WHAT'S ON SALE
THIS MONTH!
For our newsletter subscribers only---20% off of the Mylands Pen Finishing Kit. Enter the code "MYKIT20" in the coupon code box at checkout
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The Poly Pearl of the month is POLY38
, Mayflowers for as low as $1.99 per blank
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Inlay blanks of the month are:

ESWS for $17.50
UNICORN for $19.50
#1 MOM for $14.50
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Celtic Elegance Pen Kits are as low as $7.75 per kit
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4GB Flash Drive Pen Kit is $16.50 each
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Replica Snake Skin Blanks are $3.99 for the Monet Blanks and $7.98 for the Cigar Pen Blanks
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Rope & Acrylic blanks are $6.49 each for the Monet and as low as $3.75 for the 7mm blanks each.

 

 
April 2013
Greetings!
 
     Crispy cool mornings, afternoon temperatures in
Dink says, "The sooner you get all this crap packed in the car, the sooner we can hit the road. And, don't forget me at home this time either!!!" 
the low sixties, a little rain now and again. The weather here is perfect right now and is great for getting out in the shop to work on those projects we have been putting off for nice weather.
Don't wait too long, before you know it it's going to be 108 degrees in the shade and we will be wishing for winter again. A vicious circle, oh well.
    No out of town excursions this month, we will be here to take care of your questions and to fulfill your turning needs. Our next road trip will probably be in September for the War Eagle Woodcarving seminar in Rogers, Arkansas.
 
I brought an old cedar stump back to life as a wood spirit. 
   Yes, in addition to wood turning, Tracey and I are pretty proficient woodcarvers. We have spent a lot of time with Harold Enlow and Gerald Sears. They are a couple of woodcarvers that live within a few miles of us and we get together with them a couple of times a year to learn and hone our carving skills. If you are interested in learning to carve then I highly recommend either of these guys. They are both original founding members of the Caricature Carvers of America (CCA).
     Just do a GOOGLE search for either of them and you will find a schedule of their events in which they teach carving seminars. CCA members are located all over the USA so you can easily find someone in your local area I'm sure. Here in the Ozarks there is some kind of wood carving get together going on at a regular basis all the time.
     I can't draw a straight line, but I am pretty good at removing the wood that is not part of my final vision in the wood.
TECH TALK

Click the picture to view the video
      Proper maintenance is important in keeping your tools in good working order and making them last a good long while.
    Let's face it, the cost of everything is going up at a rather high rate of speed these days and if we can make something last longer then we are saving an early replacement cost in the long run. Sharpening tools properly is one thing but what about the rest of our shop equipment, especially those expensive chucks?
     Every week I have someone call me and swear that their dedicated pen drilling chuck "CSCPENCHK" is out of whack and will no longer drill in the center. After a little questioning and some discussion we figure out that the chuck had been disassembled for cleaning and when reassembled, it was never quite the same again.
     If you are an old school machinist by trade then you know that the dogs, or as we turners call them, jaws on a chuck are sequence matched to the main body of the chuck. That's what those numbers that are stamped into the dogs/jaws and the main body tell the assembler. The dogs/jaws must be installed at a certain position and in a certain sequence so that the chuck will center the workpiece properly.
     In the video above, we will go over the proper way to disassemble, clean, lubricate and reassemble your pen drilling chuck. It is a simple task but if nobody has ever shown you or told you then how are you supposed to know.
     We use one of these chucks here at Wood-N-Whimsies to drill out the blanks that Tracey uses to make her wonderful inlay blanks. We drill out dozens and sometimes as many as a hundred blanks in a day. We have to keep it operating cleanly and smoothly. We replace it once a year when it gets a bit loose and begins to rattle and starts allowing the blanks to pull out too often with the drill bit. They do not last forever but for the average pen turner they will last for years and years with proper care and maintenance. Most folks do not put them to the extreme stress tests that we do here in our workshop.
WHAT'S NEW

    We have taken the GMX rifle cartridge pen kit to a new level by clear powder coating the cartridge and real bullet tip. This is a new option to choose which adds just $5.00 to the cost of the kit. We can powder coat any rifle cartridge for an additional $5.00 per cartridge.
     We have figured out how to powder coat both the brass cartridge and the lead free copper bullet without causing them to turn dark. It will be shiny and bright forever now. If you like the patina then we still have the non-coated kits available.     
      Curtis has created a couple of new Poly Pearl  Blanks. May Flowers and Silver Nation are new and the 57th heaven blank has been redone and is absolutely stunning. May Flowers is a beautiful mixture of pink, White, Yellow and purple. The pearlescent effect just remarkable giving the blank the effect of being 10 feet deep. The Silver Nation blank is a mixture of swirling black, silver and white.
     The 57th heaven blank is green, black and pink. It sounds nutty but it really works.
     Tracey has two new inlay blanks. We have finally got all the bugs out of the Enlisted Surface Warfare Specialist pin (ESWS) and it's ready to go. If I were a skimmer sailor, I'd be proud to own a pen made with one of these. I'm a bubble head (submarine sailor) so I'll stick with the dolphins.
     Tracey's other blank is a cute little unicorn. the web picture has the mane and tail in purple and pink but she can make them any color you want as long as we have it in stock.
     We have received a supply of Spectraply. This will be replacing our Dymondwood as it is depleted. We will be adding new colors regularly. The colors are absolutely stunning and are very consistent from one lot to the next. The wood is far easier to turn than Dymondwood and we know you are going to love it as we do.
     It is available in not only pen blanks but also several spindle sizes and even large 3" X 3" X 12" Pepper Mill blanks.
      Ninety-Nine blanks for $99.00? We will do you one better. How about 100 blanks for $91.55. These are all 3/4 X 3/4 X 5" minimum and the cost of the shipping is included in the price. When you order these
100 Exotic Pen Blanks, WOW! and the shipping is included in the price!!!
blanks on the website the shopping cart will charge you an additional $11.60 for the shipping. If we can get all of your order into the same box with the blanks then we will refund you the extra shipping charge of $11.60. As always, we do not profit from shipping costs, we charge what it cost to send your order and refund you the difference.

     Uncle Tim is coming up with a line of bottle stopper blanks which are made up of colored polyester resin which is injected into clear resin. these look like little storms of color billowing up inside the clear resin. The one in stock is Black, Silver and white. He is working to create other colors which we will have soon.
COMING SOON
     Be sure to check out the What's New page on a regular basis to see what we have found. We add new items to our website on a regular basis. You just never know what will appear next.
Thanks for reading and we will be back again next month with some more important if not entertaining information.

Tim Nicholas
Wood-N-Whimsies
email:tim.nicholas@woodnwhimsies.com
phone: 800-820-1099

Our office phone hours are from 11:00 am until 9:00 pm Monday through Friday. We are closed on Saturday and Sunday. We are frequently out in the shop and away from the phone quite a bit throughout the day. Leave us a message and we will return your call as soon as possible. If you do not leave a message we will not know that you would like a call back. All orders placed before 10:00 pm central time will ship out the next business day except for items as noted on our web site.