Sheesh! (# 73,597)

[Hawkmoon]

I don't think it can be blamed on COVID-19, but I'm sure that will be the excuse.

We had a couple of inches of wet-ish snow a few days ago and, as usual, my maibox took a hit. Not a direct hit, but the weight of the snow as the plow goes barreling past tends to bend the box. This time, it not only bent the box, it also ripped it off the plywood base it was screwed to.

Because this is pretty much an annual event, and because if the snow plow doesn't get it the kids who celebrate the end of school by going out and bashing mailboxes probably will, I don't buy expensive mailboxes. I get the standard steel, rural delivery boxes, but the size 1-1/2 (slightly larger than the standard). So after lunch this afternoon I made the pilgrimage to Lowe's and bought a new mailbox, some stainless steel screws, and stick-on numbers. Got it home, opened the box -- and the mailbox is crushed. The door is just as misshapen as the one I was going to replace. :sigh:

So, I reattached the old one to the base, pushed and shoved to reshape the box to pretty much the original arch, and then hammered on the door a bit with a small hammer to get it to close. Tomorrow I'll head back to Lowe's to see if they have a new mailbox that isn't crushed. They only had two in white, and I took the one with the better-appearing box. Apparently appearances can be deceiving.

While I was there, I wandered through the lumber aisles. Good grief! The prices of plywood, and even OSB, are astronomical. How can anyone afford a new house today? And the stuff is all warped. I saw 2x4 studs that looked like they'd been steamed and bent to make a large longbow. Some of the plywood wasn't much better.

[Ben]

Yes, a few months ago, lumber had gone back down, but now it's right back up there again.

[BobR]

When ever I go to Home Depot I make sure I have my "I Did That" Joe Biden stickers with me, a lot of them!

bob

[Jim147]

Schools here were closed Thursday and Friday the last three weeks of the month here. The state only sent the plow out once and somehow missed my box this year.

[Hawkmoon]

Schools here were closed Thursday and Friday the last three weeks of the month here. The state only sent the plow out once and somehow missed my box this year.

I had made it almost all the way through this winter, and I was just getting ready to be thankful for not having to spring for another mailbox. And then along came what will probably be the last snow of this season. It wasn't even enough to make it worth having my friend come plow the driveway, but of course the town sent the plows out, and the stuff was wet and heavy enough that it clobbered the mailbox.

But my real gripe is that Lowe's sold me a crushed mailbox. And I noticed that the back end of the box (the end you can't see when it's on the shelf) had been opened, and taped shut. Which tells me that someone else bought it, found that it was damaged, and returned it -- and Lowe's put it back in stock for some other sucker (namely me) to buy.

[K Frame]

"I saw 2x4 studs that looked like they'd been steamed and bent to make a large longbow."

Lowes. Land of the L-shaped lumber.

I got really snippy with some ass hat wage monkey at Lowes a couple of years ago. I was ripping apart several stacks of wood to TRY (emphasis on that word) and find some straight lumber for a project I was doing at Mom's.

[HankB]

. . . I got really snippy with some ass hat wage monkey at Lowes a couple of years ago. I was ripping apart several stacks of wood to TRY (emphasis on that word) and find some straight lumber for a project I was doing at Mom's.

Welcome to the big box retailer "Bad Customer Club" - I've been a member for a long time for the same reason. For some reason, they think you should pay good money for warped or damaged lumber just because its on top of the stack. 

I just completed a CD/DVD holder - think "shallow bookcase." Aside from being warped, there's a LOT of damaged "finish" plywood in the bins at Lowes and Home Depot with flaws that stain won't cover. Every time I went to a different part of town, I stopped in the local lumber store to look, and it took me 2 months to find a suitable 2' x 4' piece of quarter inch plywood for the back. And I still couldn't sand it quite as smoothly as I wanted, as the "sanded" finish veneer was under 0.020" thick - blow through that with your sander (or even hand sanding) and there's really no recovery.

[WLJ]

Someone posted on Nextdoor a couple of days ago they came home and several panels of their fence had been stolen.

[RoadKingLarry]

I guess you could just start milling up your own lumber 

Ash


Wild Cherry

[Grandpa Shooter]

I had made it almost all the way through this winter, and I was just getting ready to be thankful for not having to spring for another mailbox. And then along came what will probably be the last snow of this season. It wasn't even enough to make it worth having my friend come plow the driveway, but of course the town sent the plows out, and the stuff was wet and heavy enough that it clobbered the mailbox.

But my real gripe is that Lowe's sold me a crushed mailbox. And I noticed that the back end of the box (the end you can't see when it's on the shelf) had been opened, and taped shut. Which tells me that someone else bought it, found that it was damaged, and returned it -- and Lowe's put it back in stock for some other sucker (namely me) to buy.

   What is even more likely is that someone bought a new, in good condition, mailbox, went home and swapped it for their bent one, put in the box and returned it, as though it were the new one.  We don't ever buy something in a box that has obviously been re-taped.

[Nick1911]

I guess you could just start milling up your own lumber 

I started playing with this recently.

What kind of saw are you running?  Bar length?  Are you using a rip chain?  From where?

My test pieces are with an MS271, 18in bar, regular chain.  Cuts okay, if slow.  The 18inch bar feels very limiting.

[Ben]

I'm interested in this too. Most of my trees are Russian olive, so they are not conducive to making lumber, but I'm still interested in the process for, "Hey, you never know". 

[RoadKingLarry]

I started playing with this recently.

What kind of saw are you running?  Bar length?  Are you using a rip chain?  From where?

My test pieces are with an MS271, 18in bar, regular chain.  Cuts okay, if slow.  The 18inch bar feels very limiting.

I'm running a Stihl MS362 C-M with a 20" bar - https://www.stihlusa.com/products/chain-saws/professional-saws/ms362cm/
I'm using Oregon ripping chain.
With the 20" bar I get about a 13" width of cut. I could probably add another inch if I pulled the dog teeth off and played around with the clamp on the nose to get it just as far out as I can go with it. I'm considering going to the MS462 or the MS500I with a 25" bar if I get more into it.
I've currently got 2 Ash logs on the ground that I hope to slab up this week. The largest is about 10' long and 19" in diameter at the butt with very little taper so I'll have to whittle it some.

[K Frame]

"We don't ever buy something in a box that has obviously been re-taped."

I will, but only AFTER I open the box and check on the contents. That move has saved me a number of times from having to make a return trip.

I did have a Home Despot wage monkey ask me what I was doing once when I had the contents of the box spread out.

"It was bought, returned, and put back on the shelf. I'm not buying it without making sure everything that should be in here IS in the box."

"Oh, OK, makes sense."

[Bogie]

In auto parts, we get a LOT of returns... People will buy everything for a job, and then figure that they don't need some of it. They'll return the cores for rebuilding, etc., and also warranty items.
 
I look at EVERYTHING that I sell to make sure it is a new part, in the right box, etc...
 
The customers also seem to have a compulsion about handling stuff, whether they know what it is or not...

[Hawkmoon]

"I saw 2x4 studs that looked like they'd been steamed and bent to make a large longbow."

Lowes. Land of the L-shaped lumber.

True. But what's really sad is that I switched from Home Despot to Lowe's because Lowe's lumber was so much better than what I could get at Home Despot.