Belt Buckle TN Large Craft Show

[hotshot]

Any one exhibiting in BellBuckle, TN tomorrow?  It supposed to be a very large show, and since it is close to where I live, going to take a trip over to check it out.

[Lucky2]

Randy, aren't you entering the sale, do you ever sell your coins that way? How many cut coins do you think you would have to have, for a sale like that? Do you do any scrolling other then coins, I don't remember if you do or not? If you do attend the sale, could you please try to get a few pictures of any woodwork that's there? I would greatly appreciate it if you could get a few shots for us, I imagine the other members would also. I hope it's not to much of a pain me asking you to do this, if it is, don't bother doing it.

Len

[Scrappile]

What I really want to know, how does a town get to be called Bellbuckle?!  That has to be an interesting story. 

[lawson56]

I haven't heard about it.wish I did.I'm not all that far from there either,just a couple of hours south west. Scrappile not for sure how Bellbuckle got it's name.I agree it's has to be an interesting story.

[hotshot]

13 hours ago, Lucky2 said:

Randy, aren't you entering the sale, do you ever sell your coins that way? How many cut coins do you think you would have to have, for a sale like that? Do you do any scrolling other then coins, I don't remember if you do or not? If you do attend the sale, could you please try to get a few pictures of any woodwork that's there? I would greatly appreciate it if you could get a few shots for us, I imagine the other members would also. I hope it's not to much of a pain me asking you to do this, if it is, don't bother doing it.

Len

My coins don't take up very much space, so my booth would have to be really really small, or else I would have to build up an incredible inventory.

I think a better choice for me might be to piggy back off of another exhibitor that does more traditional wood projects, at least until I see if the coils will sell in that setting.

Edited October 21, 2017 by hotshot

[wedo scroll]

Randy, I would like to hear what you see and observe in Bellbuckle. May want to go myself.

[Lucky2]

Randy, I can see your coins selling in any venue, they are amazing!

Len

[Woodmaster1]

My daughter use to live there. Home of the moon pie and a great ice cream shop. How it got it's name don't know.

[meflick]

9 hours ago, Woodmaster1 said:

My daughter use to live there. Home of the moon pie and a great ice cream shop. How it got it's name don't know.

Actually, the "home" of the moon pie, or where it was invented is at a bakery in Chattanooga, TN in 1917. But, it is a "staple" found throughout most areas in Tennessee for sure and the south in general. 

Here is a link from Bell Buckle's Chamber of Commerce site that gives the "most widely accepted" version as to how the town got its name. 

http://bellbucklechamber.com/how-bell-buckle/

thanks for asking, while I am well familiar with the town as it has the original  of three  college predatory schools - the "Webb Schools"  in the US,  (started in 1870); (the second is in California (1922) with separate girl's (1981), and the third here in Knoxville, TN (1955). I had never looked to see how it got its name. Interestingly, the original Webb School in Bell Buckle and the one in California were both founded as boarding schools but also take local day students. The one in Knoxville was never a boarding school and is the largest of the 3 schools. All three schools were founded by members of the Webb family. The one in Knoxville was founded by the grandson of the Webb who started the first one in Bell Buckle. While all named Webb School, and founded by members of the same family, they are different and distinct schools that operate independently of each other and are connected by "name" only. I always found that history interesting (my kids attended the one in Knoxville)  and would like to get to Bell Buckle one day to see that area and school.

i look forward to hearing Randy's report on the show. I haven't previously heard anything about it. 

 

[hotshot]

The show was huge.  Buy huge, I mean most of the town.  There was a line of cars waiting to get into town and the last few miles probably took 40 or more minutes as traffic was backed up.  I understand there was over 1000 vendors, and it was tight, down almost every street, alley, nic and cranny.  The number of people there was astounding.  There were more concession vendors than at the state fair.

Most of the vendors were selling clothing and such, obviously not created by the vendor.  A lot of cheap jewelry, fidget spinners, soap, candles, plasma cut metal signs, knives.  Some of the vendors you could tell just traveled show to show, to show like carnies, selling novelties.  

On the handcraft front, there was a section in the middle of town dedicated to handcrafted products.  There was a woodworking there that did a lot of carvings, very very intricate stuff.  He also had some scroll saw stuff, and I ask him which scroll saw he used.  He said he built it himself.  Pretty neat.  That was an craftsman of a different level.  Saw some original glass artists, and a guy that made knives from ground up, including the sheaths.  

I found some other scroll saw stuff spread around, but more laser cut than anything.  Saw something else I thought was interesting, there were pieces that were obviously not scroll saw, but also not laser (no burning around edges).  I think these pieces were "punched", though could have been some sort of water jet or something, I'm not sure.  This trend to me is more concerning than the laser cut stuff because besides the low price, there were not a lot to indicates how it was made.

Maybe a few of us try to pull enough work together next year to go split a booth :-)

Edited October 22, 2017 by hotshot

[meflick]

Any scroll saw works?

[amazingkevin]

On 10/20/2017 at 8:29 PM, hotshot said:

Any one exhibiting in BellBuckle, TN tomorrow?  It supposed to be a very large show, and since it is close to where I live, going to take a trip over to check it out.

The origin of the town's unusual name is not known. According to the local chamber of commerce, one story says that one of the first white men to travel through the area found a tree with carvings of a cowbell and a buckle, possibly carved by Indians to warn white settlers away, or possibly carved by surveyors to mark the area as good pasture. Another form of the legend holds that a bell and buckle were tied around a tree. In any case, the nearby creek was named Bell Buckle Creek, and the town later took the name of the creek.^[8]

The Bell Buckle area was settled in the early 19th century. A bustling town grew up after the Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad came through the area in 1852. A railroad depot was built in 1853, and the town was incorporated in 1856. Bell Buckle had its period of greatest prosperity after about 1870, becoming the major stockyard between Nashville and Chattanooga and growing to a population of more than 1,000.^[8]