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"I began making salt and pepper shakers about five years ago," says Utley. "At first I made only a few pair of various designs. Collectors and others who saw them liked them immediately and their demand prompted me to make more."

Today, Utley is shipping his salt and pepper shakers throughout America, Canada and the Hawaiian Islands.

"My most popular shakers are the cow horn models," says Utley. "These are made from cattle horns which I get from packing houses and nearby farms. As far as I know, I'm the only person making shakers from cattle horns and they're really a novelty.

"I first stumbled onto the idea when I noticed a lot of horns lying around the farms near Broken Arrow. As I picked them up and examined them, I found they were hollow inside. It was then that I was inspired to try my hand at converting them into salt and pepper shakers."

THE FIRST thing Utley did was to get in touch with the manager of the local packing house, who agreed to save all the cow horns for Utley at a very economical price.

When the cow's horns are removed from the animal, the inside of the horn is made up of a soft, spongy substance. When this is scraped out, the horn becomes hollow inside.

"The packing house manager told me to boil out the 'core' of the fresh horns, so that's what I did as soon as I arrived home," says Utley.

After the horns had been boiled thoroughly, Utley found that the core came out fairly easily if he used a long pointed knife. Any "battle scars" or bumps found on the horn surfaces were removed (while they were still hot) with a sharp pocket knife. After the horns cooled, they became as hard as celluloid.

"The next step in making cow horn salt and pepper shakers is to sand them smooth," says Utley. "By using several grades of sand paper and graduating from the coarse to the smooth, the horn surfaces become very smooth.

"Next, they are cut off to a certain height, so they are both of the same size. A ¼-inch-thick wood disc is then cut round for the bottom of the shaker (and after sanding off a little here and there around the edge) is glued into place. A hole in the center of this wood disc is drilled to hold a small cork, which is used to keep the salt and pepper in the shaker and also to allow the shakers to be filled."

The ¼-inch disc that fits in the bottom of the shaker does not fit flush with the bottom of the shaker. Instead, the disc is inserted upward into the shaker, so that the cork fits flush with the shakers—allowing the shaker to sit evenly upon the table without tipping over.

The wood disc that fits inside the shaker is not cut perfectly round. Each disc has to be sanded and made to fit the individual horn-shaker, as a cow's horn is not perfectly round. They are irregular and sort of oblong in shape.

"It's mother nature's job to form the horns and she doesn't make two exactly alike," says Utley. "I have to sand the round disc a trifle here and there around the edge to make them fit the shape of the horn inside."

At the pointed end of the horns (which is the shaker top), Utley drills some very small holes from which the salt and pepper can be poured.

If you examine a cow's horn, you'll find they have no openings at the pointed end, but after the insides are boiled out, they are hollow inside. Therefore, it's an easy matter to drill tiny holes at the pointed end to allow passage of salt or pepper.

"I then proceed to give the cow-horn shakers two coats of clear liquid rubber that I've found to be better than shellac or varnish," says Utley. "To assist them in the drying process, they are placed on a rack which consists of several rows of nails about two inches apart driven into an orange crate. The nails point upward and are of the long size to keep the shakers suspended without touching the base of the rack.

"When the cow-horn shakers have been given the two coats of rubber, and are thoroughly dry, they are marked on the tips with black or white enamel. This is done so that the user can distinguish which is for salt and which for pepper.

"The pepper-shaker tips are dipped into a can of black enamel—the tip of the shaker going about ⁵/8 inch into the paint. Another rack, made of one-inch wire mesh, is nailed to four pillars and allows the shakers to be placed in a downward drying position. After the excess paint has dripped off the ends, they are placed back in an upward position to dry. If the customer desires them to be personalized, this is done before the final sanding operation by burning the lettering into the horn with a wood-burning or pyrography set.

"The last operation is to fit a number two cork into the bottom of the disc glued into the bottom of the cow horn."

AFTER THE cow-horn shakers are completely finished and dried, they are carefully packed and shipped to the waiting customers. Many of them ask if the salt and pepper shakers were really made from cow horns, as they have such a high, natural-color gloss.

"Folks seem to think they should be more rough looking to be made from, cow horns," says Utley. "Boiling them in water sterilizes them, and they have no odor when completely washed and finished. They are as pure as a scalded drinking cup, and many people prefer to use them daily on their dinner tables. They are of the large family size and handy to use—standing lots of rough handling."

Many times, Utley gets a call from a dairy group, inviting him to a dehorning program scheduled for a certain date. Utley immediately accepts the invitation, for it is at these meetings that he gets a bushel or more cattle and steer horns for making salt and pepper shakers.

"My first order for the cow-horn shakers was from Atoka, Oklahoma," relates Utley. "I almost fell over in excitement. Since then, however, I've been receiving orders for $50 worth of the shakers from a single customer.

"Individual collectors often order ten to fifteen at a time to exchange with other collectors. They help me to advertise by writing their collector friends about my shakers."

THE FIRST place Utley placed the cow-horn shakers on sale to the public was in the bus station of his home town.

"The station manager was interested in having me place some of my shakers on sale for souvenirs," says Utley. "Broken Arrow is a small town of approximately 3,500 population, and there is no place for the tourists stopping off to buy souvenirs. When they saw my cow-horn shakers on sale, they immediately bought them to take home with them, as they were a good reminder of the west.

"With the help of the bus agent, we selected some other small town bus depots that might be in the market for my shakers and immediately sent them off a letter with my suggestion of carrying my cow-horn shakers for sale as souvenirs. Several responded with orders."

Utley makes and handles his orders for his cow-horn shakers in a ten-by-twelve-foot wood frame building he has constructed. His work-shop contains a jig saw, disc sander, bench grinder, a wood lathe, ½-inch bench drill press, electric hand-drill, oscillating sander, tilting table saw, flexible shaft and motor, and various hand tools of all kinds.

"My wife takes an active interest in my hobby and performs various duties," says Utley. "She sands the shakers, does the wood burning and personalizing of them, when folks want their own names or hometowns printed upon them. She is talented with the paint brush, so she's a big help to me."

UTLEY FOUND new markets for his salt and pepper shakers by mentioning to everyone to whom he sent letters that he was giving ten prizes monthly for the longest list of salt and pepper shaker collectors sent to him.

"You'd be surprised at the response I got from running my little contest," says Utley. "Folks looked through magazines and papers and compiled long lists which they sent to me. I gave away cow-horn shakers for the prizes, and soon I got swamped with so many names, that I had to discontinue my contest.

"To each of the collectors whose name and address had come into my possession, I wrote a personal letter telling of my new type of shakers—and my price list. I also stated that I would gladly repair or make any type of shaker they might ask me to do. I was certainly surprised at the unusual "repair jobs" I got. I charged them a very small fee for this service, for they always put me in touch with other people who wanted to buy my cow-horn shakers. Collectors always want to add something new and novel to their collections, so my cow-horn model seemed to be just what they wanted."

Utley found that collectors were anxious to add other models to their lines, so he made up some other original creations. All in all, he has created nearly 100 different models, but the cow-horn shakers still remain his best selling set.

"Salt and pepper shaker collectors send me various materials to be made into shakers," says Utley. "Some of them from South Carolina send me pecans. Others send me wooden toys, and miniature doll furniture is a favorite among all of them. Shakers to be made from myrtle wood came from Oregon and box elder from Minnesota and also from North Dakota.

"I've received small coffee creamers from Colorado, Wisconsin and other states, They are used in most cafes to hold the cream for a customer's coffee.

"Dairies furnish them to their customers sometimes with the name of the dairy and often the name of the city and state printed upon them. This makes them valuable as souvenir shakers, so it is my job to turn them into salt and pepper shakers by fitting them with proper holes and corks."

WHENEVER UTLEY goes for a trip in the woods or along a stream, he always makes sure he has a large hunting knife and hatchet with him. On these trips he gathers properly cured and seasoned wood (tree limbs) that are of a certain size and shape for a particular design of shakers.

"My shakers which I make with a bird-nest in the branch require a limb of a certain size and a natural fork near the top to hold the bird's nest," says Utley. "The nest for the shaker is made of real human hair and four white simulated miniature bird eggs are tucked inside it. A hollow is drilled up the trunk to hold the salt or pepper, the shaker is fitted with a cork at the bottom and a few holes are drilled near the fork of the branches to permit the salt and pepper to come out. This shaker is more or less a novelty and collector's item and is not very practical".

The bird nest shakers are sold for $3.50 a pair and are made from odds and ends Utley picks up on trips in the woods; the hair is purchased from companies who handle it for craft workers.

"We are very fortunate that we have in our front yard a large black walnut tree that keeps me well supplied with nuts," says Utley. "In the back yard we have peach trees that provide me with peach seeds. These seeds make dandy shakers when hollowed out and fitted with holes. We also have pecans of the large paper-shell variety which I hollow out and make into unusual shakers."

The shaker-maker buys the corks at wholesale in 1,000 lots, and to make sure he uses the correct size drill and cork for a pair of shakers, he has prepared a chart which tells him what size to use.

"It's impossible to remember the correct drill and cork size for nearly 100 different shaker designs, so the chart is a big help to me," says Utley. "I found that the wrong size of a drill used to drill a hole would sometimes split or otherwise damage a shaker. A large cork fitted in the bottom would throw it off balance and not allow it to stand erect. This caused a lot of headaches and lots of confusion, until I adopted this chart-record."

IN 1951, Utley had the misfortune to break his foot, but this didn't dampen his enthusiasm to sell his shakers. Instead, he was more determined than ever to find further markets for his shakers and see the country at the same time—sort of a vacation and business trip combined.

"I picked up my crutches, threw a few personal things together in a bag, and picking up a printed catalogue I started out on a hitch-hiking trip that took me 4,000 miles," says Utley. "Whenever I passed a gift shop or novelty stand, I told the motorist to stop and let me off. I'd enter the gift shop and have a friendly chat with the proprietor—telling him of the salt and pepper shakers I made by hand, and often obtained an order. Most of them were very interested and I returned home having cleared my expenses on the trip plus $60."

Once he had arrived home, Utley filled the orders he had received on his trip. After each one of them had been given his personal attention, he longed to go on another such trip and that's just what he did.

He bought himself a used car, loaded the back seat and trunk with nonpersonalized shakers and was off on a series of 1,000-, or 2,000-mile trips. The shakers were sold to shops all along the way to help pay for expenses.

"I even traded some of my shakers for a night's lodging or for a meal—just to advertise my business," says Utley. "I had the pleasure of visiting old customers I had never met, but to whom I had sold shakers through the mail. I held regular old-fashioned get-togethers with them, and I enjoyed meeting each one of them. I returned home with a fortune in ideas gathered along the way and a full charge of enthusiasm to boost me in my work."

Later, Utley took another trip to the western part of the country and studied the tourist's desires in souvenirs and shakers. He found the western gift shops were the most helpful and received many letters from them when he returned home. This trip took only one month, but the hobbyist covered 3,600 miles and nine states.

Utley ships most of his shakers via parcel post in small, cardboard boxes. Most of them are obtained free of charge at the local stores which would destroy them, if he didn't use them.

"The cow-horn shakers are the shakers I specialize in but I make others to order—animals of all types, fowl, Indian and native heads, covered wagons, cactus, cowboy boots, dice, mail boxes, hammers, flashlights, and a number of others," says Utley.

"Residents of some states find one model more appropriate than another, and by making a variety of models, I don't get tired of working on the same ones day after day."

UTLEY HAS printed a little catalogue in booklet form with illustrations of the various models he makes for collectors and gift shops. This is sent to anyone requesting it, for 25 cents in coin. The booklet shows illustrations of each of the shaker models and a short description and price beneath each one.

"There are thousands of salt and pepper shaker collectors located throughout the country and many boast of having 100 to 4,000 pairs of shakers on hand," says Utley. "But when a collector sees something new and novel in the way of a shaker model, he'll buy it, regardless. I guess it's human nature to want to display something different in your home, and that's why my shakers are a hit. I try to make them different and unlike anything else on the market."