What's new

Arizone Silhouette - NOT RECOMMENDED

I was not sure where to post this exactly. And, I try never to put down any companies. However, this incident has me a little steamed. So, the above company has acrylic shaving brush handles. I have thought about assembling my own brush before with the knots from Golden Nib. But, I did not want to use wood, and the vintage brush I was going to transform broke :mad: So, I came across this website. I had some questions, which I asked. These are my questions verbatim:

" I was looking at your shaving brush blanks. I was curious about a couple
of things. I am possibly interested in trying to create one or two. I have
a source for the badger hair. However, I do not necessarily tend to be the
handiest person in the world. So, if a person knew they needed a 22mm knot, would you all ever pre-drill that size, and if so, what, if any, additional
cost would there be? Also, I have viewed the video on shaping the brush
handle. What are your thoughts on either leaving the handle the way that
it is (without any shaping) or the success of sanding these into a shape? I
neither have a lathe, or access to one. Thank you for the information."

Below is the response I received:

"Have you ever considered taking up bowling? :>)"

That's it! Now, if that had been part of the response, it would have been humorous. But, they didn't even answer my questions! Be funny, but don't be patronizing.

Anyways, I sent off a reply that will get me nowhere. It certainly wasn't friendly, and said essentially that I will not plan on making any purchases with them. Nor would I recommend it to anybody. And that I hoped they treated their other customers better.

Anyways, I thought it was annoying enough to be brought up if anybody in the future was thinking about using the company. Hopefully, somebody else can avoid the same frustration. So, does anybody know where I could buy some pre-drilled acrylic blocks? :rolleyes:
 
that's unfortunate. I have had excellent service in the past from them...

You might be a little more 'understanding' - this is a site for wood turners... not shavers, nor people who do not own lathes. As a turner for many years, your questions come off a little naive, and perhaps Bill (I think that's his name) was having a bad day....

Their products are pretty good.

Barry
 
Tell him that you really are thinking about taking up bowling. Ask him if he would be willing to fabricate a ball for you. Could he adjust the weight? Would it still roll OK if you didn't finish it? Would he be willing to tap the finger holes if you faxed him a sketch of your hand?

Nothing spoils somebody's joke like acting like it went over your head.
 
Tell him that you really are thinking about taking up bowling. Ask him if he would be willing to fabricate a ball for you. Could he adjust the weight? Would it still roll OK if you didn't finish it? Would he be willing to tap the finger holes if you faxed him a sketch of your hand?

Nothing spoils somebody's joke like acting like it went over your head.

:lol::lol::lol:

Do what he says.
 
In the interest of full disclosure, I did receive an emailed response back from what I sent to them. It is included below:

"Maybe you didn't see the smiley face at the end of my message. I believe you are taking this way too seriously.

When I first read your message I immediately though of someone wanting to race in the Indy 500 but they didn't own or have access to the proper vehicle.

Here my professional response:

The items you asked about and their construction require the use of a lathe (wood or metal). Since you do not have a lathe nor access to a lathe then this project is not something I would recommend to you.

You also mentioned that you are not the handiest person in the world. A degree of skill is absolutely necessary when using a lathe or serious injury may result. Again, this project is not something I would recommend to you.

My earlier suggestion still applies :>)"

If this had been provided with the rest of the original response in the first place, it would have been a non-issue. I'm glad that I finally got an actual answer. I just wish they hadn't wasted so much of my time. Either way, I would still not recommend them. Fortunatley, the above response made my decision much easier :wink:
 

Rudy Vey

Shaving baby skin and turkey necks
In the interest of full disclosure, I did receive an emailed response back from what I sent to them. It is included below:

"Maybe you didn't see the smiley face at the end of my message. I believe you are taking this way too seriously.

When I first read your message I immediately though of someone wanting to race in the Indy 500 but they didn't own or have access to the proper vehicle.

Here my professional response:

The items you asked about and their construction require the use of a lathe (wood or metal). Since you do not have a lathe nor access to a lathe then this project is not something I would recommend to you.

You also mentioned that you are not the handiest person in the world. A degree of skill is absolutely necessary when using a lathe or serious injury may result. Again, this project is not something I would recommend to you.

My earlier suggestion still applies :>)"

If this had been provided with the rest of the original response in the first place, it would have been a non-issue. I'm glad that I finally got an actual answer. I just wish they hadn't wasted so much of my time. Either way, I would still not recommend them. Fortunatley, the above response made my decision much easier :wink:

Bill Baumbeck, the owner of Arizona Silhouette, can be a bit scruffy and this is well known within the turners that buy from him. There are some people (like me) that love his products and their quality and still buy from him (but I have given up on calling him...) - there are also many others that had a similar experience like you and they never go back to buy from him.
I you want something specially turned, contact me and we can talk.
 
Now that's funny :biggrin: I don't care who you are :smile:
and I'm a bowler, sometimes I think it's harder to be a bowler than a woodturner and I have bowled for 40 years :wink:

I am surprised Bill even respionded, you have to understand both sides, Bill is super busy with his business and I am impressed he even has time to read the 1000's of emials he gets. To accurately respond to your inqurey, he would have had to take 15 minutes to write to you and that would not have been enough.

If you want to try and make your own, I would support your local wood store in your area. They have the supplies you need,(except for the knot) and ussually have demonstrations open to the public. This way you can see if it interests you and you can ask questions. If not, take Rudy up on his offer, another good guy and woodturner.

Bill is really a nice guy, a 10, but his phone skills are a 1 :biggrin:
 
That's the part I really love--where they treat you like crap and then criticize you for not liking it.

Pathetic.

Honestly, his response wasn't that unreasonable. "I'd like to build a computer from parts you sell. Thing is I don't know how to put them together. Can you put it together for me? Then I can just plug it in when I get home."

If you aren't handy and don't turn wood at all then don't buy blanks! As a non-handy tool-impaired guy, I'm in the same boat as the OP.
 
Tell him that you really are thinking about taking up bowling. Ask him if he would be willing to fabricate a ball for you. Could he adjust the weight? Would it still roll OK if you didn't finish it? Would he be willing to tap the finger holes if you faxed him a sketch of your hand?

Nothing spoils somebody's joke like acting like it went over your head.

:lol::lol::lol:
 
Honestly, his response wasn't that unreasonable. "I'd like to build a computer from parts you sell. Thing is I don't know how to put them together. Can you put it together for me? Then I can just plug it in when I get home."

If you aren't handy and don't turn wood at all then don't buy blanks! As a non-handy tool-impaired guy, I'm in the same boat as the OP.

Yes. It was. It was rude, unhelpful, and patronizing. The guy is supposed to be running a business and THAT is how he deals with potential customers. That's crap.

You guys can defend him all you want but a jerk is a jerk, I don't care how many e-mails he gets. Boo-damn-hoo.

Oh, and maybe the unhandy OP wants to learn! Where would the great King of Blanks be if someone had treated him that way when he wanted to learn about wood-working? Playing with the Ball-O, Shine-O down at the local lanes--that's where.

Unacceptable Fail.
 
Agreed. Just because you perceive yourself as "busy" doesn't mean it's ok for you to be a condescending d-bag to strangers.
 
Thanks to all who responded. Especially the ones that came to the same conclusions as I did :cool: Although, I understand what others have posted defending the owner. It's still not how I would run my business, but it's ultimately not my business. I just wanted to share my experiences with this particular company. People can take it for what it's worth. Everybody can draw their own conclusions and will make their own decisions. At the end of the day, I guess I'll just keep thinking about making a brush :rolleyes:
 
On the other hand see if there a "Wood Craft Store" in your area, they not only sell small and large lathes but the have classes.
Now I was a cabinet maker long before I taught myself how to turn.
I built myself a lathe then taught myself to turn by making chips fly.
Compared with most noisy power tools the lathe is reasonably quiet and relaxing.
proxy.php
 
Top Bottom