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What's On Sale This Month
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For
our newsletter subscribers only. Place TWIST10
in
the coupon code space at check out and get
20% off
The 7MM Twist Mechanism 10 pack
Don't forget to press the
"apply coupon" button
__________ All offers in this letter expire on 31 MAY 2010 Items on sale include: __________
Sportsman Pack of Pen Clips
$3.85 Each Any Qty
(this offer is for the sportsman clip package only, we will not exchange the clips out ) __________
Secret Compartment Key Chain Kits in Gold or Chrome are
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1-9
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10-49
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50+
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$2.20
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$2.10
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$1.95
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__________
Dymondwood Bottle Stopper Blanks are Buy Three, Get One Free
__________
St. Charles Pen Kit in Gold or Gun Metal are $2.40 Any Qty
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Purchase 10 Trident Kits and Get Free Bushings, Buy 30 and Get Free Bushings and A Free Drill Bit
_______
Be Sure To Check Out Our On Going Laser Engraving Special
Click "HERE" To Link To Our Specials Page
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Greetings!
Spring is here and the craft shows are abound. This is the time of year which we have a harder time of keeping everything in stock. Please do not wait until the last minute to order your supplies.
If you need to contact us by phone please don't hesitate to leave a message. We WILL call you back. We do not have a brick/mortar retail store, therefore we do not have any employees manning a cash register or store phone. We do have two phone lines but they are manned by Tim and myself (Tracey). Our warehouse/office/shop is about 150 feet from our house. While we try to be in the office to catch the phone as much as possible between 11:00am -10:00pm (Central Time) it's not uncommon for Tim to be out working in his shop or running errands with me. I always feel terrible when we come back and I can see a call on the caller ID but no message. I presume if you don't leave a message you don't want us calling and bothering you, but at the same time you must have wanted to talk to us. The first thing we do upon returning to the office is listen to our messages. One of us will be more than happy to return your call. We may have just stepped out for a quick minute or Tim may be on the other line and I'm not at my phone. If we are going to be gone for any length of time, I always change the message on the answering machine to let you know when we will be back. If the message does not say when we will be back, then we're only likely gone for a short time.
If you like ,you can always, leave a message and still call us back if you want to check to see if we are here. Don't feel just because you've left a message you can't call again and have to wait to hear from us.
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A Key To Success!!
Pens are a great item to sell at your local craft shows but to be truly successful you have to diversify your exhibited wares. Granted, you may only sell pens that day but it is the large gorgeous and more pricey items that will attract potential customers to your booth.
Actually it is not as expensive as you think to make items as shown above. As for the pepper mill and the coffee mills shown, yes the tall Grecian jar looking thingy is a pepper mill, they are not that expensive to make but more time consuming. The time is relative though, consider that it takes two to three hours of piddling around in the shop to make the pepper mill. It can be sold for around $80-$100 at a medium price range show. At a high end show you may get around $150.00 for it. The coffee mills would sell for about the same and cost about the same to make but require just a little more time. How many pens would you have made in the same amount of time and how much would you profit from them?
The wood used to make all of the items shown is from pieces of scrap or waste wood. Most of it was found in our local city brush dump site. All of the woods above are common domestic woods; Maple, Sycamore, Oak, Osage Orange (a.k.a. Bodark and Hedge), and Myrtle.
The small jars in front commonly called Treens take very little time and the cost of making them other than the tools, which you probably already have, is next to nothing. They would sell for about the same price as one of your pens. They are quick and fun to make.
You do need to have a diverse selection of pens and pencils too. These are quick sells and do not cost the customer their entire craft show budget on one item. Another popular seller is the key chains.
Have a wide selection of woods, both exotic and domestic. The most boring exhibit you can have is a booth full of items all made from your favorite wood. I have seen this time and time again. Mix it up and always have something new for the next show. Your repeat customers will love you for it and you will get more and more repeat business! Word of mouth is the most powerful advertising you can get.
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Tech Talk
I Am Having Trouble With My Delicate Parts Breaking or Collapsing When I Press Them Together! Pen & Pencil Parts are not indestructible. When instructions for one kit or another tell you to press this part into that part it is not always understood that you can't just mash one into the other and everything will be OK. You should always press on the strongest area of the part.
Many parts have a small shoulder on the which is where you should be pushing. That is the strong point on the part. Use a bushing, mechanics socket or any other tool you can think of to get the pressure of the press to the shoulder of the part and stay off of the more delicate areas of the part such as delicate threads. I purchased some nylon round bar stock which I made small bushings from to press the parts together without scratching them.
Make sure that the part is square and straight before applying pressure. Pressing parts in crooked will cause definite failure of the parts. Don't be in a hurry, speed is not your friend.
You probably have a lathe and a drill press if you are reading this. If so you can use those tools to make pieces to assist you in pressing the parts together. Lignum is an excellent wood for making such jigs due to it's hardness. It will last a long time and will not split apart on you and it will not scratch your finished metal parts.
Remember, as with any kind of wood working, being able to think outside the box is a definite asset.
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"I received my order of coffee bean blanks today
and was very excited to get started. After cutting them to length and drilling and gluing the brass
tubes in everything looked great. When I went to square the ends one of
the latte blanks just exploded. The whole end fell apart. Is there anything I
did wrong. If they weren't so expensive I would just chalk it up to
inexperience."
Whenever you are using blanks with hard (acrylic) and soft (coffee
beans) material mixed together you cannot use a barrel trimmer on the drill
press or in a hand drill. The blank will come apart every single time, no matter how sharp your trimmer is or how slow you go with it. The best way to square the ends is with the use of a
squaring jig on a belt sander. There are no aggressive cutter head flutes to get
caught in the soft spots. Before turning the blanks you should round off the
corners of the blank on the sander as well. You will find many turning
materials which are not conducive to the use of a barrel trimmer. When you turn
these blanks it is best to use a very sharp skew chisel in the traditional manner. In other
words do not use the skew as a scraper. There are lots of videos and other hands on help available to show you how to properly use a skew. This is, in my opinion, the hardest lathe tool to master. Once you have it though, it will be your favorite tool because it will leave a surface which almost needs no sanding.
When finishing the blank it is best to use a
CA finish to penetrate and seal the coffee beans or other soft absorbent material and smooth the surface so the
blank does not feel uneven. As our web page clearly states in the Coffee Bean blank description, "Coffee bean blanks are not for beginners".
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What's New
ABRANET IS HERE! (Almost)
We have had a lot of requests
for an abrasive called Abranet®. We have contacted the manufacturer
and have ordered some in to see how sales go. Abranet® is a
revolutionary new sanding material which will not clog or cake and is extremely
aggressive and very easy on the wallet. The result is a material that is a durable,
long-lasting, abrasive medium to do the rough sanding and shaping of your pens,
bowls, key chains and other lathe turned projects. We are selling it in a ten sheet pack
which includes two each of the following grits: 120X, 180X, 240X, 320X and 400X.
The cost will be $9.95 for 1-2 sets and $8.95 for 3+ sets. The sheets are 2-3/4"
X 5". If you use Micro-Mesh, there is no need to sand any finer than 400X since
the 1500 Micro-Mesh is equivalent to the 400X Abranet® but has a more consistent scratch pattern. This should probably have been in the coming soon box because we are still waiting for the shipment. It should be here this week.
We'll
Engrave your boxes too!
We will be glad to engrave your
boxes along with pens. The forms should be out there soon and prices
will most likely be the same as the pen engraving. Please keep in
mind, engraving shows up beautiful on light wood without any color
fill. If you are getting dark wood or most any acrylic engraved you'll
definitely want a color fill. We will also be adding some nice metal
business card holders that you can have engraved. We will be
continuing to expand our engraving service so if you have something you
would like engraved. Give us a call! |
Coming Soon
Celtic Splendor Twist Pen! We have a very elegant new pen coming which is the same as PSI's Majestic Squire or the Craft Supplies Aero Pen Kit. The center band is different and is adorned with Celtic Knots. These kits will have the up-graded internal components so that you cannot lose the twist mechanism inside like to old Sierra or Wall Street II pen kits.
We will start with one finish which will be Black TN with a gold finish on the bands at the top of the nib assembly and under the clip. The clip will be a little different to make the pen unique to Wood-N-Whimsies.
More New Acrylic Colors! We have some additional Acrylic colors due to ship from China on May 8th. Some of which will include the other Camo combinations. We hope to have them by early June.
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Please note that we will be out of town from June 4th until June 15th. You can still place an order during this period but your order will not ship out until June 16th. We will be in Branson, MO for the Wood Carving Rendezvous and then off to Austin Texas for my Niece's wedding. If you know you will be needing something during this time, please get your order in before June 3rd to have it ship before we leave.
Thank you for subscribing to our news letter. We look forward to hearing from you soon.
Tim Nicholas
Wood-N-Whimsies |
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