As most of you know I work in a hardware store.
Now it's paint, by the gallon, that we can't get. This is Valspar.
Seem like it's always something. Was PVC plumbing parts, then it was PVC electrical boxes.
I do hope this paint thing will past quick. We are just going into our painting season.
I can see the shelves getting bare and see it coming.
Printshops are having a hard time getting glossy paper too. Spoke with the gal who does our labels, said she can't get the stuff and nobody knows when she will be able to get it again.
Last summer, repairing and cleaning my 'new' sawmill' I could not get gallons of Rustoleum , had to take quarts.
I hope at some corporate level we are learning to make more of this stuff at home. I've been reading some scans of old building magazines from turn of the century. We sure haven't improved the quality of building magazines, they are awesome. Last night there was a short blurb on making paint, which was often done by the painter. What struck me, I've generally been a bit, uh, lax with lead. One common recipe for a gallon started with 14 lbs of white lead, 4-1/2 pints of linseed oil, fill to gallon with turpentine and a shot of drier, which is more heavy metals.
I'm on the hunt for conduit this morning.
Quote from: Don P on May 10, 2022, 08:08:27 AM
I hope at some corporate level we are learning to make more of this stuff at home. I've been reading some scans of old building magazines from turn of the century. We sure haven't improved the quality of building magazines, they are awesome. Last night there was a short blurb on making paint, which was often done by the painter. What struck me, I've generally been a bit, uh, lax with lead. One common recipe for a gallon started with 14 lbs of white lead, 4-1/2 pints of linseed oil, fill to gallon with turpentine and a shot of drier, which is more heavy metals.
I'm on the hunt for conduit this morning.
Used to put white lead under new outdoor stair treads. Building magazines we used to get got so childish I canceled them.
I just went to the annual contractor/vendor training for UPM, they manufacture coated paper at the Blandin Mill in Grand Rapids, MN. They said they never thought they would say this again, but right now demand is outpacing supply. There's been so many coated paper mills that shut down that there isn't enough capacity for an uptick in demand, even though the demand is still trending downwards.
Empty shelves, shortages, inflation, delays, people choosing not to work,,,,,,sounds a little like socialism don't it?
Dirty little secret the media is not talking about is that there is no capacity to replace the layers that the USDA is going around and killing in the name of this Avian Bird Flu. Due to USDA egg storage regulations hatcheries have zero extra capacity to hatch birds beyond what they were doing until now, so trying to hatch and an extra 35 million birds outside of normal operation is pretty much impossible, then there is no additional capacity to grow those birds, so.....
Quote from: moodnacreek on May 10, 2022, 01:28:34 PM
Quote from: Don P on May 10, 2022, 08:08:27 AM
I hope at some corporate level we are learning to make more of this stuff at home. I've been reading some scans of old building magazines from turn of the century. We sure haven't improved the quality of building magazines, they are awesome. Last night there was a short blurb on making paint, which was often done by the painter. What struck me, I've generally been a bit, uh, lax with lead. One common recipe for a gallon started with 14 lbs of white lead, 4-1/2 pints of linseed oil, fill to gallon with turpentine and a shot of drier, which is more heavy metals.
I'm on the hunt for conduit this morning.
Used to put white lead under new outdoor stair treads. Building magazines we used to get got so childish I canceled them.
DIY magazines cater to the folks who didn't have a shop class as they all closed, or parents not in trade jobs, but rather inside so-called tech jobs or non-hands on labor intensive stuff. As a kid I watched the old-time painters mix their paint from basic materials. One reason a neighborhood hardware store still might survive is having knowledgeable clerks to provide instructive help to customers who desire to DIY. Box stores have fewer than they'd like, often hiring kids and others who lack experience of a previous life's work. Lawyers have managed to make many raw materials hard to buy if not impossible. Try buying acid for prep work to paint.
Quote from: Don P on May 10, 2022, 08:08:27 AM
I hope at some corporate level we are learning to make more of this stuff at home. I've been reading some scans of old building magazines from turn of the century. We sure haven't improved the quality of building magazines, they are awesome. Last night there was a short blurb on making paint, which was often done by the painter. What struck me, I've generally been a bit, uh, lax with lead. One common recipe for a gallon started with 14 lbs of white lead, 4-1/2 pints of linseed oil, fill to gallon with turpentine and a shot of drier, which is more heavy metals.
I'm on the hunt for conduit this morning.
My grandfather always use to say white paint is the deadliest color...now I know why.
One thing I don't like about new paint is it never gets hard anymore. It seems to always have a tacky feel to it and it can easily be scratched with a finger nail. It must be the lack of hardeners or driers. I put some automotive hardeners once in a gallon of latex paint to see what it would do. Well, it didn't work that well. :D
Talking about chickens, new chicken barn going up this spring a mile up the road from here. It's no mega chicken farm by any stretch, but it's at least something. ;D By the way, his brother sells eggs for $6 a dozen, I bet you guys across the border don't get that much a dozen. ;) Used to be a place near here that raised them for the layers, but hasn't operated in over 20 years. The owner retired and sold, and the new owners never really got going. I don't know what they do, doesn't look like much.
If the shortage is purple paint I have a likely suspect. ;)
Quote from: WV Sawmiller on May 11, 2022, 04:19:11 PM
If the shortage is purple paint I have a likely suspect. ;)
:D :D :D
A very common affliction in the 18th and 19th Centuries (probably earlier too, but I've never read of it) was called Painter's Palsy.
A lot of paint was mixed in the painter's hand. Lead was one culprit, but also Cupric Arsenate was very common in blue colors. I read somewhere that it's still used in blue eye shadow. That's why I don't wear it.
Quote from: SwampDonkey on May 11, 2022, 03:45:16 PM
Talking about chickens, new chicken barn going up this spring a mile up the road from here. It's no mega chicken farm by any stretch, but it's at least something. ;D By the way, his brother sells eggs for $6 a dozen, I bet you guys across the border don't get that much a dozen. ;) Used to be a place near here that raised them for the layers, but hasn't operated in over 20 years. The owner retired and sold, and the new owners never really got going. I don't know what they do, doesn't look like much.
Chicken farms are like real sawmills these days about 1 every 100 miles. N.Y.C. people think a farm is some kind of public park because of all the agro-tourism. Same people come to me and ask where I get my lumber, tell them I saw it and get a strange look. You can't stop progress.
Quote from: WV Sawmiller on May 11, 2022, 04:19:11 PM
If the shortage is purple paint I have a likely suspect. ;)
Nope, can't be me. I haven't bought purple paint since that van thing back in the 60's. :D
Stopped in a big Walmart yesterday and A guy had the last 20 cans (or maybe 21) of paint they had and was having all different colors mixed up at the mixing counter. I heard a couple good comments from people looking for a gallon of paint that found the shelves empty while that guy had hoarded all the remaining stock. I can see how fights will start in stores if shortages stick with us. I bet hoarding to avoid price increases is responsible for many of the shortages.
Why would you hoard paint? Even if you was in the painting racket, the customer wants what you ain't got. :D
Shelves are full of paint here. Just walked the isle in one hardware store last week. Fertilizer wasn't any problem to get either, I don't use a truck load, but this came from one of the blending plants near by. One bag does me 4 years. :D
Grass seed by the pound of sackful, whichever, all kinds.
I was told that a local developer is putting a pause on a new road full of McMansion's. The local utility told him transformers are scarce and it may be a year before they get there stock back up. They have emergency replacements, just not enough to put up another new commuter community
Quote from: B.C.C. Lapp on May 10, 2022, 07:01:41 PM
Empty shelves, shortages, inflation, delays, people choosing not to work,,,,,,sounds a little like socialism don't it?
You are kidding aren't you? Empty shelves is only caused by politicians and not trucker shortages, corporate leaders that sent all production out of the country, and now being prime painting season has nothing to do with it? You're hilarious!!!!!
Was into paint store for Benjamin Moore deck stain, no trouble at all. Paint shelves all full.
I've noticed spray cans at Wally World have been in low supply. With the price of them now I've seen a couple WM's put them behind screens.
Home Depot last night- all the electrical wire is locked behind screens. After I saw the prices, I know why they locking it up now.