Tobacco tin scratchbox.......

[Tarheel]

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.....   

[Spurtaker]

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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[KYTurkey07]

You are talented. That is some serious art work!

[Bigfoot60]

Marvin, Very sharp looking and I'm sure great running scratcher!

how

Marvin, Very sharp looking and I'm sure great running scratcher!

[Tree sleeper]

Nice work. I love a good scratch box.

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[Will]

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.   

[Tarheel]

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. 

[Spurtaker]

That looks really nice. I'm sure he'll appreciate it for many years.


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[Tarheel]

Here is another tobacco tin scratchbox that I just shipped to a friend.....

[turkey stew]

Sharp looking scratcher. Really enjoy the artwork!

[Beards and Hooks]

Amazing work Mr. Marvin, have a good time at Unicoi!

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[Tarheel]

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.

[mountainhunter1]

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.

[Tarheel]

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.

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.

[mountainhunter1]

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.

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.