Free Chemicals!! By Aggressive Sampling

[cracker]

By aggressive but polite inquiry I have been able to obtain the following Chemicals as free samples. In some cases the amounts sent were more than adequate for personal use.

#1 Leucophor AP Fluorescent (Whitener-Brightener) from Clariant Corporation (two 4oz bottles)

#2 Fluorescent Invisible UV Pigments from Cleveland Pigment & Color Co. (3 Colors 25g each)

#3 Fluorescent Invisible UV Pigments from United Mineral Corporation (3 Colors 25g each)

#4 Cab-O-sil M-5 Fumed Silica from Cabot Corporation (1gal. size container, weight unknown)

#5 Niaproof 4 Anionic Surfactant from Niacet Corporation (4oz bottle)

#6 (All the following came from DayGlo Corporation in 3oz containers)(I inquired by separate categories at separate times)
D-034 Invisible Yellow Phantom Pigment
D-211 Ice Blue Fluorescent Brightener
D-282 UV-Blue Stilbene Type
D-286 Sky Blue Fluorescent Brightener
IPO-13 Invisible Red Phantom Pigment
IPO-18 Invisible Green Phantom Pigment
IPO-19 Invisible Blue Phantom Pigment
NG-15 Yellow Green NightGlo Pigment
NG-20 Yellow Green NightGlo Pigment
NG-25 Orange NightGlo Pigment
NGX-19 Blue NightGlo Pigment
DayGlo NGX-6y Yellow Green NightGlo Pigment

#7(The following came from Organic Dyestuff's Corporation in 25g bags)
Orco Smoke Blue Dye DTK
Orco Smoke Green Dye DT-1
Orco Smoke Red Dye 3B
Orco Smoke Yellow Dye 3G

"My most recent samples thanks to the Ballistics Gel thread are as follows"

#8 Kraton Polymers G1650 & G1652 Styrene-Ethylene/Butylene-Styrene Block Copolymer(Thermoplastic Elastomer) from Kraton Polymers Co. 1lb bag of each

#9 I have recieved many colored cardboard "Salute" Tubes and Plugs from various cardboard mailing tube manufactures including Uline Shipping Supplies Co.

#10 "I would also like to mention some of the chemicals I was able to purchase with food stamps"

Lactose (Whole Foods special order)
Sorbitol (Whole Foods special order)
Dextrose (Whole Foods special order)
Xylitol (Whole Foods shelf)
Sucrose (any store)
Carbonic Acid
Sodium Bicarbonate
"There are many others possible"

The "down-low" on obtaining samples is to just be as professional as possible & never ask for more than is realistic for sampling.

I always try to use email only if possible, this helps not to get caught when your laying on the bullshit about your supposed 1000kg order.

Terminology is also very important. (This is a phrase I sometimes use that I got from the E&W Forum Website............"To Test For Suitability In our Process" That one works good:D

Through sharing Ideas we all can profit! Please reply with exact company & product names if you to have gotten a "sample" or "samples"

[nbk2000]

I'm glad you like my phrase. It worked wonders when I used it. :)

[cracker]

Just so we have this clear..........Yes, I am asking you to "frontoff" your good connect's! But it is for the "cause" after all.

Here is today's sample ,

CARBOPOL 940 NF High performance Polymer (Noveon Inc.)
one quart size jar "weight unknown"

This was the easiest sample yet. I just logged on to the Noveon site, requested the sample from the contact us option and was never even contacted. 10 days later (today) I got the sample.

CARBOPOL 940 NF is used as a thickener for Water and many other chems. It makes many hand gel compositions turn to its jelly state. Isoprophyl Alcohol will thicken nicely with this product.

[nbk2000]

I got a 3x5 piece of Multicam camo (not a chemical, obviously) from Cyre Precision for testing.

After testing it, I'd buy it. :)

And, while I've got your attention, I'd like to say that FoxFury.com is shit. :mad:

After initially responding to my request for clarification on a technical issue with their products (http://www.foxfury.com/products/signature_series/index.htm), I asked one simple question and they never had the courtesy to respond with a one word answer:

Do their 2nd and 3rd GEN IR illuminators have any visible light emission?

That being the very faint red glow you'll see from IR LED's, like those in videocameras.

I already knew their 1st GEN illuminator would, simply by cost, but their 3rd GEN is over $300, so at that cost it should be totally invisible to the naked eye.

But they never had the courtesy to answer that one simple question.

[megalomania]

Bah! I can't even get the free Omega catalogs sent to me, and you guys get all this swag.

[deadman]

Also a believable e-mail is a plus. I was talking with one of the leading exporters of Barium salts in November. They were so close to shipping me 500g free of the following:

Barium Nitrate
Barium Carbonate
Barium Sulphate
Strontium Carbonate

Thiourea is also offered, but I didn't have much of an alibi for it as I claimed to be a newly founded fireworks club. They were very quick about replying, and very well written for a chinese company. (I guess it should have been obvious-exporters-) I believe it fell through for the following reasons. Not definite enough e-mails(too many questions), unbelievable e-mail(hotmail address with 666 in the name), and an obvious residential address.

This is a company that works in the megatons per year, so I will release the info after sending it to a few members, I believe have a bit of priority. Possibly a week for waiting time. PM me if I forget to update, I get sidetracked constantly.

Edit: "megatons" was a bit of an overexaggeration, a better estimate is 300,000 metric tons annually

[cracker]

Deadman you have talked about some important areas that are very true, the approach is everything.

The residential address will not affect the majority of your samples, however it does with "superpower" corporations like Spectrum Chemicals. As you said The Email address is very important. You must always appear to be an interested company who is taking this "purchase" very seriously.

After you have mastered your company name (that hopefully is relevant to your sample request), make a company letter head with a logo. I have even gone as far as registering an online domain name.

When you pull it up it just says the company name, logo, and that the site is still under construction.

This allows me to tell the sales rep, that we are very new. This helps give a little extra leeway when I slip up.

The single most important thing is to research what you're asking for before you ask and know what applications and uses it has.

"As far as who gets to what first, I look at it more as a reference of the types of things to "sample"for more than an actual where to go guide." We all know the k3wl will burn it out the first week anyway, however I believe the "true samplers" will still prevail.

If possible always try to ask for something by its registered trade mark name from the original manufacturer, rather than by its standard scientific name.

These are the most likely to get samples.

[Cobalt.45]

The Fisher Catalog is nice enough to be a "coffee table" edition. Free. Huge.

Continental Clay Co. responded to a hand written request for samples of barium, calcium, copper and strontium carbonate; red iron oxide, black copper oxide and cryolite with a nice package. Took all of three days to reach me. I turned around and bought from them, anyway.

[nbk2000]

I preferred the Aldrich catalog. Many more chemicals, and their properties, listed than Fisher, as well as various indexes for finding chemicals by their components and CAS#.

Yahoo! has a service where you can get a domain name e-mail address for $10/year.

So, instead of being k3wL@yahoo.c_m, you become PurchasingAgent@legitlab.c_m

:)

[nbk2000]

Another thing that may help you in your quest for free chemicals would be physical mail delivered to them from a subsidiary address ;), courtesy of http://www.l-mail.com/