Read My Story About Our Engraved Whistles
Hi, my name is Phil Hartgraves.
I sell engraved whistles. And I wanted to tell you my story.
One day I picked up one of our whistles and blew it. I noticed that it didn't make that unique whistle sound and that the ball didn't move much. So I called my wholesaler and told her the whistles came with a white ball inside of them and could she tell me what it was made of. She said "I will have to check and call you back". She called me back and said "the white ball is made of stone".
I don't know if you have ever went in your back yard and tried to move stones and rocks by blowing on them, but I would guess you wouldn't have much luck. And guess what, it doesn't work in the whistles either.
So I asked my wholesaler if the manufacturer could change to a light weight ball. Nothing ever happened.
So I started searching for a manufacturer that could manufacture an engraved whistle with a lightweight ball. I searched the world over, I found plenty of manufacturers that would make the small cheap whistles that you find in the big box stores. And guess what, they actually make that unique whistle sound. It was several years later before I found a manufacturer that would manufacture a high polished high quality stainless steel engraved whistle. But guess what, it came with a white ball made of stone.
So I emailed the manufacturer and asked if he could make it with a light weight ball. He emailed me back and said he could make the ball out of natural cork or cork composite. I said "ok, can you send me samples", and he did.
Luckily I had an engraved whistle that didn't have a ball in it, because you can't take the white stone ball out without destroying the whistle. I don't know how I got a whistle without a ball in it, I don't know if the ball was too small and fell out or if they just didn't put a ball in that whistle.
So I forced the natural cork ball into the whistle, and I blew it. At first the whistle would make the unique whistle sound, but then the ball would get stuck in the cutout of the whistle. I don't know if your familiar with natural cork, but it has imperfections in it, like defects, cracks. It was enough that the ball could get stuck in the cutout and you would have to take your finger and push the ball back into the whistle.
I knew that wouldn't work. So I took my small needle nose pliers and pulled the natural cork ball out. Next I forced the cork composite ball into the whistle and blew it. It worked perfectly, the ball didn't get stuck and the whistle made that unique whistle sound.
It wasn't until early 2018 that we started carrying our new engraved whistles with a lightweight ball. Our engraved whistles now make that unique whistle sound.
So if you are in the market for an engraved whistle, I hope you will consider ours, I promise you I will never ever sale another whistle with a white heavy stone ball in it.
Thanks for reading my story,
Phil Hartgraves
PS We have made several upgrades to our new whistle. We now install a large lightweight cork ball instead of a small cork ball. Makes it easier to blow.
Now we sand, buff and polish each whistle to ensure a blemish free surface for us to engrave on.
We have perfected the engraved whistle and we call it:
PW3 the Perfect engraved Whistle