The release of the Sporting Limited Edition

Seeing the turkey season just wrapped up here in Minnesota & Wisconsin, I have some extra time to create some new images for the Shine Box line-up. In the month of June I'm going to release a small amount of Shine Boxes that will have wildlife images burned on them. I'm calling it the Sporting limited edition. The images will include Elk, Whitetail Deer, Pheasant, Mallard & Pintail ducks ,Crappie, and Bass. I'm currently selecting various photographs to choose which will look best on a Shine Box.
I have been creating images like these for customers off and on and decided it's time to include them in the shine Box Line up.
Combining the passions of sportsmen & sportswomen on a Shine Box turkey call has always been challenging and fun. If you have a sporting passion and would like it burned on a Shine Box please contact us. These images will be burned on Maple and Cherry wood. These woods burn Very well and show great contrast against the lighter color of wood. Look for them soon!

Very Limited Edition

I received an email from a customer asking if I could create a turkey call with an image other than a turkey for her husbands birthday. I asked her what he likes to do and where they lived. She replied "We live in Wyoming and he likes to Elk & Turkey Hunt." So this is what I created for her, an Imperial Elk with Devils Tower backdrop on a cherry wood Shine Box. I sent her the pencil sketch (picture on the bottom) via text, and she called me right away. She could not believe what she was seeing, and loved how I combined her husbands love for hunting Turkeys & Elk with a Wyoming land mark. Her last comment was SOLD! The picture above is the finished burned image. I shared this nice story because I want customers of Shine Box to know we can do more that just make turkey calls.

Black Hills Limited Edition

After many requests for the Black Hills limited edition, I will continue to make and burn this Beautiful Shine Box. This image was created in celebration of my 7th annual trip to Sundance Wyoming to hunt Merriam's wild turkeys with my best friend, brothers and father. I can only offer it it Maple, Cherry, Black Walnut and Padauk. These wood species of wood burn well, with Cherry and Maple being the best for burning images of the 4 woods offered due to their tighter grain pattern. The asking price is $30.00

This limited edition image continues to be a favorite of the Shine Boxes offered. If you know someone that lives or hunts Merriam's in this Beautiful part of the country this would make a wonderful gift. If you are interested please feel free to e-mail me riceeric@msn.com

Shine Box sound bites

Due to the video size requirements for Googles blog spot the sound bites are brief. You will hear all the wood species that Shine Box uses to make their box calls. Please keep in mind that these sound bites are short and are only a sample of the sounds you can make with a Shine Box. The calls in these videos have been tuned to a medium and med/high pitch with medium rasp. Shine Boxes can tune calls to a lower pitch with more rasp if desired.

Here it is Bocote Wood Shine Box

I have 8 of these beauties available. They sound great and are tuned very well. Low pitch and high rasp or medium pitch medium rasp & sounds amazing. Hope you like'm.. If you are visiting my site and want to purchase any calls please contact me at riceeric@msn.com and I gladly accept a paypal.

Bocote Shine Box is complete!

I just finished burning the Shine Box logo on the first Bocote Call. Teak oil was applied and this Shine Box "Shines". I've sent out a picture of just the Bocote wood and already have 7 Bocote Shine Boxes ordered. Now I just have to get them to sign up as a follower to shineboxturkeycall.blogspot.com and they'll get them. Pictures will be taken tomorrow morning!

Bocote Shine Box!

I finished carving out the new Special Edition Bocote Wood Shine Box early this morning and after 45 mins of finely filing and coring to get is true tone, it came out! It sounds awesome a very good medium tone pure turkey call. The sound is very true and the beauty of this wood is almost 3 dimensional. It polishes nicely with the 400 grit wheel, when the thin coat of teak oil is applied this Box will really be an eye catcher! Please check in again to see the finished call. I will have pictures posted as soon as I can.

Special Edition 2010 Bocote Shine Box?

Friday was a special day for Shine Box, I found a VERY RARE piece of Birds Eyed Bocote at the lumber yard! In 25 years of woodworking I have never seen a piece of Bocote with this unique grain pattern! I snapped it up right away and headed to the local woodworking store to have it milled down. The local woodworking store asked if they could take a picture of it, and offered me 5 times what I bought it for! That's when I knew it was going to make shine boxes..... I'm pretty sure it will produce 9-10 of the most beautiful Shine Boxes EVER! I will start on one tonight to make sure it will tune out to make great turkey sound. I will only offer this Special Edition Bocote Shine Box for those who have signed up as a follower on this blog spot. Maybe one or two for Ebay?

All of the limited edition calls are calls that have unique wood burning done on them. All the Special edition calls are when I secure very unique or rare piece of wood. These special edition calls are produced in small numbers. My favorite to make!

Shine Box turkey call basic sounds

Basic Shine Box movements and sounds.

Shine Box Care and Use

When You first get your Shine Box it will come with no wax/oil High quality Box call chalk and 80-100 grit sand paper. The Shine Box is like all wooden box style turkey calls they need sanding and chalking to keep producing quality turkey sound. I personally hand tune each box before it is shipped to ensure that it sounds its best, but make sure you sand and apply a liberal amount of chalk before use.

Sand the striker across the radius and apply the chalk until you no longer can see the wood surface. The unique design of the striker will allow you to sand and apply chalk without getting messy hands. Next take the Box call and gently sand the striker wall across the lip, use a slight angle while doing so on the outside edge of the box. Apply a generous amount of chalk to the striker wall and you are ready to use.

To make your Box shine use these following steps and you will get the true sound you desire using your Shine Box.

Step 1. Place the striker in between your pointer or middle finger and the base of your thumb, squeeze firmly to avoid the striker from vibrating.

Step 2. in other hand hold the Shine Box by the corner like a car key, make contact with the striker at a slight angle with the box tilted away from you. Pull the Shine Box toward your thumb applying slight pressure. Now the Box Should pur and chirp. the more downward pressure you apply the louder the sound becomes.

By using the entire lip of the striker wall your pitch will get higher or lower. To produce a yelp use a combing motion on the striker making contact then lifting the Shine Box off the striker, downward pressure make a difference in you yelping sound and volume! To produce a cluck, with the shine box making contact with the striker simply snap the wrist in the motion of turning a key. Again the pressure and location on the striker wall changes the pitch.

That's it you should be on your way to making great turkey sound. This small instrument will produce sound that rivals if not exceeds traditional large wooden box calls at a fraction of the size. I tell many people that scratch boxes are not made to sound like Big Box calls they are made to sound like turkeys. It can really pay to be as versatile when in the field.

Just secured a small amount of purple heart wood yesterday, I expect to have a short supply of Special Edition calls available before the 2011 season. the blood wood continues to be a tough one to tune but I'm really close, this blood wood has to be the most dense wood I've ever worked with. It has the feel of stone!

New calls for the coming 2011 Turkey season!

I'm currently looking at some new exotic woods to experiment with for the coming season. The woods of choice are Bloodwood, Purple Heart, and the classic Spanish Cedar. I experimented with Bloodwood this year but need more time to tune it, It's pitch was so high it sounded more like a bird call so I opted for the Padauk. I am very close to a true higher tone low rasp call with the "Blood". I made a special call for a Golf War combat wounded Vet 2 years ago out of Purple Heart wood and have had several request form him to make more. The tone and rasp is very true with this exotic wood and looks very appealing. I have made 2 calls of of white Cedar but the tone was very low with way to much rasp. I canned it right away and thought I would return to a different species of Cedar later. Spanish Cedar is more dense than other species of cedar so I will look into giving a fair shot for the 2011 season. Any thought you may have on other kinds of hard woods are always Wanted!!

An Exciting New Product From A Minnesota Artist

Eric Rice from Minneapolis has been making shine boxes and turkey calls for five years. Friends and family have been successful using his designs to call in "The Big One". Because of this, Eric has started to design products for the public. Yes this means you now have the opportunity to call in and shoot "The Big One"

The Shine Boxes are hand carved and burned. There are five different wood styles to choose from. Black Walnut, Limited Edition Maple, Cherry, Padauk, and Pau Ferro.

Black Walnut - is highly prized for dark-colored true hardwood. It is heavy and strong. Walnut wood has historically been used in gun stocks, furniture, flooring, paddles and a variety of other wood working products.

Maple - A valuable source of timber. Maple is considered a tone wood, or a wood that carries sound waves well, and is used in the making of many musical instruments. Electric guitar necks are commonly made from maple. Most drums and the bassoon are made using maple as well. Making this a wonderful wood for shine boxes and calls.

*Limited Edition calls are Shine Boxes that have custom burned images on the front.
*Special Edition calls are unique cuts of exotic woods, and are produced in limited numbers.

Cherry - A premium American hardwood. Known for its natural luster, grain and rich warm glow. Cherry is well used for flooring, and furniture. Very sturdy and strong.

Padauk - An exotic African hardwood. Padauk is hard, heavy, and strong with exceptional decay resistance. An excellent turning wood used in high end cabinet making, fancy knife and tool handles and carving.

Pau Ferro - An exotic wood found in Brazil and Bolivia. Pau Ferro is often used for making fingerboards for electric bases and guitars. A very hard wood that is light in color. Other uses include fancy furniture and handgun grips. A very exceptional wood for carving and sound.