mold and mold release on the outside of the blank. In the instance that you get a blank with a large hole that cannot be turned through, please contact us about a replacement or credit.
Cast center bore holes may not be 100% centered so minor truing may be needed when turning the blank.
Our blanks are made from polyester resin and does contain chemicals which may be toxic. Blanks should not be used for food usage.
Temperature We have had some questions regarding temperature and cast blanks changing size when frozen. So we froze a barrel and insert for 9 hours. Measurements before and measurements after were about a difference of +/- .10 of a mm. It is even possible this was just our caliper as well. So is it possible that the acrylic could shrink enough that the glue on a band could break. Possibly but most likely it wouldn’t. No more than it could with wood or any other material.
Colors When you see a picture in our store, this is the blank you will be getting or another blank from the same cast. There may be minor differences in color or pattern. Colors on the site are the best we can do by photo and may be slightly varied from color shown.
Pearl: Means this blank has mica pearl in it.
Glitter: Same as mica pearl but more of a bassboat look to it.
Transparent: Light will transmit through the blank
Semi transparent: Light will transmit through the blank slightly but you will not be able to see through it.
Swirl: two colors swirled together. May include pearl, transparent, etc.
Barrel Blanks are 3″ +/- 1/8″. The outer diameter is 1.610″ and the hole is bored at 5/8″ (.625). Due to the casting process, inner bore may not be perfect center so minor truing of the blank may be necessary.
Insert Blanks are cast with a 5/8″ tenon. The tenon is 2.5″ long. There is a 1/4″ of taper then the bell size is 1 5/16″ diameter by 1.75″ tall. Essentially you should just be able to stick an insert blank into a 5/8″ collet chuck, turn the bell shape, drill the insert, and cut in a jig!
Custom Orders usually require about a week lead time. We will do our best to get the exact color(s) you want. We CAN cast barrel blanks without holes at roughly 1.5′ diameter and up to 9″ long. We can also cast insert blanks. We allow up to 3 colors (including clear) for custom orders. We can do more colors but please contact us directly. To order custom blanks, please click here!
Large Orders We do offer a discounted price for large orders. Dependent on size of order, price and lead time will vary. Please contact us directly. Price breaks start at 40 pieces for different colors or 30 pieces for blanks all of the same color.
Blanks with Grass: **Blanks with grass in them will need some CA glue filling. Please READ THIS before ordering grass blanks.
For blank warranty info, click here!