Now I REALLY hate UPS!!!

[DancingBear]

This time the bozos left a package containing one gallon of mineral oil outside the (open) garage door - with two dogs inside (note: I've told UPS at least 5 times to leave packages at the front door). Naturally, the dogs ripped it open and had a good shot of mineral oil before I got to it. After calling Poison Control, I was assured that it was not toxic in any way, but the end results (no pun intended) over the next 24 hours would not be pretty.

Kate the one year old is now beginning to show the results. Everywhere she goes she leaves a trail of mineral oil behind her - the damn garage is like a skating rink. I've already washed her once (with Dawn dish washing liquid) but it's a losing battle.

I can hardly wait for the other one (all 125 pounds of him) to start...

[LisaM]

1. This might be a strange question...

and I'm sorry for your predicament, but why didn't you just buy the mineral oil at the store?

[DancingBear]

3. Not a strange question at all

I'm a woodworker, and one particular grade of mineral oil is superior to all others for use in "buffing out" a particular type of finish. Most oils that one finds in a store are either slightly cloudy (not good) or contain wax or wax by-products (also not good). I buy this stuff from Texas - it costs more to ship it here than it does to buy it!

[jmowreader]

6. So where do you get your shellac and rottenstone?

I know you're French polishing, so where are you getting your other components?

[DancingBear]

10. Actually I'm not French polishing

I'm using mineral oil on 5000 grit wet/dry bodyshop paper. The underlying finish is an aniline dye stain with components of Japan color in it, overlayed with six coats of 50/50 poly/mineral spirits. The mineral spirits in the mix acted as the solvent for the Japan color, giving it a quasi-sunburst finish that I was trying to achieve.

I don't want to final finish with mineral spirits as the lubricant, since I don't want any further bleeding, so I'm going with mineral oil.

The last time I French polished my elbows hurt for three days. :)

BTW, are you a woodworker as well, or do you do something for a living that actually makes money? :)

[jmowreader]

13. I do a lot of things. Some of them make money.

My current woodworking project is for the store. I'm making some plywood boxes to display merchandise in.

Most plywood boxes aren't that complex, but these ones are 96 inches long with dividers. The last batch were 34 inches deep by a foot high and are for the three-foot pieces of oak and poplar Home Depot stores sell; the next one I'm doing is 32 inches high by 34 inches deep and will be used to display HVAC air return grates. Thank Buddha for corner clamps! I put a nice wooden lip on them that catches the beams in the racking so you can't push them into the flue space, and it gives you a place to put your price tags.

The only problem these boxes have is that they show you just how bad our stock situation is. Each board size has its own cubbyhole, and some of those cubbyholes are empty.

[Unperson 309]

14. There's NOTHING Like Handrubbed!

I have a beautiful spalled belt buckle that is a jewel of my art! I found the oval of wood (with buckle backing) at a garage sale. It was crudely shellacked, but the spalling (a starburst pattern in the wood made by a fungal infection of the tree, quite pretty) was evident even through the crappy coating.

I got it for a nickel. I took it back to my shop (that was when I could afford such things... sigh) stripped off the shellack, sanded it, sanded, sanded, sanded.... using mineral oil and a light stain, over and over and over and over.... took me about two weeks but it was WORTH it! The wood is satiny smooth and every grain leaps from the surface with a deep glowing patina. Somebody offered me a hundred bucks for it once. No sale.

While I love working with wood (when I can!) the sawing, joining, shaping, rabbetting, etc aren't *nearly* as much sheer fun (and damn hard work) as the final sanding and finishing! That's when I breathe life back into the dead wood! Ahhhhhhhh!

Dammit, now I'm *aching* to do a coffetable top or a bookcase! And the place we're living now is *DUST CENTRAL*! No way to get any sort of finish *here*!

309

[DS1]

20. tell me about it

:evilgrin: :hi:

[LisaM]

18. Okay, thanks!

Just have that insatiable curiousity sometimes. I hope the doglets are okay. Keep them hydrated.

[MuseRider]

2. One of my kids

drank some of it once. It was NOT pretty especially because it happened at school and no one knew about it until he leaked. Thankfully he was only in Kindergarten.

[DancingBear]

4. I can empathize on the "leaking" part

I never drank any, although when I was 6 I did fall into a (almost empty, but still a foot or so of stuff remaining) septic tank. :)

[MuseRider]

8. Ewwwwww! n/t

[DancingBear]

5. Delete

double post

[shawcomm]

7. Every problem I've ever had with a package delivery

has been UPS. Never a problem with Fedex, or even the post office. But UPS has delivered to the wrong house, lost packages, delivered days late, etc.

[DancingBear]

11. Tell me about it

FedEx - tell them once - it's done.

UPS is just horrible - one time they left a stereo amplifier out in the rain, once they told me a much needed package was sitting in a trailer at Dulles Airport but nobody had the keys for it, etc.

They are the absolute worst - I refuse to use them, and try and tell anyone who is shipping something to me likewise.

[pagerbear]

12. I once stayed home from work specifically to wait for a package

...and the damn thing came at 10 p.m.--after I'd called and bitched at them!

[shawcomm]

21. I worked in an electronics store a while back

We ordered a computer for the store. When it came in two days late, the box looked like it had been put through a shredder then taped back together. The delivery guy wasn't about to ask if we wanted to refuse it or inspect it. We inspected the package after talking to UPS HQ.

The computer looked like it had blown apart and someone (who obviously knew nothing about computers) tried to stick the pieces back together hoping it would go unnoticed. Whatever happened to it, it must have hit so hard that it stripped the hard drive screws out.

[Parche]

9. Whats UPS

Those damn brownshirts


Maybe next time someone will call about a suspicious package
and have a Terra alert

[MercutioATC]

15. There's a reason their trucks are the color of poo.

Their service is...well...shitty.

[Blue Gardener]

16. They don't care what the weather is like

They will leave your packages out in rain, freezing cold, snow, whatever. I had an order of Mexican vanilla delivered in the middle of winter, by the time I got home from work it was slush. I have two neighbors right across the street that are home all day, can't they just leave it with them if I'm not home?

[Susang]

17. You should file a claim if the contents are ruined

I deal with UPS on a daily basis. If you've told them to deliver to your front door and they continue to deliver to the garage, then they could be responsible for the damage. My company files claims with them all the time for more trivial reasons.

You should call them first thing tomorrow, be ready with the tracking number and package information and explain exactly what happened. In graphic detail. The more graphic the better, if you get my drift.

[shadu]

19. They ALWAYS tried to screw me on valid claims

I had to deal directly with THEIR insurance company
to get paid. No More UPS!

[Redneck Socialist]

22. I'm sorry

but that's funny as hell. :P Please, please let us know how it all comes out. :P :evilgrin:

[mopinko]

23. poor puppies

you can give them a little kaopectate to soak some of that up.
i have always had good luck with my brown. mostly had cuties, too.

[curse10]

24. that's strange- I just had a great experience with UPS today

I got my new computer delivered and they actually called me when they were at the door. They wanted to see if I was home or if I wasn't if anyone else in the building might sign for me so I could get my computer right away :-) I told them to buzz my neighbor and sure enough! My computer was waiting for me when I arrived home an hour later!

I love UPS!