Wood-N-Whimsies May 2013 Newsletter

Wood-N-Whimsies Newsletter MAY 2013

What's On Sale This Month:

For Our Newsletter Readers Only,

Take 10% Off All Items On The Resin Casting Supplies Page On Our Website. Use The Coupon Code "CAST10" At Checkout

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The Polypearl Of The Month Is Grape Limeade As Low As $1.99 per Blank.

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The Inlay Specials This Month Are:

#1 Dad $14.00 Each

Grad $14.00 Each

Bella-mia $18.00 Each

Fisherman $14.50

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StickFast CA Set Is $24.95

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Digital Caliper is Only $19.95

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The Teardrop Corkscrew Bottle Stopper Kit (BSCORKTD) Is As Low As $4.00 Each

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Get The Mandrel (BSC-MAN) For The Above Sale Priced Bottle Stopper/Corkscrew For Just $5.69 Each

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Sale Prices On The Above Listed Items Expire On 31 May 2013

Click "HERE" To Go To The Specials Page On Our Website

We are still closing out the Dymondwood we have left. The stack is dwindling quickly. Get it now while we still have it in stock a a really great price.

Hello

It is spring and with it comes lots of rain and high humidity. With that said I feel a need to remind you that performing tasks such as pouring Polyester

Dink Says, "Antlers, what antlers. I don't know anything about a missing bag of antlers. Oh, the antler bits on my face----It's nothing, it must be something else I'm sure, probably walrus ivory or something like that.

Resin and applying CA finishes will often turnout badly in this kind of damp weather.
     Be sure to perform these tasks on warm sunny days when the humidity is low and the chance of failure is limited.
     We have had several requests from our customers to create custom inlay blanks for them. We no longer make custom Inlay blanks unless we feel that the design implied would be something we could sell in numbers on our website. The R&D involved in creating the artwork to make an inlay is very time consuming and uses a lot material. If we only do one or two blanks, we can't recoup the design costs.
     In addition, we will not recreate copy written emblems or logos. The most requested logos are for NFL and NBA Sports teams. We cannot legally recreate logos such as these without the expressed legal written permission of the logo's owner, in this case the NFL or the NBA.

TECH TALK

Click On The Picture Above To View The Video.

We often have customers ask us if we carry special sized shafts for their Barrel Trimmer or sizing sleeves to use on their Universal Squaring Jig. We do carry a few of the metal trimming sleeves for several pen kits but not for all of them. Mostly because they do not exist for several kit styles available on the market. Let's think outside the box on this one shall we?

In the video featured this month, I will show you an alternative to buying special sized trimming shafts and sleeves by making your own adapter sleeves with a piece of scrap hardwood and a very inexpensive 7mm brass tube and it only takes a few minutes.

You can make them up and then use a fine tipped permanent marker to mark them as to what kit they are for right on the wood and you will never have to wonder what kit it is for.
I do not use a barrel trimmer very often, I mostly use the Universal Pen Squaring Jig from Penn State Industries. I use it primarily because it is less aggressive than a Pen Mill (Barrel Trimmer) and I do not break out the ends of delicate blanks such as the Inlay Blanks with it. Never the less the trim sleeves we will be making will work just fine for whichever trimming method you prefer.

ANOTHER QUICK TIP:

This next pen making tip does not really warrant making a video for it. Often when working with very brittle woods and especially with materials such as TrueStone, Polyester Resin or Corian, it is difficult to press in the parts without cracking or chipping out the blank on the ends in the process. If you've never had this happen to you, you've been fortunate so far.

When you glue in your tube, the glue fills the gap between the tube and the blank very tightly. In addition, when the tube end is trimmed you often create a bur that is rolled into the tube. This bur is quite often the reason for your cracked blank. The bur can be removed by using a reamer or countersink bit to cut it off right after you trim the ends.

When you press in your parts, the tube is actually expanded very slightly and this expansion is transferred to the blank if the glue has completely filled the bond gap. This is especially true when you use CA glue which cures as a hard crystalline medium and transfers this expansion directly the blank with ease.

To prevent this transfer of expansion, I press in my parts before gluing in the tube. The part is knocked out before the tube is glued into the blank of course. Easily done with a proper diameter punch and a hammer. Harbor Freight sells a very nice 28 piece transfer punch set which has every size I have ever needed. Their set is almost half of the price for the same set at Penn State Ind.

Doing this pre-expands the brass and when the parts are pressed in for the final assembly, there is no expansion of the brass to crack the blank. You may have to use a tiny spot of CA glue on the part to secure it into the tube but that is a small price to pay to prevent the blank from cracking and ruining the whole project. Blanks can often be much more expensive than the kit they are used on.

WHAT'S NEW

     Let's start with the new Inlay Blanks that Tracey has created. We have several for you this month and all of them are made due to special requests. Many of our great ideas come from you, our customers.

     There are three new US Army division patches. We have the 101st Airborne, 25th Infantry, and the 36th Infantry (Texas National Guard). The background choices are Green to match the US Army Dress or on an alder wood blank which really sets off the bright colors.
      Tracey's sister Pam created the Bella-mia Blank. It is an elegant ladies high heel shoe with a matching handbag. A great blank for that special someone in your life. This blank can be made in any color combination you would like as long as we have the colors in stock.
     Continuing with the silhouette series, Tracey has created a really cool looking fisherman who it seems has caught the next state record. This is sure to be a hit with the outdoors/fishing enthusiasts. Please check out our Inlay Blank Page to see all of our great inlays kits.
     Tracey has a whole page of great inlay ideas that have been sent in by our customers. What shall she make next?
     Curtis has made a really nice Poly Pearl color combination. It is a mixture of three colors. He has mixed up a really nice looking Green along with a really cool looking purple and highlighted them with just a slight touch of pearl white.
     These blanks are absolutely gorgeous. The translucent effects make them look as if they are ten feet deep. Just a reminder, if you would like to try and make your own color combinations, we do sell Polyester Resin casting kits to get you started. We also sell all of the coloring agents used in all of our blanks on the same page with the casting kit. Let your imagination run wild. I made a video a couple of months ago showing the process for creating these blanks. Click "HERE" to see the video or go to our "VIDEO" page to see all of the helpful hint videos we have created for our customers. There will be many more to come in the future.
     The single ended seam ripper kits PKSR1 from PSI are back. We have them in stock and ready for sale. Don't forget the bushings, PKSRBU; and the drill bit, DRILL8.
     We now make the 3006NGMX. This is the same as the original 3006GMX but with a nickle plated cartridge. We have made these in the past for customers by special request. Other than the finish being different they are exactly the same as the 3006GMX so we have decided to just make them a regular item on our website.
     The gold Monet kits which have been out of stock will be here by the end of the month barring any troubles getting them through US Customs in a timely manner.

COMING SOON

You never know what we will come up with next. Please check back to our website often and check out the "What's New Page". We add new things all the time.
One new item we are waiting arrival of is the new Small Gold Cross Clips. The will be priced at $1.99 each and as low as $1.89 each with the purchase of ten or more.

Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed the video this month. The hand turned trim sleeve can be a real time saver and can help make a good looking pen into a great looking pen.

Sincerely,

Tim Nicholas

Wood-N-Whimsies

For questions or comments on anything in this email, please contact me at:

Phone: 800-820-1099 Or

Email Me At: tim.nicholas@woodnwhimsies.com