I started the carving on this scratchbox in 2020, but I didn't finish it. At the time, this was my 8th carved scratchbox. A good friend contacted me wanting a carved scratchbox, so I took an afternoon and finished it up. It will fit in a tobacco tin and is a deadly little turkey call................
It goes in the mail tomorrow to Texas.
Damn I thought it was coming to NY. Beautiful work as always Marvin.
First class!
Awesome
Marvin, Very sharp looking and I'm sure great running scratcher!
Thank all of you for the kind words.....I really appreciate it!!!
Really nice work. Can't wait to see you in Helen.
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I had a customer tell me I was wasting my time drawing anything other than a strutting gobbler on a turkey call. At first, I really didn't know how to take his comment.....I was drawing what I wanted to draw, and I hadn't much thought about what to draw. But afterwards, I got to noticing the turkey calls with a strutting gobbler were the first of the calls that customers purchased. So, I thought I needed to pay more attention to customer preference........LOL!! All boxed up and ready for the ride to Unicoi...........
Two more........
With these two I decided to incorporate wild cherry burl. These calls looks much better in hand than the picture shows.....
This is one of my favorites.....because I always imagine that old tom standing on the limb looking for me when I'm talking to him first thing in the morning ......
Nice flock you're making
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Two more going to Unicoi...............
Last.....but not least.....LOL!!
Nine more days to Unicoi.........
You do such wonderful work.
I will have to admit.....I have a love/hate relationship with dogwood. My hands bear the scars of working with dogwood. But dogwood makes one of the finest scratchbox strikers. I hoard my dogwood; and if you happen to acquire a dogwood scratchbox striker I made, you will have something rare. But if you happen to acquire an all dogwood scratchbox with a dogwood striker........
I decided to do a little folk art decoration to a couple of dogwood strikers.......
Those scratchers are mighty fine! Really like the strutting gobblers but the gobbler on the limb would be my first choice!
Really special work thats for sure.
Very nice work Marvin!
I have a box of my personal scratchbox strikers I've set aside for myself. Out of boredom I decided to entertain myself with woodburning a few scratchbox strikers. Every once in a while I'll do this for a special scratchbox. I really don't spend much time drawing, so the artwork and the woodburning is a little more crude than on the scratchbox itself. Some of it I like, some of it I don't. It's somewhat different........
Everyone I've seen you make I believe will talk turkey.
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Yesterday I had an individual contact me about my tobacco tin carved scratchbox. After talking with him for a while, I realized he really didn't understand the time and process I went through to make one, so I decided to share a photo that might help some other understand the process. First, you have to build the scratchbox and get it tuned....if it doesn't play it's firewood. The front of the scratchbox has to be just thick enough to create your scene....but not too thick. The front vibrates and adds or subtracts from the sound; even though you are carving a scene, you try to do it as conservatively as possible yet remove all excess wood you can, so starting thickness requires you to asses the depth of the scene you are creating and determine the thickness needed. The drawing of the scene in pencil is next, then I woodburn a general outline of everything drawn. I remove all the background first in layers. The nearest trees and turkeys are left for last. I will woodburn the details of the scene 3-4 times, with more detail each time. Then I start working with my files. Over 90% of the final detail work is with files. My process is tedious, and it takes time.....but it's the way I do it. Very few will spend the time and effort on a simple scratchbox like I do..... but my grandfather and my father turkey hunted with a scratchbox and it's in the family legacy.....LOL!!
The tool chest drawer of files in the picture above are mostly German made, and every time I go to the dentist, I get a few dental picks. I can't tell you how many small dremels I've burned up.....so I have a micro-carver, but it will never replace my files and dental picks....LOL!!
Never apologize for hunting with a scratch box, their one of my favorite tools used in the woods in the spring or fall.
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20240104/fdf8d5fa08bd7d49ffd5f2a4af43cd93.jpg)
I sure love and appreciate the one I got from you Marvin. Excellent piece of art and functional as well. This one spent time in the woods with me this spring and fall.
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Outstanding looking scratch box.
Quote from: Tarheel on January 01, 2024, 03:57:09 PM
I started the carving on this scratchbox in 2020, but I didn't finish it. At the time, this was my 8th carved scratchbox. A good friend contacted me wanting a carved scratchbox, so I took an afternoon and finished it up. It will fit in a tobacco tin and is a deadly little turkey call................
It goes in the mail tomorrow to Texas.
Really nice, great looking work and call
Marvin, I always enjoy looking at your scratchers. I only wish that I could have made it to Unicoi. God willing next year!
Stunning stuff Mr. Marvin. See ya soon.
Lots of work in those for sure. It's a passion and not a job cause that job doesn't pay well. Gotta love it.
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Quote from: Spurtaker on January 05, 2024, 08:33:28 AM
Lots of work in those for sure. It's a passion and not a job cause that job doesn't pay well. Gotta love it.
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After I retired from my public school teaching job in 2018, I spent a year trying to figure out what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. Finally, my wife threw me out of the house to go clean up my small workshop in the garage...or to do anything other than sit in the house with nothing to do. To clean out my workshop, I had to move wood I had stacked in the workshop up to my woodloft. In the woodloft, I found a box of scratchboxes I had made in 2006 and forgotten about. When I built those scratchboxes in 2006, I had left extra wood on the front of the scratchboxes to allow for checkering. After finding the scratchboxes, I couldn't find my checkering tools; so I had to figure out what else I could do with them, then I found my carving tools....and the rest is history....LOL!!! For me the scratchbox is a passion, but it also is a job. Turkey call making definitely doesn't pay well, and dealing with the public can sometimes be a challenge. But I also am passionate and committed to making a turkey call that will maintain value for the purchaser. I sincerely believe my carved scratchboxes will do that.....
Quote from: Tarheel on January 31, 2024, 04:39:29 PM
Quote from: Spurtaker on January 05, 2024, 08:33:28 AM
Lots of work in those for sure. It's a passion and not a job cause that job doesn't pay well. Gotta love it.
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After I retired from my public school teaching job in 2018, I spent a year trying to figure out what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. Finally, my wife threw me out of the house to go clean up my small workshop in the garage...or to do anything other than sit in the house with nothing to do. To clean out my workshop, I had to move wood I had stacked in the workshop up to my woodloft. In the woodloft, I found a box of scratchboxes I had made in 2006 and forgotten about. When I built those scratchboxes in 2006, I had left extra wood on the front of the scratchboxes to allow for checkering. After finding the scratchboxes, I couldn't find my checkering tools; so I had to figure out what else I could do with them, then I found my carving tools....and the rest is history....LOL!!! For me the scratchbox is a passion, but it also is a job. Turkey call making definitely doesn't pay well, and dealing with the public can sometimes be a challenge. But I also am passionate and committed to making a turkey call that will maintain value for the purchaser. I sincerely believe my carved scratchboxes will do that.....
I'll wait patiently for mine. Well maybe impatiently. lol, I do want one when you get chance. Maybe you should just stay out of the house more so you'll have more time to get to mine.
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You are talented. That is some serious art work!
Quote from: turkey stew on January 01, 2024, 10:21:38 PMMarvin, Very sharp looking and I'm sure great running scratcher!
how
Quote from: turkey stew on January 01, 2024, 10:21:38 PMMarvin, Very sharp looking and I'm sure great running scratcher!
Nice work. I love a good scratch box.
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I have a Gobbler scratch box from Mr. Marvin and it's a player. His was the first scratcher I have ever played. Great sounding gobbler yelps.
Tobacco tin scratchboxes by definition are small. They have to be small to fit properly in a Prince Albert tobacco tin. My maternal grandfather carried his scratchbox in a Prince Albert tobacco tin to protect it. He was a market hunter and a turkey killer. The scratchbox had to fit exactly....it could not rattle. Everything had to be just right....
I gave the tobacco tin scratchbox below to my youngest son for Christmas. The gobbler is "listening for the hens". I built this scratchbox in 2006. I originally planned to carve the front, but I soon found out aromatic red cedar was not the best wood to try to carve. So I sanded off the carving, and started drawing.....and this is the end result.
That looks really nice. I'm sure he'll appreciate it for many years.
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Here is another tobacco tin scratchbox that I just shipped to a friend.....
Sharp looking scratcher. Really enjoy the artwork!
Amazing work Mr. Marvin, have a good time at Unicoi!
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In 2024, I ended up making 4 tobacco tin scratchboxes....and one of the 4 was built in 2006, but finished in 2024. I had decided I would cut back on making tobacco tin scratchboxes because I had almost used up my supply of Prince Albert tobacco tins. I only took 2 tobacco tin scratchboxes to the 2025 Unicoi Callmakers Show. They were the first two calls I sold. In both cases, the customers came to my table specifically asking if I had any tobacco tins scratchboxes with me. I hadn't put the tobacco tins out on the table. Because there was so much activity going on at the time, I wasn't able to really talk to either customer, so I don't really know how either customer even knew I made tobacco tins scratchboxes.
You make a call that is very different in some ways from most - and I have made a unique version of a certain type call long enough to know as well just how time consuming it is. Two things. One, your work is really good!! Second - you probably are not charging enough and a lot of folks who have never built some very unique version of a call such as yours - well they just need to walk a mile in your shoes.
Anyway - I hope that you will continue to make some version of that even if you have to come up with a different means to case it than a Prince Albert can.
Quote from: mountainhunter1 on January 16, 2025, 12:54:55 PMYou make a call that is very different in some ways from most - and I have made a unique version of a certain type call long enough to know as well just how time consuming it is. Two things. One, your work is really good!! Second - you probably are not charging enough and a lot of folks who have never built some very unique version of a call such as yours - well they just need to walk a mile in your shoes.
Anyway - I hope that you will continue to make some version of that even if you have to come up with a different means to case it than a Prince Albert can.
Mountainhunter1,
I had a call collector stop by my table at Unicoi and ask if he could sit down with me and have me show him my calls. He mainly wanted me to show him my scratchboxes, but we talked about all the different calls I make. I showed him how I play my scratchboxes, then he wanted to play one. I gave him some tips on how I had designed my scratchboxes to play a certain way....and in short order, he was doing a very fine job of playing a scratchbox. I pulled out my cell phone and turned on the voice recorder to be able to play back for him his playing the scratchbox. The call collector then told me the approximate number of scratchboxes he owned from other callmakers. He left my table with 3 of my scratchboxes. He asked me how long I had been making turkey calls; and when I told him since 2000, with a 18 year gap in between, we both got a good laugh. When I sent him some pictures of the calls I've made since 2018, he told me he was surprised he had not heard of me before this weekend at Unicoi. If I had taken a dozen tobacco tin scratchboxes to Unicoi, I could have sold them all. I ended up only having 2 to take. Frankly, I build calls all year just to have inventory to take to Unicoi, but I will sell a call whenever I have the opportunity. I did have 20 regular scratchboxes and 20 Ol'Gobbler scratchboxes I took to Unicoi. That's the most inventory I've ever had. Because of the weather, the crowd a Unicoi was small, but I did sell a few calls. But I brought a few calls back home, too.
Quote from: Tarheel on January 16, 2025, 02:25:37 PMQuote from: mountainhunter1 on January 16, 2025, 12:54:55 PMYou make a call that is very different in some ways from most - and I have made a unique version of a certain type call long enough to know as well just how time consuming it is. Two things. One, your work is really good!! Second - you probably are not charging enough and a lot of folks who have never built some very unique version of a call such as yours - well they just need to walk a mile in your shoes.
Anyway - I hope that you will continue to make some version of that even if you have to come up with a different means to case it than a Prince Albert can.
Mountainhunter1,
I had a call collector stop by my table at Unicoi and ask if he could sit down with me and have me show him my calls. He mainly wanted me to show him my scratchboxes, but we talked about all the different calls I make. I showed him how I play my scratchboxes, then he wanted to play one. I gave him some tips on how I had designed my scratchboxes to play a certain way....and in short order, he was doing a very fine job of playing a scratchbox. I pulled out my cell phone and turned on the voice recorder to be able to play back for him his playing the scratchbox. The call collector then told me the approximate number of scratchboxes he owned from other callmakers. He left my table with 3 of my scratchboxes. He asked me how long I had been making turkey calls; and when I told him since 2000, with a 18 year gap in between, we both got a good laugh. When I sent him some pictures of the calls I've made since 2018, he told me he was surprised he had not heard of me before this weekend at Unicoi. If I had taken a dozen tobacco tin scratchboxes to Unicoi, I could have sold them all. I ended up only having 2 to take. Frankly, I build calls all year just to have inventory to take to Unicoi, but I will sell a call whenever I have the opportunity. I did have 20 regular scratchboxes and 20 Ol'Gobbler scratchboxes I took to Unicoi. That's the most inventory I've ever had. Because of the weather, the crowd a Unicoi was small, but I did sell a few calls. But I brought a few calls back home, too.
That is awesome, and no doubt you could have sold a bunch of those Prince Albert Tin Scratchers had you had more with you. Scratch boxes are one of my favorite calls, and they are deadly in the woods. I am usually at Unicoi, but missed this year to due to a death. But God willing, I will get with you next year and we will play a few together at the show. Thanks for all your hard work and for helping to make Unicoi the special show that it is.