Web: woodnwhimsies.com
Phone: 800-820-1099
Email: sales@woodnwhimsies.com |
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Wood-N-Whimsies
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December 2011
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We had a few folks who were a little on the con-
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Dink Says, "Tots please---Tots---Anyone there? Tots, anybody---anybody. Tots---Tots!"
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fused side last month with the facebook link and could not figure out how to add us to their "friends" list. We all wanted to know if we were missing something.
Ryan explained the process to us and it went something like this.
You didn't miss anything at all. Facebook tends to run on the idea of "You can be friends with people, not things." To that effect pages for businesses only have Like buttons.
If you do a search for "woodnwhimsies" in Facebook's search bar, we should be the only result that pops up. Unless Facebook decides to be difficult, you should see a "Like" button just to the left of our name on the results page, as well as on the Wood-N-Whimsies page itself.
Clicking that button is the equivalent of being on a friend's list. You'll receive notice when we post on our wall and we'll see your name proudly displayed in our 'Likes Us' tab when we view our Facebook page.
Tracey's two cents worth:
I just wanted to take a minute to Thank each and every person who took the time to send me a note last month after our little Newsletter snafu. It just reminded me how awesome our customers are. Your comments were very supportive, informative, insightful and well...some were just darn funny! Please be assured that I won't be censoring Tim any more than usual and you'll continue to get useful information. If you can take something valuable from our Newsletters then that's great, if you have an issue with something that may not be as subtle as you would like, we truly respect that, but as with anything in life, there is one thing I know for sure. It's impossible to please 100% of the people all the time so we're going to shoot for a majority of people and call it a day.
We've had several people ask if we offer overnight shipping. The answer is no, but not because we are too lazy to go to the post office, it's simply because we've had a 0% success rate with overnight. We are very rural so what generally happens is by the time our packages make it to the main HUB in Springfield they've already missed the Express connection. Yes, the post office will refund the postage if it doesn't get there on time but now we have to go in and bring all the paperwork to get the refund and end up having a customer who is very unhappy because they didn't get their overnight package overnight. While we can't control the mail other than to do our part, the impression in the mind of the customer is that "Wood-N-Whimsies" didn't deliver after they said they would. I'd rather be upfront with someone and explain this than to tell them I'm going to do something that I just can't do.
We hope everyone has a great Christmas no matter how you celebrate the Holiday. We are a "Merry Christmas" family but have customers all over the world and from probably every religion and background so we wish you joy and peace no matter how you recognize this special time of year. We just can't believe we can see 2012 on the horizon. Where exactly did 2011 go?
Looking forward towards 2012, we'll continue to strive to improve your shopping experience by bringing in new products and making improvements to our website so shopping is as hassle free as possible and you can concentrate on the fun part....turning!
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What's On Sale This Month:
For Our Newsletter Subscribers Only: We have TWO coupon codes this month!
20% off Our TRIMKIT. Use Coupon Code "TRIM11" at checkout
AND
15% off Tim's Definitely Defective Blanks. Use Coupon Code "DEF11" at checkout
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15% off All Dymondwood Purchases (While Supplies Last)
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Snowman Inlay Blank $15.50 each
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Spend $100.00 (before shipping) and receive a lathe design eyeglass holder FREE!
(limit one holder per order)
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Pen Blank Drill Centering Device $49.95
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Uncle Tim's Loofah Blanks
$7.55-$12.45
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Books:
Learn To Turn $13.50
Pen Turner's Workbook $11.50
Turning Pens and Pencils $14.50
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Renaissance Wax Sample $1.99
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Single Step Polish $8.95
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Kast-A-Blank Kit $25.50
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Brass 30 Cal. Bushings $.85 each
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Pen Tube Insertion Tool $6.99
Click "Here" To Go To Our Specials Page
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TECH TALK
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Can my barrel trimmer head be sharpened? If so, how? Do I just need to throw the one I have away and buy a new one?
We had a good question posed to us last month and after some "how can I explain this on paper" thought, We decided to do a little video of the process. It is really quite simple but a little difficult to explain in written terms.
Ryan and I have put together a simple video to demonstrate the process. Click on the video link below and take a look. With few words, I think we hit the nail on the head and made it all seem very simple.
If you have a carbide trimmer, you cannot sharpen it on your shop's bench grinder unless you have a silicone carbide (green) wheel. The silicone carbide wheel is rather on the expensive side and can only be used to sharpen carbide tools with. If you try to sharpen the carbide on your regular (white/gray) stone, the carbide will just wear away the stone and the carbide won't get a scratch on it. You can also use a diamond wheel which will run you around $250-$350, depending on the wheel diameter. With this wheel you can sharpen either carbide or HSS. The downside, once you sharpen HSS, you will not be able to use it for carbide. It would be a good idea to keep the diamond wheel segregated and only use it for your carbide tools.
In reality, it seems that once the carbide edge on your trimmer has ran it's course, it's all over with. Kinda makes the high cost of the carbide version of a barrel trimmer a serious wash. With a high speed steel trimmer head, you can re-sharpen it many times over on your shop grinder.
I have been using the same five trimmer heads now for almost ten years and I have sharpened them quite a few times. How many times? I can't say for sure but it is probably close to twenty times. I use them alot. I have one for every size tube already set up. They are not that expensive and it is a bit of a time saver to have tools you need ready to go without fumbling around with little screws and tiny wrenches. The Trim Kit comes with just one cutter head but you can purchase additional heads and install the other shafts into their own cutter.
When you tighten the set screw on your trimmer, there is absolutely no need to crank that puppy down till your knuckles turn white. I call it ape fisting. A light twist on the flat of the shaft is all that is needed. If you get the set screw too tight, you can strip it out and not get it back out very easily, if at all. There are ways to get the stripped screw out but the tools to do so will cost more than the new trimmer.
If it is too late and you have already stripped the set screw in your trimmer and can't get it out. Yep, throw it away and start over. you cannot sharpen the head properly with the shaft installed.
If the shaft in your kit does not have a flat on it, you can easily make one on your shops grinding wheel. A couple of quick touches to the stone on the same spot and presto, you have a flat spot. Click the YouTube link below to view the video.
Now that we have a feel for how to make video shorts, we will try to incorporate a video short into the newsletter each month to demonstrate some of the things which are a bit more difficult to explain, or at least more fun to watch than to read about.
The idea of doing the video of the trimmer head sharpening came from a friend of ours whom I showed the process to a couple of months ago. He said "you should do a video of that, that's good information".
Ryan is a bit more computer savvy than I am and Tracey simply does not have the time to put into it. Between Ryan and I, we figured everything out and spent just over 2-1/2 hours to make a three minute video. Hopefully the next one will go a bit faster. Be sure to stay for the credits, We think they are the best part.
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WHAT'S NEW
|  For Winter, Tracey has made a cute little snowman inlay. His name is Frosty and he is cool both in the literal and general sense. She will make him with any choice of scarf color you wish as long as it is red. ------ Actually she can make the scarf in blue, orange, yellow or anything else as long as we have the color available. Green would clash with the blank but then again she can change the blank color too.
We have the ever popular Indian River Buffalo Horn pen blanks back in stock for as low as $4.35 per blank. Get some now, our last batch went very quickly and it takes months to get them from India. |
COMING SOON
|  They were supposed to be here in the first week of November but there were some delays in the manufacturing process. The Chrome Monet will be here in the second week of this month. They have already been through the terminal in Long Beach, California and are on the train in a container headed for Kansas City. This kit is all chrome. There is no black enamel on it at all, it's all chrome. I saw one of these pens in a display case at an office supply store and knew that they would be popular. I do not know of anyone else selling the kit this way but it is out there in a finished form at the office supply stores for around $65.00.
Tracey has had her Pink Ribbon Inlay design transferred to a clip. The pink ribbon clips will be here this week and they look really nice. We will be donating 10% of the proceeds from these clips to the Breast Cancer Foundation of the Ozarks (BCFO) along with the funds made from the pink ribbon inlays. Last May with just under three months of sales we were able to send the BCFO $310.00. We have already surpassed that amount for this year and hope to be able to give closer to $2000.00 this coming May. We also made a couple of the Monet kits up for them to raffle off last year and they made close to $500.00 from them in the raffle. We do what we can to help a worthy cause like BCFO.
We also have the black powder coated tubes coming for the Monet/Gatsby/Sierra type kits. These tubes are great for using in the inlay blanks to hide any brass that might want to peek through. We will soon carry all of the various tubes we sell available in black, white and chrome powder coating. |
FEEDBACK
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We received an email from Kenny Eaton who has some suggestions for purchasing resizing equipment for your spent brass. This equipment is great for resizing a few cartridges.
Hello,
My name is Kenny Eaton and I recently got your email newsletter which contained info about the .30cal pen kits (I take it these are for a piece of 30-06 brass?) and the issues some people have with getting parts to fit due to not sizing the fired brass prior to assembling the pen.
Being a reloader and firearms enthusiast myself, and one that started out with a meager budget, I am very familiar with much of the low-cost gear and have pretty much figured out what works and what doesn't.
One piece that I would recommend to someone just looking to size .30-06 for the use of making pens, is the "Lee Classic Loader" in .30-06 caliber. These can be had for about $25 and do not require the use of a press, just a simple wooden or plastic mallet is all that's needed. I actually have one of these is .30-06 (and several other calibers) and it comes with me on all my hunting trips when I will be away from home. I have loaded several hundred rounds with mine without issue, so I'm sure it will do fine for making pens. Again, literally all that is needed is the Lee Classic Loader, a tube of lube, and a mallet (plastic or wood) and you can neck-size all the cases you will ever need.
Here is a link to the Lee Classic Loader at Midway (about the best price going): http://www.midwayusa.com/Product/508946/lee-classic-loader-3.0-06-springfield
A second low-cost option would be to go with a Lee "Reloader" press and a set of Lee Full-Length sizing dies, again in .30-06 Springfield.
The "Reloader Press" can be had for under $30, and again, a link to Midway: http://www.midwayusa.com/Product/807734/lee-reloader-single-stage-press.
The Lee Dies can be had for $16, though you will need to add a shell-holder: http://www.midwayusa.com/Product/300268/lee-rgb-2-die-set-30-06-springfield.
Here is the shell-holder(cost $4): http://www.midwayusa.com/Product/616684/lee-universal-shellholder-2-308-winchester-30-06-springfield-45-acp
Or, if one would rather buy the dies and shell-holder together, the Lee Pace Setter dies include that too: http://www.midwayusa.com/Product/520790/lee-pacesetter-3-die-set-30-06-springfield.
Kenny Eaton
Sanford, Maine
email: eaton474@yahoo.com
Visions Custom Creations
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Thank you for subscribing to our little newsletter. We wish you a very merry Christmas and a great new year.
Sincerely,
Tim Nicholas
Wood-N-Whimsies
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