Have you ever given thought to the fact that “Antiques Are Green”?

We recently received an E-mail message from The New England Antiques Journal mentioning their participation in a “drive” to spread the word that “Antiques Are Green – don’t buy new unless you have to.” Sounds good to us! To read the article written by Editor-in-Chief John Fiske, go to http://www.fiskeandfreeman.com/antiquesaregreen.aspx

The Link for an “Antiques Are Green” Logo is, http://www.antiquesjournal.com/Pages04/green.html . You are invited to print out the logo and display it, as you wish, in antique shops, show or mall booths, or anyplace antiques-connected. Those in the antiques business are urged to use it on printed ads, fliers, stationery. Be sure to take a look at both links. As Mr. Fiske says, "If we could make antiques-are-green part of American common-sense, our future would be assured." As antiquers – involved in saving, preserving, restoring, reusing – we are major contributors to the preservation of our environment and don't even realize it.

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Hopefully everyone has now received the entire Kramer Letter – all four pages. Again we want to apologize for the error that made it necessary to re-send. We already have mixed feelings about “messaging” our customer list. We feel it is important to stay in touch, and feedback has indicated that our customers have appreciated the two newsletters we have sent. However, we want to hold it to a minimum and decided that a quarterly newsletter might be acceptable. Having to send two mailings in two days was very embarrassing. We intend for it not to happen again.

And, we want to repeat, as we said in the newsletter, that if you have received a mailing from us and prefer not to, just “reply” to the message and simply say UNSUBSCRIBE. We will immediately remove your address from our list. On the other hand, if you are not receiving our mailings, and would like to, just send us an E-mail and let us know. Our list is made up of customers who have ordered on line or who have given us their E-mail address when they ordered by mail or phone. If you buy your Kramer’s locally you won’t be on our list, but we would be glad to include you.

For any of you have not yet seen The Kramer Letter / Winter Issue, it is available by “clicking” on the icon at the top of this page. We want to point out that in this issue we have listed our new Professional Tools & Supplies line of products, complete with brief description and pricing. Though these items are not yet available on the Web Site, if you wish to order any of them, just make a note in the “Comments” section of the Order Form – or tell us when you phone or mail an order – and we will include them when processing the order.

And, as usual, if you have questions, don’t hesitate to give us a call.

Yes, there definitely is a problem with The Kramer Letter you received this morning. You only have Page One. It was a middle-of-the-night project that did not go very well, but it was a very good learning experience and you will receive another message later today with all 4 pages. (Or, since you are on this page you can just "click" above to see the correct version.)

We apologize for the inconvenience, and also to our Dealers whose message had some “repeats”. We will get this right yet!

We were recently very pleasantly surprised when we received a call from Mike Danial, corporate historian for Stickley Corporation. He contacted us to invite John to be present at a seminar he was presenting at a furniture store in our area (Traditions Furniture, Overland Park, KS).

Mr. Danial, who has been with Stickley for 33 years, met John many years ago at a woodworkers show in Syracuse, NY, when John was first introducing his newly-formulated Kramer’s Best Antique Improver. At that show, in addition to his Kramer’s Best display of products, John presented seminars on “The Old Ways of Working With Wood”. Mr. Danial attended John’s seminar and then spent time with him discussing woodworking and preservation interests important to them both.

John had not thought of the meeting in many years, but this recent conversation revealed that since that time, Mr. Danial has, when appropriate, recommend use of Antique Improver on old, damaged pieces. He even pointed out that, contrary to our instructions of “Do not use on modern (water-based) finishes”, Improver can, if necessary, be used on the newer Stickley pieces since they are still using the traditional and proven modified nitrocellulose-based finish they have always used, and with which Antique Improver is compatible.

John did, of course, attend the seminar, dubbed the “Stickley Roadshow”. He enjoyed meeting Mr. Danial again and was impressed with what he learned about the fascinating history of Stickley Corporation and the way in which they have maintained the quality and integrity of this wonderful piece of our history.

Stickley Corp. has a very impressive Web Site (www.stickley.com) where they share information about the history of the company through present day, as well as presenting a gallery of the pieces now available. Go to the page “The Stickley Story”, then click on “The Stickley Video” and you will see first hand why the name “Stickley” remains an icon.

And, for those who are proud owners of any of these fine pieces, Mr. Danial suggests that we let our customers know that any time you have questions concerning care of a Stickley piece, feel free to contact him at care@stickley.com. He will answer you personally. The company is also anxious to hear from you about your history with Stickley, and there is a page on the Web Site especially for submission of “My Stickley Story”. And, even better, Mike Danial adds that he will be glad to appraise vintage Stickley pieces – just mail a photo of your piece to him at the factory address that can be found on their Web Site, or send a digital image to history@stickley.com.

Mr. Danial travels around the country throughout the year presenting these seminars, “The Stickley Roadshow”. You might want to use the wonders of the Internet to watch for one possibly coming to your area.

Well, the holidays have come and gone and we are moving busily on into this new year. We have ice, snow and very cold weather here in Missouri, but cannot complain because we, personally, have not experienced the violent weather that many have.

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Our first project of the year is to produce the Winter Edition of "The Kramer Letter". It is our intent to have it to our customers in a just few days.

The newsletter will be sent via E-mail to any of our customers who have ordered on the Web Site, or who have given us their E-mail address. If you would like to add your address to that list, just send it to us at "info@kramerize.com".

Copies of the Letter will also always be made available at the top of this "News" page.

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Here we are with the end of another year fast approaching. Just like everyone else, we here at Kramer’s, are wondering: “where did it go?” Have you heard anyone say “Wow, that was a really long year!” ? Not likely. However, in spite of the various challenges confronting us all, it has been a pretty good year for us – and we hope for you also.

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As with most years, a quick tally seems to indicate more “intentions” for the year than “completions”. One of those intentions, as we mentioned in the newsletter, is to have available our new “ Professional Line” of products. The current plan is to have those products ready as soon as possible after the first of the year. However (also as mentioned in The Kramer Letter), we do have a supply of one popular item – the Lambswool Applicators – available. We have found that these small pieces of lambswool are very useful when you just need to “wipe on” the Improver – especially on large areas. Keep in mind that if you have cleaning to accomplish you will need an applicator with more texture – a piece of terrycloth, linen or waffle-weave toweling, &c, but the Lambswool is definitely a helpful tool.

When you do have a difficult cleaning project – such as the “gummy” build-up around knobs, arms of chairs, &c, on a finish you want to be careful not to damage – we have found that a small piece of the “Teflon-safe” scrubbing pad, used with Antique Improver is very helpful. This material is similar to the green “Scotch-Brite” pads for pots and pans, but is much less abrasive – so much so that it is safe for use on Teflon. They are usually white in color. Though in past years these were readily available at grocery stores, for whatever reason, they have now become scarce and the only ones you can find are attached to one side of a sponge (not a good idea for use with Improver). This is an item we have suggested to our customers in the past, but could not recommend a reliable source of supply. We are glad to report that, after a long and difficult search, in addition to the lambswool, we now have these available.

These new items, Lambswool Applicator and Teflon-Safe Scrubbing Pad, have not yet been added to the Web Page Order Form. However, if you would like to add some of these to your order, just put a note in the “Comments” section when you order. It will not show up on your “Total”, but we will include it when we process the order and adjust the amount accordingly.

The Lambswool Applicator comes in an approximately 9-square-inch piece, $1.00 each.

The Teflon-Safe Scrubbing Pad measures 6” x 9”, $2.50 each.

Either of these can be used full size, or trimmed with scissors into several pieces to whatever size works best for the project at hand.

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Last minute Christmas gifts? There is still time to get a shipment of Kramer’s delivered to you – or directly to the person (or persons) on your list. If you order multiple bottles to be shipped to you in one order, be sure to let us know how many “Instructions & Suggested Uses” books you need. We will be glad to send you one for each person you are gifting with Kramer’s. And, of course, remember that the shipping charge is $7.50 per order – no matter how many bottles you order.

Or, if you would like to have us ship each package for you, just be sure to give us your address and credit card billing information, as well as the “Ship To” name and address for each shipment. The $7.50 S&H charge will apply to each package we ship. (If you are ordering on the Internet it would probably be least confusing for you to place a separate order for each shipment.) We will mail all billing information directly to you and will include a card in the package telling who the gift is from. If you have any special message you would like included, let us know.

You know how pleased you are with Kramer’s – others will be glad you shared with them.

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In June of last year, when new pricing was made necessary by the Turpentine supply situation, we first listed the new prices in the blog on the Turpentine Story page of this Web Site. As a part of that pricing structure we listed the Special Gallon Offer of “Buy 5 – Get One FREE” (within each calendar year).

For some reason that information was not included on the Ordering page, or other pricing information. We will be updating that information soon but want to call this special offer to your attention. For those who are using large quantities of the product this is a significant savings.

[Note: All 5 gallons must all be of the same product.]