June Newsletter

We are mailing the newest newsletter. For those who did not get it, and for those who want a jump on the mail, this is the content of the newsletter.

Note: These prices are for our sharpeners / distributors. They are not for hair stylists unless they are selling our shears. If you are a stylist and wish to become a sharpener / distributor, please contact us. Prices subject to change without notice.

• Congratulations to Mystie & Jay Hunter on the birth of their new daughter, Brooke Anslee Hunter April 21, 2008. 8lbs
  She is fine, healthy, beautiful and sleeps through the night.
• Sharpeners Jam. See all the details at www.sharpenersjam.com Let us know if you are coming. BOOK YOUR ROOM EARLY! Call 770-476-2022 or 1-800-HOLIDAY and tell them you are with the Bonika Shears Sharpener's Seminar. The room rates are $79.00 per night. This is the only charge unless you are taking one of the small clinic classes. Currently there is room in all the classes, but register now because they filled up last year.
• New Shear ... Twister Sister
  Forged, quality Japanese steel with smooth rotating thumb and finger. This is an extremely comfortable shear and is ideal for point cutting, slithering and more. It will be debuted at the Premiere Orlando Show this year. Comes in 5”, 5.5” and 6” MSRP $410.00, Sale Price $329.00 Wholesale $165.00.
• International Lefty This is the same style with butterfly even handles as the old International Lefty with a couple of changes, the screw mechanism is still gold, but an improved style, the shear is cast 440C Japanese steel , it comes in 2 sizes now and the price dropped. 5.5” and 6.”, MSRP $249.00, Sale Price $199.00 Wholesale $99.50 (No price change on other International models)
• Shoto Thinner Due to the success of the Shoto, we now have a matching thinning shear. Limited number in stock. MSRP $1199.00 Sale $899.00 Wholesale $449.00
• BabylissPro Specials
  · Buy the most popular Nano Titanium Medium Iron and get the Forfex 653 Cordless Clipper Free. 6/box. $71.50 each.
  · Vacation Time! Babyliss Ceramic Travel Dryer Folds for storage. $11.00 each 6/box
  · NEW! BabylissPro 6” mini ceramic flat iron. Heats to 420◦ Only 1/2” wide, gets close to the scalp. #CT3050 Salon Price $29.99, Wholesale $16.50 each. 6 /box.
• Josh Freund of Chicago calls on a lot of nail salons. He gave us two tips. The nail nippers on closeout he found to be of a good quality but he was most impressed with the price. He says he buys them to sell as nippers or to use the parts if needed since the nippers cost the same as the springs alone. He also found the manicurists like the Sumo Shear Oil for cuticles. The Camilla Oil in our containers is pure enough to use on the skin and those in the know realize this oil packaged for skin care can cost many times more. Next time you use this oil, swipe some on your nail beds for smoother, healthier cuticles!
• Specials, New Items, Changes and Discontinued
  NEW! SUMO SHEAR OIL MSRP $5.00, Sale price $4.00. Wholesale $2.00each or 12 for $18.00.
  New! Nail Nipper Closeout Second quality, would have sold for $30.00 retail. $2.00 ea or 24 for $36.00
  NEW! Lefty Silk Twister with blue screw hardware 5 3/4” length #TW575J MSRP $250.00 Sale $199.00 Wholesale $99.50.
  Nika Shears NKLB45, NKLB5, NKLB55, NKLBT These are the only Nika Models 440C SUS Japanese steel, MSRP $122.00 Sale $98.00
  Discontinued Shears NK5, NK5.75, NKe5, NKe6, NKeL5, NKeL6, NK55.
  New EDT Scissors for Carpal Tunnel MSRP $400.00, Sale price $319.00 Wholesale $200.00. No discounts.
  Discontinued All International Twisters. All Prisms. We still have a supply but when they are gone, they are gone.
  Coming Soon! 25 Tooth Texturizer like the T14 Wisper and T7 Chopper. Super smooth and nice. Wholesale $99.00
  Shoto Special Orders. If your customer wants them, you can special order Shoto Lefty and Shoto Fishbone. Ask for payment in advance and tell them the wait may be several months since they are custom made.
  Change. Some Silk Twisters and Curve Shears have the beautiful blue hardware. All will be blue in the future.
  Change. The Cutlass Razor has been renamed the Silver Sword. Some stylists thought “Cutlass” meant it didn’t cut.
• New
  
  updated Nickel Brochure. We update this one every couple of months. At a nickel each you can afford to leave one behind with every customer. Slap your label over our company information for your own brochure. Order in quantities, we’ll print more!
  
  
  Reminder: Mail in your Shoto entries by July 1! Drawing will be at the Jam session. If your customer’s name is drawn and you are present, you will win a Shoto, too. If Gene Megowan’s customer is drawn he plans to donate his Shoto back to a second drawing among Bonika distributors present at the Jam session. So send in your entries and don’t miss the Sharpener's Jam!
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

Shoto Sold at a Hair Cuttery

Jay Hunter, scissor sharpener and son-in-law extraordinaire sold a Shoto in a Hair Cuttey today. Way to go Jay! The customer asked what they would win if their name was drawn for the free Shoto at the Sharpener's Jam in July. I told him to tell her we would give her one of the new Shoto Thinners.

True Damascus Steel

At the recent IBS Show a sharpener picked up our Shoto Shear and accused us that ours was not true Damascus steel. He gave two reasons, one our price was too low (I can't explain that away .. we simple don't over price our shears) and the other that the grain lines did not show up on the inside blade. Since I am not a metallurgist, I could not answer him but I put the question to the factory and got a reply today. This is the explanation:

We imported the Damascus Steel exclusively from the same Japanese factory as Matsusaki in Japan. Matsusaki was the first company to use V 10 Damascus Steel on hair scissors. Today, there are some companies that use "laser engraving" and "chemical erodent" techniques to imitate the effect of the texture of Damascus Steel. These techniques actually will make the texture come out even more in the inner blade. They also call it "Damascus Steel," but it is absolutely not true Damascus Steel at all.
Our V 10 Damascus Steel has 15 layers, which combine hard and soft steel. So the first layer is hard, second is soft, and so on. In addition, you can see the texture on the side of the blade, which runs through the entire blade--all the way to the tip. This is the distinguishing character and feature of using Damascus Steel on hair scissors.
We believe that someone familiar with the metal would recognize our Damascus Steel as genuine. Thus, we believe that the person at the hair show was not a professional in the metal.

I thought that was a good answer. The 15 layers of steel are folded on themselves thus created the thousands of layers found in the V10 Damascus Steel. If you get one of these to sharpen, you may want to send it back to us because of the high cost and risk. However, if you do sharpen it, use a 50 to 55 degree angle and a 15 micron. Take it slow and don;t remove more steel than necessary. Generally these shears just need a light honing to bring back the sharpness. We have not yet seen one seriously nicked. The screw is tough. Although our UFO tool will work on it, because of the precise fit of the screw it is best to use a modified spanner bit on a strong screw driver to put the screw in.

Shoto Thinner

Just came in yesterday, the NEW Shoto thinning shear. If a stylist has the money and the appreciation for perfection that they own the Shoto Damascus Steel shear, they will most likely want the thinning shear, too. We've been waiting about 5 months to get this shear in. The process for making these shears is so slow and painstaking that there is often a wait. We can also special order a lefty and a Fishbone in the Shoto Damascus Steel style.

Video Clips and new shears

I've been busy adding video clips to the website and making website changes and improvements. See the clip on sharpening on the Scimech on our site. Also a hair cutting clip which shows the Bonika Baby and the T14 Wisper shear. Both are some of our most popular. I also added a package deal based on the shears we will sell at the IBS New York class with Leah Watson. Take a look at the package deal called Hair Cropper Set. Coming soon a thinning shear to match our Shoto Damascus Steel Samurai Shear our most expensive shear. Don't forget the Win a Shoto Contest. No baby yet. I'll be in training with a new sharpener from Virginia next week. We picked up a new sharpener in Isreal this week when one of our current sharpeners moved to the Holy Land. This gives us two sharpeners in Isreal with the Scimech. It would be great to go visit them if we get the time.