I was only able to take a couple of classes from John before he died. In the first class I had with him (at Vic Hoods studio), he did demos throughout the day on small study sticks, then at the end of the day he'd have little contests (drawings and puzzles) and the winner would get an unspecified prize which were his demo sticks. It turns out I won just about every prize, including his last one. I felt so bad about winning so many times, I told him to give it to someone else; remember I didn't know what the prize was. It turned out to be the finished carving he brought along as the go-by for the carvings we were creating. He was incredulous that I didn't know what the prize would be, and I gave away a fantastic carving.

Larry had warned me to sharpen my tools before Johns' classes. I remember he would use your tools to help if you were having problems. One guy's tools must have been exceptionally dull. He'd stick it into the wood, look at the tool, and drop it on the floor (tip first -- it was a wooden floor) and with a sigh reach for another. After 3 dull tries he asked me to go get mine. Praise indeed.

The second class I had with him was in Chattanooga. He had brought along butternut squares about 6" x 6" x 12" for our carvings. One of his complaints was how slow we were. After lunch on the 2nd day he mounted a blank, and said let him know when 15 minutes were up. It was unbelievable how fast he could remove wood. At the end of 15 minutes, you could tell it was an indian with all sorts of possibilities. I won the carving at the end of the class (at right). I was supposed to finish it before he came back for another class - or he wouldn't let me into the class. Unfortunately he died before he could come back again. I left the bust as a reminder.

Since John raffled off the indian as the class demo, he sold the go-by for the class project. He said he made these pieces to be sold as pairs or bookends; a mountain man and an indian set.

John had a reputation of being difficult to get along with, but we understood each other; I think that's why I won so many of his contests. The way he explained things made sense to me like no other carver I've met. I think if I could have continued with his tutelage, I would be a much better carver today.