Wood-N-Whimsies Newsletter

What's On Sale This Month?

For Our Newsletter Subscribers Only. 15% Off Of Our New Engraved Buck Assemblies And Cartridge Kits. Enter Coupon Code "EBUCK15" In The Coupon Code Box At Checkout.
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Get The New PolyPearl Blanks POLY50 And POLY51 For As Low As $2.10 Each.
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Inlay Blanks On Sale This Month As Follows:

New Fairies    $19.50
Fisherman   $14.50
Male Golfer   $14.50
Female Golfer $16.00
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Soft Touch Stylus Tips Are Just $1.50 Each In Any Finish
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Pen Blank Drill Centering Vise (As Seen In The Video) Is Only $49.95
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Get The 6" Stainless Steel Large Display Digital Caliper For $18.95
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We Have A Very Limited Supply on hand -First Come First Serve-Hand Painted Sunflower/Bumble Bee Blanks Are Just $20.50 Each.
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Mustard Seed Bottle Stopper Blanks Are $8.00 Each
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Dymondwood Bakers Dozen Grab Bag $26.00 WOW!!!
These Are Full Size Jumbo Blanks. No Swapping Or Special Color Requests Accepted. Just A Great Deal. That's 13 Full Size Blanks For under $2.00 Each.
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4GB Flash Drive Pen Kit Blow Out!!!
Regularly $18.00 each Now Just $13.00 Each.
The bushing for the kit are just $2.00
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St. Charles Kits Are On Sale For As Low As $2.50 Each (See The Specials Page For Details)
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Spend $125.00 Before Shipping And Recieve A Free Pink Zebra Blank (WXEEAS5) Limit One Per Order

Sale Ends On March 31, 2014

Click "HERE" To Go To Our Specials Page

This Month's Customer Photo Gallery

Please send us your photos of some really nice looking pens that look like out of the box creations.

Pen and Photo By Guy Godios. Thanks for the photo, this looks really nice.

Polyester Resin Casting by Eric Weinstein, Nice Job!!!

Casting, Pen and Photo By Stephen Julian, I like this.

MARCH 2014

     The weather for the past two months has been just

Dink says, "The best of friends can be the folks you thought you could never get along with."
Dink has adopted this kitten as his own and they are best buddies usually. He gets annoyed when Angie pounces on him while he is trying to sleep.

awful for us here in Missouri. From what I have read and have seen on the internet, it has not been so great for most of the US. I welcome some warmer weather and a chance to get out into the shop without having to spend an hour heating it up to make it bearable to work in.

     We have been spending most of our weekends here at the house. It's too cold to get out and about; I feel like a little cabin fever is setting in. Come on Springtime!

   Thursday March 20 is the Spring Equinox and the official first full day of spring is on March 21st. It can't come soon enough!
     Here is a bit of Springtime trivia to make you think: Why does Easter Sunday fall on different dates each year.

Answer: Easter is on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the Spring Equinox. Since the moon is on a 27.32158227 day cycle, Easter will never be on the same date from one year to the next. The earliest Easter Sunday will ever be is March 23rd if these three conditions all fall within three consecutive days. The last time that happened was in 2008. The latest it will ever be is on April 27th which will happen in 2016. The Easter cycle repeats itself every 5,700,000 years. That's a long time.

Tracey's two cents worth: Just to let our customers know, there is a new telephone scam which is victimizing thousands of unsuspecting folks. Here is the scam:
     You will receive a message on your answering machine asking you to please call back a number. When you call the number back you will receive an answering machine telling you that no one is at home right now and to please leave a message. Little do you know that the call you just made cost you $20.00 on your next phone bill. Every time you call the number you will be charged another $20.00.
     If you answer the phone
when they call you will hear someone say, "I'm Sorry" and hang up the phone. They are hoping you will call back the number on your caller ID to give them a ration of crap for disturbing you.
    Here is a list of the area codes you should never return calls to unless you know the party calling you personally.

242-

Bahamas

441-

Bermuda

784-

St Vincent

246-

Barbados

473-

Grenada

809-

829-

849-

Dominican Republic

264-
Anguilla
649-
Turks
Caicos
868-
Trinidad
Tobago
268-
Antigua
664-
Montserrat
876-
Jamaica
284-
Virgin Is.
758-
St. Lucia
869-
St Kitts
Nevis
345-
Cayman Islands
767-
Dominica

     None of these area codes require a country code and all are routed as domestic US calls. Be aware of this scam and save your money.
     We were a victim of this scam. Of course we return calls, we are a business. We had a $20.00 charge on our phone bill that we could not dispute.
     A little research into the matter and we found this list of area codes not to return calls to. We have since received several of these calls, we did not and will not call them back. Just to let you know.

TECH TALK

Click On This Image To View The Video

As I promised in the last Newsletter, we have made a video on a way to drill deer antler. I'm sure there are other ways and maybe better ways which work for other folks but this video covers my method of drilling it successfully.

     My method works well for me and as you will see, I can drill a hole through some pretty small pieces.
     You will need a drill press with the correct drill size, a stationary belt or disc sander, and a good drill centering vise to hold the round blank firmly so it will not spin.

     The images above were sent in to me by Lynn Eversole. This is a means of getting the ends of the antler square which is very important to drill through without your bit walking on you or coming out the side. As you will see in the video, I do mine by sight and feel on the sander and or bandsaw. You can get as fancy or as simple as you like but the ends must be fairly square to each other. Use whatever method you feel comfortable with. Just a quick heads up, deer antler clogs sanding belts and discs very quickly.
     Lynn's cutting machine is made from some mini circular saw blades like the ones used on a small Dewalt battery powered saw. The blades are secured to a mandrel and set apart with a spacer to the length of the particular kit he is making. The material clamp is made from a u-bolt which is mounted to the front of a hold down clamp which is atteched to a base plate that is secured to the base of the lathe. Neat little rig. If you are going to make a lot of antler pens, this is a good set-up to make things quick and simple. Kind of looks like a blade set-up to make wooden moulding with.
     Keep your hands and fingers clear of the spinning blades, They will cut right through your fingers just as fast and easy as they will cut through antler. Only operate the rig with the handle of the hold down clamp. Never put your hands in front of the work piece if the lathe is plugged in. Be sure to unplug your lathe while installing and removing antler and when setting up and breaking down this rig.
     We have another customer in Goose Creek, South Carolina (Mike Owens); who described a method to me that entails drilling a small center hole at each end of the blank. He then sets the blank up in a vice with a centering pin in the bottom which keeps the blank stationary in the vise. He drills most of the way through on one end, and then flips the blank over to drill through from the opposite end. When he is finished, the hole is completely through the blank and is centered from one end to the other.
     I personally have not been successful with this method of drilling antler but in theory it sounds like it should work. I'm probably not holding my mouth right I guess.
     Just shows you that there is more than one way to get the job done and nobody can say that there is a best way or only way to do something.
     I have been turning everything from pens to bowls to pepper mills to lamps for a lot of years now, I still learn new things all the time about turning.

WHAT'S NEW

We have two new Resin Miser Molds available. One for the Bolt Action Tube and one for the Tycoon/Baron Pen tube set.

     The Bolt Action mold will make two castings at once or you can cast a single blank. For the Tycoon/Baron mold, you can cast both blanks which are different sizes at the same time.

     The molds have been listed in the same item block on the Casting Supplies webpage. You can select which mold you want by choosing from the drop down menu. All of the dual blank molds are the same price each.
     We have been asked by so many folks for Poly Pearl Blanks that are in larger sizes. We have begun the process of casting them all in several sizes. As we get them finished you will find a "Click Here" link for the larger sizes on the Poly Pearl Web Page for each individual blank. If you don't see the link, we have not made them for that color yet. We will have them all finished soon. All Poly Pearl Spindle blanks are square.
     The pepper mill blanks that we had cut up a couple of years ago are dry and ready to sell. We have some beautiful thorny locust and some spectacular sycamore. at about 3 inches square and around 12 inches long, they

Click on the image for larger view and ordering option

will make some absolutely awesome pepper mills.
   The 30.06 cartridge assemblies and kits with the deer image engraved on them are super popular. These cartridges have been engraved and then powder coated to prevent the cartridge from tarnishing. We make the cartridges in the assemblies with the tube already secured inside as you see in the image to the right and we also sell them in pen kits. The kits come with a slimline tip installed (Copper Only) or with a real lead free Hornady GMX bullet installed as the tip. Please see them on the Rifle Kits & Individual Parts Page for pricing and more details.

Click On images for a larger view and ordering options

    Tracey has a new fairy inlay blank which comes in several color combinations or you can special order her with your own color choices. These are really cute and are sure to be a big hit.
     Curtis has two new blanks. One is his own idea and the other is inspired by a customer special request.

     We now have all of the Military inlay Blanks that we offer available in 27/64" and also 3/8" for the Bolt Action Kits. Tracey thought that all she had to do was reduce the images by a given percentage and everything would just fall into place. WWWEEELLLL, that turned out to be quite a process but she has labored to conquer the challenge and prevailed victorious.
     One other blank she made this month which is selling in huge numbers is her Buck Bust Inlay Blank. Sometimes the simple images are the best images.

FEEDBACK

Tim/Tracey,

Recently I ordered 8 inlay kits from you guys and received them last Monday. To my surprise when I opened the kits they were already assembled and most of them included a painted black tube. As a turner who has done quite a few of the different inlay kits, I am so happy and beyond satisfied in the craftsmanship that went into your kits. You have defiantly earned a return customer.

In addition you guys are the only ones around making the specific military inlay kits, and being a Navy Chief Petty Officer a lot of my customers are also military. That is what makes you kits unique and special to me.

Thank you for what you do and I am excited that you now offer all the military kits in a bolt action as well as a Manhattan style kits. It is really going to appeal to my customers.

If you are looking for any suggestions on future kits that I would be interested in, if you could look into making the Enlisted Air Warfare, a Navy Chief, Senior Chief, and Master Chief Anchors. I would buy all four of those in a heart beat and I think they would be very good additions to your already great selection. Tracey has them in her work queue

Well again I just wanted to thank you and let you know you have a happy customer. Too many times in business we only hear people's complaints, and not enough people take the time to let you know that your craftsmanship is appreciated.

Happy Turning,

Matthew Donovan

We also receive some not so pleasant emails with some colorful language which is too explicit to post in our newsletter. You can't please everyone all of the time no matter how hard you try.

Thank you for subscribing to our Newsletter. We will be back again next month with some more great news from Wood-N-Whimsies. Dink will be back again so be sure to check in to see what the six pound terror has been up to.

See Ya Next Month!!!

Sincerely,

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