Handling Scammers

 

There have been a lot of folks worried about scammers on social media phishing for private information from crafters/creators/artisans. The problem is real. And, as time goes on, those scammers are getting a whole lot more sophisticated in manipulating people into falling for their scams. This blog post is all about how I've handled them in the past, and have been able to avoid falling into their traps thus far.

Whenever I get a private message from someone asking me if a piece I've posted is still available, I immediately become skeptical because if the post is still up, it means yes, the piece is still available. So, I proceed with caution from that point forward.

When I say yes, the piece is still available and they come back with asking me where I'm located, that's it. The conversation is over as far as I'm concerned. Bottom line is they don't need my location. That's phishing plain and simple.

If they ask what shipping costs, I tell them that depends on a number of factors, but shipping is always on top of the cost of the piece being shipped.

Their next question is usually whether I accept Venmo, Zelle, PayPal, Apple Pay, or something else. I tell them PayPal is the only one I accept at this time. Next, they usually ask me for my PayPal information. This is where my Spidey sense kicks in big time! 

Reality is anyone shipping anything anywhere should never give out their payment method information. It needs to be the other way around. If a scammer asks me for my information, I ask them to give me THEIR information. Most of the time, that ends it and I never hear from them again.

This next part is critical: If they give me their information, I tell them I'll get a shipping quote from the shipping company. I only use UPS, but I'm pretty sure every shipping company provides quotes. While I'm standing in the lobby of the shipping company, I text, the recipient the amount of the shipping quote and remind them that's in addition to the cost of the piece. I conduct my entire conversation with them through Facebook Messenger, never a phone text or email.

The next part is even more critical: If they agree to the total cost, I then send them a payment request through PayPal. Since they've already given me their phone or email attached to their PayPal account, PayPal takes it from there. As soon as I see a payment has appeared in my PayPal account, I give the UPS folks the go ahead to pack and ship the piece. You don't need to give anyone on the other end any personal information.

This method isn't 100% fool proof, but I have yet to have a scammer go all the way through MY process, and, once the payment appears in my PayPal account, that's it. They can't take it back.

I thing the best piece of advice I can give to anyone wondering how to address the issue of scammers is to always be in control of the conversation. Back out if, at any point in the conversation you feel it may not be legit. In other words, pull the plug. You don't owe anyone anything. How long you stay in a conversation with someone depends on how long you're actually willing to allow them to string you along.

I hope this helps. It has worked very well for me thus far.

DWR

The 'Process"

 

It's been a loooooooong time since I posted a blog post here mostly because I've transitioned to sharing a lot of how I do things to Facebook on my Dead Wood Renaissance page. The reason I'm posting here now is because I put a bowl (photos to follow) out on a 'crafts' Facebook page. One person suggested/recommended that I share some photos of the process I use to get finished pieces because people, as he said, need to see the process used to get to the end result in order to better understand what goes into making the pieces that I do. He's right. The art of hand crafted artisan work is getting lost in today's world of machine produced products. And that's the genesis of this post. So, here goes. 

The process I use is similar for almost all of the pieces I do, but not the same because no two pieces are ever identical. Bowls, vases, tables, candle holders are just a few of the things I've made. To see more photos of work I've done, I also have a Dead Wood Renaissance Instagram account, as well.

For my most recent piece, I started with a burl attached to a douglas fir tree trunk log. The bark was still intact in some spots, but loose in other areas of the log:

The tools I used to get the bark off are on the deck of my workbench in the photo above. Chisels and screwdrivers saved the day!

Once all the bark was removed, the next step was to try and come up with proper orientation. Not an easy task because my focus was on keeping as much of the burl intact as possible. In fact, I worried about keeping the burl solid and not carving into it at all. As you'll see later in this post, that option wasn't viable with the orientation I eventually ended up with.

Nothing I did seemed to be right for this piece. The last photo above is the initial orientation I came up with to make a sort of big vase......or so I thought.

After I decided to make a vase, the piece needed to be leveled on the bottom so it would be stable and not run the risk of constantly tipping over (that burl is heavy and kind of makes the piece top heavy). In order to do that, I got out my trusty router planer sled and let the levelling begin:

All the paraphernalia you see in the second photo above under the log was to kinda sorta level things off so the top (upside down in the photo) would be fairly level to accommodate the router as it planed the bottom of the vase level. This thing was really heavy, so I wasn't too worried about the router moving the piece as it was pulled and pushed in the sled over the top of the piece.

The next step was to hog out the center of the log. I started by trying to plunge cut with my little chain saw......too dangerous! Besides, I'm OLD and not as proficient with chain saws as I used to be. 

So, plan B.....use a spade bit in a drill to drill holes to different depths and get as much out of there as possible before using an angle grinder with specialty Arbor Tech carving attachment:

It was after this phase was done that I noticed how big a crack there was in the log. I mean, I noticed the crack before hogging out the log, but it seemed to become kinda unstable the more I hogged out, or so I thought.

That wasn't going to do for what I wanted at ALL!

So, I had to come up with a different orientation than originally planned, and I'm so glad I did! I turned it upside down, and started carving out a 'lip'.

From that point forward, it became a matter of rough carving followed by more finesse carving followed by rough sanding, followed by fine sanding followed by finishing. The tool I used to rough carve was the Arbor Tech planer shown in one of the photos above. For more fine carving, I used a Kutzall grinding disc (pictured below with another bowl project I did):

Sanding involves a variety of aggressive grit sandpaper followed in sequence by finer and finer sandpaper until it's smooth as a baby's butt. Well, not really, but close enough.

Finishing involves a sequence, too. Initial coat is rub on Watco Danish oil followed by a spray coat of Zinsser dewaxed shellac to help seal up the open end grain followed by multiple coats of Minwax semi-gloss polyurethane. Most of the time, I apply the poly by hand rubbing it on. Sometimes, in the more difficult to reach areas (nooks and crannies), I apply the poly using semi-gloss spray. Of course, there was sanding in between each and every coat.

The finished bowl:

And, some photos of the end result:

And there ya have it!

Folks continue to ask me how long it takes to do these pieces from start to finish. I almost always tell them if I kept track of how much time I've invested, I likely wouldn't do them at all!

Thanks for reading and looking.

Three in a 'Row'....

Good news is I didn't screw things up too bad after all (last post). In fact, all three of these bowls turned out way better than I expected!

So, bottom line is there really is no bad news here.

Because there were three bowls harvested from one log, I thought it might be nice to post a photo of them 'before' the log was cut:

Followed by the finished bowls in a number of different poses all in a 'row':

It's really hard to adequately describe how the grain in these pieces 'popped' during the finishing process. Truly amazing!

The finishing process ultimately used one coat of wood conditioner, one coat of Danish Oil (the step that almost ruined these bowls for me), and three coats of wipe-on gloss polyurethane varnish. I didn't use furniture wax/polish on these bowls because the polyurethane finish was so smooth, there was no need.

And there ya have it!

On to the next project!

DWR

I Think I Screwed Up!!!!

How so, you say? Especially when everything was going so swimmingly according to plan? 

Well, the finishing process can be touch and go depending on what the wood looks like after testing in a small area. The problem with juniper like these bowls are is that there are so many different hues in both the sapwood and the heartwood.

The first step in my finishing process is to treat the wood with Minwax pre-stain wood conditioner. This conditioner does just that....conditions the wood in preparation for a stain being applied. 

My usual finishing process doesn't involve using stains, but I like using the pre-stain conditioner anyway because it seems to help stabilize the red color of the heartwood in juniper. 

However, this time, after applying the pre-stain conditioner, the sapwood was more yellowish than previous pieces of juniper I've worked with. So, I decided to try and tone down the yellow in the sapwood just a tad by applying a coat of Danish Oil 'natural' which has a slightly amber hue to it when cured. This is where I think I may have screwed up.

Let me explain. 

Before I applied the Danish Oil, I followed my own standard operating procedure of applying a coat of dewaxed shellac in order to help seal the grain of the wood so I wouldn't have to use so many coats of varnish later on. 

Ok, so far so good.

After I sanded the shellac layer lightly, I applied the Danish Oil to each piece. 

Aaaaaand this is where things started to go south for me. The Danish Oil I use has varnish in it, but it's never....not ever....glossy. This was waaaaay too glossy!

Even after curing overnight, the Danish Oil refused, I say REFUSED, to dry. So, it was off to the wonders of Google search to do some research.

Bottom line? My Danish Oil was too old. Plus, it had gone through at least two winters in sub-freezing temps much of the time. In my research, I found out any petroleum based finish for wood that sits too long and/or goes through significant weather changes (like heat in summer and cold in winter) will...not...cure! End of discussion!

Some pros out there recommended sanding down to bare wood and starting over. Others recommended trying to strip as much of the finish off as possible by using mineral spirits/paint thinner. The latter option sounded much better (and a HECKUVA lot easier) than the first option.

That's where I am right now, and hoping I didn't, in fact, screw up too bad.

DWR

The 'Finish' (See What I Did There?) Line is in Sight....

A couple of days ago, these bowls entered into the fine grinding phase of this project using the Kutzall 'medium' grit grinding wheel to take down the rough edges and ridges left from rough carving.

With most of the rough edges and ridges taken down, I realized I'm probably going to need to invest in a 'fine' grit grinding wheel in the not too distant future. The 'medium' grit is great for taking stock off relatively quickly, but it does leave swirls that are difficult to sand out. They aren't easy to see in the photo, but believe me when I say they're there.

The next step in this phase required finer sanding. My weapon of choice? My DeWalt random orbital sander.

This was another 'aha' moment in that a standard 5 inch random orbital sander works great on less contoured surfaces, but to get down into the bowl, itself, was a problem. Here's another instance where an investment in a smaller 3 1/2 inch random orbital sander is required. I had one at one time, but it was pneumatic (required a gigantic air compressor and even that couldn't keep up). The one I'm looking at now is electric.

After finishing sanding with the random orbital sander, all three bowls needed finish sanding by hand. Starting with 120 grit and ending with 220 grit gave these bowls a 'smooth as a baby's butt' finish ready for the final finishing phase. So, I packed all three bowls using an old towel and trundled myself up to the other building where finish varnishing takes place.

Through a lengthy period of trial and error, I found that the best way to prep pieces for final finishing in order to get as much fine sawdust out of nooks and crannies and off the main surface is to use mineral spirits. Even though I used my air compressor to blow off residual sawdust and a rag to wipe off even more residual sawdust, it was amazing (once again) to see how much is still there for the mineral spirits to remove.

All done, and beginning to look more and more like they should when all is said and done.

Tomorrow, a coat of wood conditioner will be applied followed by a coat of dewaxed shellac followed by the first of at least three, possibly four, coats of hand rubbed gloss varnish.

The 'finish' line is, in fact, in sight......

DWR

Quit Hogging Those Bowls.....

I've often wondered why woodworkers who do this kind of work call carving out a bowl "hogging"? Seriously, can anyone answer that question? Anyone?

But I digress....

Today began the process of hogging out the actual bowl depth on those blanks from the previous post.

The tool used in this process is an angle grinder with a handy-dandy ArborTech Turbo Mini-Planer attached. 

While this tool doesn't remove stock as fast or as aggressively as that carving disc I talked about yesterday, there's really nothing like it to be able to get down into these bowls like this tool does.

In order to hold the slab stable while carving, that work table in the photo above had to be used because the weather today didn't cooperate like it did yesterday. So, there was no outside work to be done.

Inside work is ok, but it sure does make a sawdust mess all over the shop! No dust collection system works very well either because the planer on this angle grinder tends to throw shavings (not dust) all over and in every direction. That push broom is 30 inches wide to give a little perspective.

Oh, well....just need to devote more time to clean-up at the end of the day.

The work table is basically a trough with two 4x6 inch planks placed against the outside edges of the table on the inside of those edges. That leaves an open area in the middle that most pieces fit down into. If their shape is too irregular, they can be weighted with different heavy metal pieces (axe head in the photo, for example) to hold them steady while I'm working.

After about one hour and hands going numb from vibration and tight gripping of the angle grinder, one bowl is 'hogged' out and kinda sorta shaped in preparation for fine tuning and tweaking everything:

Another hour and the second bowl suffered the same fate:

This is why I love working with juniper. The pieces are like a box of chocolates (to coin a phrase from Forrest Gump)....you never know what the red heartwood will look like until you get down into it. I'd say these two pieces are a score!!

Taking a break to feed my face and rest up a bit for hogging out the biggest slab (looks like an aircraft carrier without the conning tower). 

That one's going to take a bit longer to do because it's so much bigger than the other two.

Wish me luck!!!

BREAK'S OVER!!!!!! GET BACK TO WORK, YOU SLACKER!!!!!

Back at it....

Large bowls like this one take longer to hog out because of their size.....DUH! But, the red heartwood getting exposed is a trip in and of itself, and this bowl didn't disappoint, for sure. 

I should have quit for the day at this point, but I just couldn't resist going the next step on this bigger bowl.....fine grinding and sanding. In order to do that, the turbo mini-planer had to be changed out, and a 4 1/2 inch Kutzall grinding disc/wheel put on the angle grinder. 

From there, it was a matter of smoothing every single surface of the bowl as much as possible. I also found out this wheel is really good for getting into nooks and crannies without destroying the piece.

I think this bowl is gonna be a winner!!

This stage in the process is always so gratifying because this is the point where they begin to look like they should and the work put into making them seems so worthwhile.

It's supposed to be colder, windier, and snowier tomorrow than it was today. So, it looks like another inside Ted's Shed work day. 

DWR