# My 5 projects



## derosa (Aug 21, 2010)

*An introduction to the whole thing. *

I've been wanting to keep a blog going and found a couple issues with the whole concept. First big issue is the lack of consistency in what I am working on on any given day. I bounce so much that that even I can't keep track of what I'm working on at any given moment. So this blog is meant to be semi-daily and mostly for me to keep track of what I am doing and where I need to go next. In reality I have far more then five on my plate at any given moment and sometimes I even ditch all of them to try something different for a simple project. It's also to show that I do more then hang out in OT to watch people bicker and throw in my two cents.

So without further ado, here they are in no particular order.
Picked this up at an antique store for 20.00. I'm not certain what the wood is yet and have mostly wasted my time trying to figure out what it is that holds the slats to the metal bands on the bucket; they seem to be a form of rivet but they have a solid head on both sides. Overall it seems to be mostly there, just need to start off with a can of evaporust.

The apple press.










A kitchen trestle table and benches.
This is clearly a long term project. I was offered my choice of 5 rows of apple trees and I could cut down all I wanted. I dropped them off at the mill in the next town over. Most of the wood is sliced 1.25", there are 2 at 2.25 and a third at 3". They are in a closet off of the shop, that gets them out of the sun and weather. There is a fan on them all the time during the day and it gets shut off at night. The humidity has dropped a bit in there at this point. A dehumidifier stands ready but at this time I should be fine with windows open and the fan. The hope is that around the time these start hitting 30-25% moisture content the temps will be up in NY. The closet in the summer can easily hit 120 and has gone higher in effect kiln drying them like a solar kiln. Hope to start slicing into the wood in Sept/Oct and have it done for Christmas time.










A workbench
Perched atop the trestle table wood in the pic above is the start of my workbench. Currently I have a 7'+ x12"x2.9" top, I have started working on the other side of the bench as this will be a split top to hold tools. The goal is 7'x28"x2.5". Also slightly visible are the three legs I've gotten so far, I haven't found a pallet with a good enough piece for the fourth yet. The top will be solid white oak with the bottoms a random mix of red and white.

A mobile countertop. 
The wife originally wanted a mobile cutting board that could be put next to the table during fancy dinners. So I made the cutting board below. It is 19"x23"x2.25", turns out I didn't get it done fast enough as it has to be counter top height now for which this board isn't big enough. I spent quite a few hours getting it flat and square with theend grain patterns having a wave effect to change it now. So now it will be inset into a stone countertop with red oak legs and two drawers. The legs are in production and go from 2.125" at the top to 1.5" at the bottom, hopefully these will be thick an strong enough to hold the top. Total top will be 2'x4' in size. The woods are purpleheart, white oak, walnut, maple, apple, cherry and mahogany.










Finally a bedroom set for the wife as well. I'm happy enough with what we have for now but since she wants it I'm happy to build it as well. Only thing I have to show for it is one of the tops to a night stand. This is my newest project so at the moment only the two stand tops are cut to dimension.










And then there was the project that almost made the list but I just finished it. My daughter is reaching an age where she will be needing a toddler bed any day now so I've just gotten it finished in anticipation. This design is completely from out of my head, no plans provided or available. I literally wrote nothing down. The one looks a little foggy because I hadn't finished rubbing out the wax. The side rails use stub tenons and bolt directly to the headboard. When she needs it will be fully assembled and a project thread made on it. 









Final pic I promise. This is my first and best major project and the reason I finally took the plunge into woodworking that I'd been wanting to make for years. 









Thanks for reading if you made it this far, updates will follow regularly.

,


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## jack1 (May 17, 2007)

derosa said:


> *An introduction to the whole thing. *
> 
> I've been wanting to keep a blog going and found a couple issues with the whole concept. First big issue is the lack of consistency in what I am working on on any given day. I bounce so much that that even I can't keep track of what I'm working on at any given moment. So this blog is meant to be semi-daily and mostly for me to keep track of what I am doing and where I need to go next. In reality I have far more then five on my plate at any given moment and sometimes I even ditch all of them to try something different for a simple project. It's also to show that I do more then hang out in OT to watch people bicker and throw in my two cents.
> 
> ...


;0)


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## rroades (Oct 16, 2008)

derosa said:


> *An introduction to the whole thing. *
> 
> I've been wanting to keep a blog going and found a couple issues with the whole concept. First big issue is the lack of consistency in what I am working on on any given day. I bounce so much that that even I can't keep track of what I'm working on at any given moment. So this blog is meant to be semi-daily and mostly for me to keep track of what I am doing and where I need to go next. In reality I have far more then five on my plate at any given moment and sometimes I even ditch all of them to try something different for a simple project. It's also to show that I do more then hang out in OT to watch people bicker and throw in my two cents.
> 
> ...


Your daughter is adorable!! I'm sure she'll love growing up knowing you made her bed! Sounds like your ventures into the shop are a lot like mine. My list is long, and even when I'm in the middle of a project, I'll stop to try something, or do something completely different. Good luck with the trestle table. I have some walnut slated for mine. The benches we may do will be individual instead of one long one. We haven't decided. Have fun!


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## derosa (Aug 21, 2010)

*Countertop legs are progressing*

I glued up the mobile counter top legs from a single piece of 5/4 red oak. The board looked fairly uniform in color throughout and looked incredibly straight, turns out it was close enough not to matter. I've got no photos of the glue up. 
For the next step I took a few of the pieces of fiberboard that I get at the local pallet drop off and cut the profile of the legs into them. I then glued these up into a box shape that could be bolted onto the lathe and give me a profile to follow. This allows me to get the profile that transitions to the square section all the same. I still haven't quite gotten the technique for doing it quite right with a chisel so there was more tear-out then I would have liked on the first attempt, the second was better and with the edges rounded over shouldn't even be noticeable. Hopefully the first will have at least 3 unobtrusive corners to work with once rounded over. For the final two I used a file and that cut cleanly and smoothly with zero tear-out. Below is the final leg in the process. 









And here are the other three legs. The other up side to my set up is that I bring the long taper into final profile with a hand plane laid across the two sides which I then move back and forth for a smooth clean taper that needs very little finish sanding. Doesn't get the thin curls everyone likes but it does get good results. 









Thanks for looking. I'll have more soon but I've decided to clean up the shop for the LJ challenge and it has been quite the challenge.


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## terryR (Jan 30, 2012)

derosa said:


> *Countertop legs are progressing*
> 
> I glued up the mobile counter top legs from a single piece of 5/4 red oak. The board looked fairly uniform in color throughout and looked incredibly straight, turns out it was close enough not to matter. I've got no photos of the glue up.
> For the next step I took a few of the pieces of fiberboard that I get at the local pallet drop off and cut the profile of the legs into them. I then glued these up into a box shape that could be bolted onto the lathe and give me a profile to follow. This allows me to get the profile that transitions to the square section all the same. I still haven't quite gotten the technique for doing it quite right with a chisel so there was more tear-out then I would have liked on the first attempt, the second was better and with the edges rounded over shouldn't even be noticeable. Hopefully the first will have at least 3 unobtrusive corners to work with once rounded over. For the final two I used a file and that cut cleanly and smoothly with zero tear-out. Below is the final leg in the process.
> ...


nice tip, Russ, saved the photo so I can use this down the road one day.

Thanks for sharing!


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## derosa (Aug 21, 2010)

*Lots of legs, work on the workbench, and where did this come from?*

I've actually managed to be busy lately despite wrapping up some plans from an archaeological site for a friend.

First things first, I've managed to wrap up the creation of the legs for the portable countertop. I'd like to get some brass gas fittings to turn on the ends but so far no luck finding ones that fit around here. The lets are about 1.25" diameter and nothing seems to quite be that size. The fourth leg was turned, all four were then put back on the lathe for a good sanding and then over to the router for a 1/4" round over of the edges. Wasn't in the original plan but I haven't mastered transitioning from the round section to the square so the roundover is meant to remove some of the tear out on the corners. There's still some evidence but the worst two corners will be hidden and those two legs will be out of site for the most part in the back. 









I also managed to get some work done on the new work bench, I'll have to get a pic of the old one the next time I get a chance, it's in really bad shape. Anyways, the clamp collecting when I can has been making a difference. Couldn't glue the other three boards I milled up, don't have that many yet but I still managed to put a lot on the three boards I did glue. 
I also managed to make a through mortise in the legs of the bench that I've made so far, both legs (one not shown) have a 5* taper to them so the joints can be locked into place when the time comes. Still only have 2 legs until the pallet place coughs up another couple oak runners. Next to the leg is a cross piece that the top will rest on, I have both of these and they were just finished, also still missing the two big cross pieces and the two feet. 









And while cleaning the shop I came across this, I had someone give me some old flooring cut offs and this was among them. Supposedly the whole floor was white oak but I've never seen oak like this, either way it is over 100 years old and heavier then any oak I have except what came with it from the floor.


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## Karson (May 9, 2006)

derosa said:


> *Lots of legs, work on the workbench, and where did this come from?*
> 
> I've actually managed to be busy lately despite wrapping up some plans from an archaeological site for a friend.
> 
> ...


Some cool curly wood you have there.


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## derosa (Aug 21, 2010)

*A slight segue to a plane cleaning; my new Keen Kutter KK6c. *

Found this driving home at a roadside garage sale yesterday for the small fortune of 7.00. 


















I went over the thing in general and cleaned it up. I'd like to give the blade more of a polishing at a later date but for now focused on making it workable and clean. The blade is an actual Keen Kutter and does seem to be thicker then the hock blade I bought for my No5. Right off it works far better then my Stanley 6. A close examination of the mouth on this does show a beveling of the edge that matches the angle of the frog that my stanley lacks from the factory, turns out I need to take a file to that so the Stanley will work properly. So after some cleaning…

















And for the money shot that everyone seems to want…


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## BTimmons (Aug 6, 2011)

derosa said:


> *A slight segue to a plane cleaning; my new Keen Kutter KK6c. *
> 
> Found this driving home at a roadside garage sale yesterday for the small fortune of 7.00.
> 
> ...


Seven bucks? I sometimes spend that much on lunch, and I'm sure I get less than a percent of the satisfaction you got from that steal. You sir, are a keen hunter.


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## BrandonW (Apr 27, 2010)

derosa said:


> *A slight segue to a plane cleaning; my new Keen Kutter KK6c. *
> 
> Found this driving home at a roadside garage sale yesterday for the small fortune of 7.00.
> 
> ...


Looks great! I love the Keen Kutter planes-both the earlier Bedrock variety and the later Sargent ones like you got. The later ones have the nice thick irons, like you pointed out. You got a great plane for a really great price! I hope you enjoy it.


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## chrisstef (Mar 3, 2010)

derosa said:


> *A slight segue to a plane cleaning; my new Keen Kutter KK6c. *
> 
> Found this driving home at a roadside garage sale yesterday for the small fortune of 7.00.
> 
> ...


I name that one "Uncle Krusty" ... Howd you spot that thing from the road when it was at the bottom of the pond?


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## derosa (Aug 21, 2010)

derosa said:


> *A slight segue to a plane cleaning; my new Keen Kutter KK6c. *
> 
> Found this driving home at a roadside garage sale yesterday for the small fortune of 7.00.
> 
> ...


I also bought 4 wooden clamps off of them that look almost unused. 2 craftsmen and 2 jorgenson that were 4.00 each. They said they had some other planes that are still buried so I'll go back at the end of the week to check them out.


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## jack1 (May 17, 2007)

derosa said:


> *A slight segue to a plane cleaning; my new Keen Kutter KK6c. *
> 
> Found this driving home at a roadside garage sale yesterday for the small fortune of 7.00.
> 
> ...


Nice find and good refurbish.


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## Bertha (Jan 10, 2011)

derosa said:


> *A slight segue to a plane cleaning; my new Keen Kutter KK6c. *
> 
> Found this driving home at a roadside garage sale yesterday for the small fortune of 7.00.
> 
> ...


Derosa, is Dan aware that you are in possession of this Keen Kutter? He's a KK fanatic. Do you find that the blades are uncommonly thick and beautiful? I'm becoming quite interested in this planes.


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## derosa (Aug 21, 2010)

derosa said:


> *A slight segue to a plane cleaning; my new Keen Kutter KK6c. *
> 
> Found this driving home at a roadside garage sale yesterday for the small fortune of 7.00.
> 
> ...


The blade isn't too beautiful yet but I'll be giving it a nice polish sometime soon, just need to get more sandpaper. As for thick, I've got nothing to match it and with the weight of the plane behind that sized blade it does seem to power right through; it does make me want to upgrade all my others to something thicker.


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## derosa (Aug 21, 2010)

*Trying to find the time and keep it together.*

Nothing like juggling to try and keep things going. Needless to say my five projects have fallen by the wayside and there's just no keeping up. The wife came to me a couple of weeks ago and demanded 2 new items only to demand a third not 5 days later and she wants them bumped ahead of everything else and done as soon as possible. Yet time is seemingly never available when it is needed. My own personal plate is full trying to make sure there will be Christmas gifts to give away this year so I've developed a personal policy; nope I haven't told her yet.
Basically when I'm feeling lively enough late at night I'm headed out to the shop to work on my projects; currently I'm up to my ears in dinosaur parts for rocking dinosaurs for the food pantry's christmas baskets. And I have a couple of step stools I'd have finished if my daughter hadn't wandered off with a leg and I can't seem to find it. During this time nothing she wants gets looked at, my time my projects. A little harsh perhaps but when I suggested the other day that I needed actual time to work if she wanted my to do what she'd asked for in a reasonable amount of time she erupted at me. Which was no worse then the week before telling me that I couldn't head to the shop simply because. I wasn't needed and everything was under control but just in case I couldn't head out there so now I have a new policy and I'll see how that goes. How do others deal with this kind of thing?


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## jumbojack (Mar 20, 2011)

derosa said:


> *Trying to find the time and keep it together.*
> 
> Nothing like juggling to try and keep things going. Needless to say my five projects have fallen by the wayside and there's just no keeping up. The wife came to me a couple of weeks ago and demanded 2 new items only to demand a third not 5 days later and she wants them bumped ahead of everything else and done as soon as possible. Yet time is seemingly never available when it is needed. My own personal plate is full trying to make sure there will be Christmas gifts to give away this year so I've developed a personal policy; nope I haven't told her yet.
> Basically when I'm feeling lively enough late at night I'm headed out to the shop to work on my projects; currently I'm up to my ears in dinosaur parts for rocking dinosaurs for the food pantry's christmas baskets. And I have a couple of step stools I'd have finished if my daughter hadn't wandered off with a leg and I can't seem to find it. During this time nothing she wants gets looked at, my time my projects. A little harsh perhaps but when I suggested the other day that I needed actual time to work if she wanted my to do what she'd asked for in a reasonable amount of time she erupted at me. Which was no worse then the week before telling me that I couldn't head to the shop simply because. I wasn't needed and everything was under control but just in case I couldn't head out there so now I have a new policy and I'll see how that goes. How do others deal with this kind of thing?


Several years ago I built the wife her own art studio. 4000 of the best dollars I ever spent. It took weeks to build, wire, insulate and dry wall, but she is out there all the time. Our son practices his saxophone out there as well. THAT leaves me to do whatever I want. Shop time, TV time and best of all…...nap time.


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## redryder (Nov 28, 2009)

derosa said:


> *Trying to find the time and keep it together.*
> 
> Nothing like juggling to try and keep things going. Needless to say my five projects have fallen by the wayside and there's just no keeping up. The wife came to me a couple of weeks ago and demanded 2 new items only to demand a third not 5 days later and she wants them bumped ahead of everything else and done as soon as possible. Yet time is seemingly never available when it is needed. My own personal plate is full trying to make sure there will be Christmas gifts to give away this year so I've developed a personal policy; nope I haven't told her yet.
> Basically when I'm feeling lively enough late at night I'm headed out to the shop to work on my projects; currently I'm up to my ears in dinosaur parts for rocking dinosaurs for the food pantry's christmas baskets. And I have a couple of step stools I'd have finished if my daughter hadn't wandered off with a leg and I can't seem to find it. During this time nothing she wants gets looked at, my time my projects. A little harsh perhaps but when I suggested the other day that I needed actual time to work if she wanted my to do what she'd asked for in a reasonable amount of time she erupted at me. Which was no worse then the week before telling me that I couldn't head to the shop simply because. I wasn't needed and everything was under control but just in case I couldn't head out there so now I have a new policy and I'll see how that goes. How do others deal with this kind of thing?


Give and take. Give and take….................


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## derosa (Aug 21, 2010)

*The upside to an overheated woodshop, fast drying times.*

Only 5 months ago I had 4 applewood trunks sliced into 1.25" boards which I stacked in my woodshop. Being that my shop is in the attic space above the add-on kitchen it has no insulation between it and the all day sun exposure black roof meaning that for most of this summer the shop has been too hot to work in most of the time. Tonight being one example, it is currently 98* in there from a 92* day. The result is that a test of the applewood produced a moisture content of 9-11% with most in the 10% range, the shop and the house doesn't get any drier so it has now hit usable range for woodworking. Even the 3" board produced a 13% moisture content. Looks like I may have at least one day free next to generate a lot of sawdust. Plan is to spend a whole day making them straight, flat and surfaced. The 2.5" and 3" boards will be cut to rough dimensions and allowed to dry further; they should be low enough to not split or crack if taken to rough dimensions at this point.


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## Karson (May 9, 2006)

derosa said:


> *The upside to an overheated woodshop, fast drying times.*
> 
> Only 5 months ago I had 4 applewood trunks sliced into 1.25" boards which I stacked in my woodshop. Being that my shop is in the attic space above the add-on kitchen it has no insulation between it and the all day sun exposure black roof meaning that for most of this summer the shop has been too hot to work in most of the time. Tonight being one example, it is currently 98* in there from a 92* day. The result is that a test of the applewood produced a moisture content of 9-11% with most in the 10% range, the shop and the house doesn't get any drier so it has now hit usable range for woodworking. Even the 3" board produced a 13% moisture content. Looks like I may have at least one day free next to generate a lot of sawdust. Plan is to spend a whole day making them straight, flat and surfaced. The 2.5" and 3" boards will be cut to rough dimensions and allowed to dry further; they should be low enough to not split or crack if taken to rough dimensions at this point.


I had about 3K bd ft of lumber5 stored in the hay loft of my barn. It would get to about 135 degrees in there during the day. That wood was the best to work with.

I had some 24" wide popular planks that shrunk the 22.5" but they were stacked 3' high so I had no twisting or warping.

Good luck.


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## derosa (Aug 21, 2010)

derosa said:


> *The upside to an overheated woodshop, fast drying times.*
> 
> Only 5 months ago I had 4 applewood trunks sliced into 1.25" boards which I stacked in my woodshop. Being that my shop is in the attic space above the add-on kitchen it has no insulation between it and the all day sun exposure black roof meaning that for most of this summer the shop has been too hot to work in most of the time. Tonight being one example, it is currently 98* in there from a 92* day. The result is that a test of the applewood produced a moisture content of 9-11% with most in the 10% range, the shop and the house doesn't get any drier so it has now hit usable range for woodworking. Even the 3" board produced a 13% moisture content. Looks like I may have at least one day free next to generate a lot of sawdust. Plan is to spend a whole day making them straight, flat and surfaced. The 2.5" and 3" boards will be cut to rough dimensions and allowed to dry further; they should be low enough to not split or crack if taken to rough dimensions at this point.


I've been keeping them pressed down with 2×4s on the top and bottom of the stack and using my 36" bar clamps, the whole thing is topped with cherry boards that were sitting on their sides all the way across. So hopefully they will be flat.


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## derosa (Aug 21, 2010)

*A planer sled to make boards with and I broke my "workbench"*

Now that my applewood is dry and ready to be milled I find that I need some way of making flat square boards out of it, not to mention the stack of cherry I've been slowly moving through that also needs to be jointed and planed. I need to pretty much make sure all the lumber I have is fully surfaced and jointed for 2 main reasons. First is that I have a little one on the way in 7 weeks and while I can get through sawing, hand jointing, sanding, gluing and clamping with no problems while he sleeps I can't say the same for planing. Second is that I've been shopping around for a new job and if I have to move I'll need to move my lumber as well and any weight taken off is an added benefit. Although there may be some movement I plan on restacking to reduce the chances.

So without further ado
First I sliced a rough half a sheet of 1/2" plywood down the middle giving me 2 8' by 11.5" sheets; one of these was then ripped into a 48" and 2 24" pieces. I then took a small sheet of 5/8" ply that I get free and ripped it into 1" strips. This ply has no voids, smooth on both sides, one side looks like birch the other side gives off a really pleasant sweet smell when cut or sanded; no idea what it is. 
My current bench is an old table that has had the legs nailed to it several times and has most of the nails in some stage of coming out. It is topped by a slab of slate that is about 20" wide by 4' long and this gave me my perfectly flat surface. 
So next I lay the 8' piece of ply on the bench and start laying out the strips.









I created a band around the outside with the pattern you see in the pic on the inside. I know that a bunch of dadoed pieces crossing each other would be better but I lack the time to really do that and this still has quite a bit of stiffness. 
After the first group was laid out and a sheet of ply laid on top without glue I used cauls and clamped to the bench. once dried I moved it so that there was 2' of overhang on each side, laid out the pattern , lifted each piece to glue the bottoms and then glued the top and laid the 4' piece on top and cauled and glued it. You can see the top sheet here. 









It was during this glue up that the top of the bench separated from the aprons along one side and partially split in the process splitting my slab down one side with a jagged crack. Part of my logic here is that it would be impossible to glue up 8' and have it straight and flat but 4' referencing the slab would be easy, by only doing 2' after the 4 it allowed me to keep the next section flat and in line in relation to the previous 4'. Adding the 4' piece of plywood added extra strength to the glue up by locking the reinforcing pieces in both top and bottom. I could then do the 2 ends in reference to the middle and the whole thing would stay flat.

Now that my bench couldn't be clamped to I relied on extra weight. Here's one of the ends being glued up. The wood used was greatly varied but did the trick.









The end result, almost 2" thick and straight as can be; one edge wasn't as tight as I thought it should be so a little glue and spring clamps tighted it up. I have about 15 cherry boards to get to as well as all the apple. More pics to follow as I go through the process. All it needs now is the board stop at the front so this works right.









Thanks for reading


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## MikeGager (Jun 15, 2009)

derosa said:


> *A planer sled to make boards with and I broke my "workbench"*
> 
> Now that my applewood is dry and ready to be milled I find that I need some way of making flat square boards out of it, not to mention the stack of cherry I've been slowly moving through that also needs to be jointed and planed. I need to pretty much make sure all the lumber I have is fully surfaced and jointed for 2 main reasons. First is that I have a little one on the way in 7 weeks and while I can get through sawing, hand jointing, sanding, gluing and clamping with no problems while he sleeps I can't say the same for planing. Second is that I've been shopping around for a new job and if I have to move I'll need to move my lumber as well and any weight taken off is an added benefit. Although there may be some movement I plan on restacking to reduce the chances.
> 
> ...


im a little confused on what the purpose of the sled is?


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## derosa (Aug 21, 2010)

derosa said:


> *A planer sled to make boards with and I broke my "workbench"*
> 
> Now that my applewood is dry and ready to be milled I find that I need some way of making flat square boards out of it, not to mention the stack of cherry I've been slowly moving through that also needs to be jointed and planed. I need to pretty much make sure all the lumber I have is fully surfaced and jointed for 2 main reasons. First is that I have a little one on the way in 7 weeks and while I can get through sawing, hand jointing, sanding, gluing and clamping with no problems while he sleeps I can't say the same for planing. Second is that I've been shopping around for a new job and if I have to move I'll need to move my lumber as well and any weight taken off is an added benefit. Although there may be some movement I plan on restacking to reduce the chances.
> 
> ...


This sled allows a board to be fed through a planer so that it can be made flat. By using shims to keep the board from rocking or compressing under the rollers. In my case it continues to let me avoid buying a jointer. I do need one but this will allow an 11" wide board to be jointed. It isn't meant to be fixed so the bottom will be waxed today and a lip added to one end so the board won't be pulled off the sled.


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## MikeGager (Jun 15, 2009)

derosa said:


> *A planer sled to make boards with and I broke my "workbench"*
> 
> Now that my applewood is dry and ready to be milled I find that I need some way of making flat square boards out of it, not to mention the stack of cherry I've been slowly moving through that also needs to be jointed and planed. I need to pretty much make sure all the lumber I have is fully surfaced and jointed for 2 main reasons. First is that I have a little one on the way in 7 weeks and while I can get through sawing, hand jointing, sanding, gluing and clamping with no problems while he sleeps I can't say the same for planing. Second is that I've been shopping around for a new job and if I have to move I'll need to move my lumber as well and any weight taken off is an added benefit. Although there may be some movement I plan on restacking to reduce the chances.
> 
> ...


ok i get it now, just hadnt seen one made so stout. i just use a piece of mdf and shims


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## derosa (Aug 21, 2010)

*New Project: a high chair, and one down; sort of. *

One down, sort of. The mobile butcher block has been put on hold for a while. The wife saw the cover of the Feb woodcraft and decided that she liked the mobile block they had rather then my design. This leaves me with 4 red oak table legs that may someday get used. The cutting board that was to be a part of it was finished and made a project here http://lumberjocks.com/projects/71672

With that out of the way she immediately requested a new chair for our daughter which I am now well into. The design is based off of a pic she showed me from Amazon and I simply went from there. 
Kokako is working on one like it at this time, had I seen his in time I would have changed the angle of my upright, instead I decided that 60* sounded like a nice wholesome angle. 









I laminated four boards together to try and get as strong a joint as possible at the corners. Originally I rabbited both sides of the seat and footrest, no clue what I was thinking on that and I planed the top of both till they were flush. To make the dados I originally tried using the router and figuring out angles on the miter till I realized that it was far easier to slide the bottoms of the chair along the tablesaw fence and just move the fence a set amount each time. 
After making the sides I needed to figure out how to do bent lamination. I stacked three pieces of particle board on top of each other with plenty of glue and clamps. After drawing the curve for the back I sent it to the bandsaw. I then took the piece that had the outer curve and putting the curve against the fence ran it through the tablesaw, this let me have an outer edge of the laminate mold parallel to the piece coming out of it. I then put the two halves together and ran the opposite side through the saw. Finally I squared the two ends to the desired width. This meant that any piece could easily be squared up on the tablesaw in the mold. 









Seat backs are 7 layers as this is what survived final production. I had 1 4"x1"x11' rough cut board. Unfortunately it had a lot of knots and small splits that ruined a lot of the overall wood. I also discovered that some care had to be taken with putting some of the rougher pieces into the tablesaw. One piece in particular was kicked back and caught my finger tips resulting in two very painful blood blisters.

Next up is drilling the holes to allow them to be bolted to the chair.


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## oldnovice (Mar 7, 2009)

derosa said:


> *New Project: a high chair, and one down; sort of. *
> 
> One down, sort of. The mobile butcher block has been put on hold for a while. The wife saw the cover of the Feb woodcraft and decided that she liked the mobile block they had rather then my design. This leaves me with 4 red oak table legs that may someday get used. The cutting board that was to be a part of it was finished and made a project here http://lumberjocks.com/projects/71672
> 
> ...


Do you have any drawings? My youngest son will need one of these in March!

*I really like this!*

Based on my daughters experience with purchased high chairs this has to be a much better solution. She has two children and both of them completely wore out and broke their purchased plastics/metal chairs.


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## derosa (Aug 21, 2010)

*Progress on the clamp cart, dinosaurs, and some cleaning. *

Managed to make it into the shop for two short periods today with some satisfactory results.

The sides of my clamp cart are now glued to the base, some front and back supports at the bottom will still have to be added and a top was glued on as well. After thinking on it tonight I'm feeling like dowels may be the best way to go for the cross pieces that the clamps will actually sit on. But, for now, the results.


















The dinos I've previously mentioned though not one of the five have also made progress with two of them standing on their own four feet, the third will get the rest of its feet tomorrow so that they can be spray painted outside before the temps drop too far. 









Finally the clutter has been slowly accumulating over the last several months and it has only recently started to come to my attention. 
The worst of it is still there alongside the tablesaw. I never actually walk there or even move over there so while making cuts it has always been easy to just drop the scrap there, also conveniently located for finding scrap to cut up for other purposes. Believe it or not this is after the minor cleanup of this area









However other areas were much more improved, especially in the area of lumber storage.


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## gfadvm (Jan 13, 2011)

derosa said:


> *Progress on the clamp cart, dinosaurs, and some cleaning. *
> 
> Managed to make it into the shop for two short periods today with some satisfactory results.
> 
> ...


Whoa! I thought you had had a tornado from the looks of that next to last pic!


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## derosa (Aug 21, 2010)

*Progress on the knock down bench, pallet crafting the whole thing. Some nice legs.*

I've been wanting to get going on this project for quite a while and have finally made a little more progress. I now have most of the design in my head and have managed to collect a good portion of the wood.
Last three days have been spent milling down some of the stock for the legs and making the cross members. 








Each leg is 3"x2 7/16x whatever the height is, didn't actually measure that so I don't know. Height is based off my current table which is between 3-4 inches lower then I'd like so I just set one against the table and drew a line and cut all of them to that line. Plan is a 2.5" top and I'll add an 1.5" pad to the feet. The width of the bench will be 28" so I've got the legs 24" apart so that there can be a slight overhang on on side.

The cross members on the short side will be wedged mortise and tennon, one of the two cross members needs to be remade, I experimented on making the tennons on the bandsaw and they ended up too narrow. Each tennon is 1 1/16" x3" with a 5 degree slope for the wedges. There will be a lower cross piece/foot on each one. 









As you can see so far it is all solid white and red oak, to get these I had to cut up several pallets. The last two legs and the long cross pieces were from the last 2 pallets, a lot of the pallet hits the garbage can especially where there is splitting and cracking. I can live with the nail holes which you can see but not splitting. Some of the rest of these two pallets resulted in 3 pieces of cherry 36×1.125×7-10" wide finished dimensions. A couple of red oak boards and a maple board only 5" wide. As you can see I get some nice pallets.

The final pieces to be started on are these which will be the two long cross pieces once milled down. Expected dimensions on them will be 2×3x60" 








As I said this will be a knock down bench so these will be designed a little differently. The plan is to make a wedged mortise and tennon but the top of the tennons will be straight and flush with the top of the cross pieces while the bottom of the tennon will be angled 5 degrees. This way a separate wedge can be driven in at the top which will wedge the cross members into the legs but can always be knocked out later. Hopefully that will follow tomorrow.


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## stefang (Apr 9, 2009)

derosa said:


> *Progress on the knock down bench, pallet crafting the whole thing. Some nice legs.*
> 
> I've been wanting to get going on this project for quite a while and have finally made a little more progress. I now have most of the design in my head and have managed to collect a good portion of the wood.
> Last three days have been spent milling down some of the stock for the legs and making the cross members.
> ...


You are lucky to get pallets made from such good woods.


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## derosa (Aug 21, 2010)

*pallet crafted feet and cross supports for the workbench.*

Managed to spend a little time in the shop this evening. First lesson of the day, if the dust collector is running then the tablesaw will trip the breaker if you try to saw red oak over 3" thick. But, wearing a mask and still breathing in too much dust I managed to get 2 feet and 2 long cross supports milled up square.










The feet are 2.25"x3" and 28" long. Feet will be added to the bottoms of these and the ends rounded over a little, not too extreme as I don't want them sticking out too far on the side that will be flush with the legs. 
The long cross supports will be 1.75"x3"x5.5' once they take a couple trips through the planer to clean them up. 
Unfortunately I had just finished getting it all milled down and squared up and discovered that one of them had a long split that was barely visible. I simply drove a chisel into the crack and discovered it was about 2' long. So I drizzled a lot of glue down it and clamped it up as you see. 









Tomorrow, or when the time exists, I will tenon the end of the legs and mortise the feet so that they can be a wedged through mortise. I'll also have to mortise the legs to accept the long supports. These mortises will be cut to fit a wedged tenon however the tenons on long supports will be designed with a wedge shape at the bottom of the tenons so that wedges can be driven in at the top this way it can be broken down for moving. Once all the legs are done I will be able to assemble them.


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## thedude50 (Aug 13, 2011)

derosa said:


> *pallet crafted feet and cross supports for the workbench.*
> 
> Managed to spend a little time in the shop this evening. First lesson of the day, if the dust collector is running then the tablesaw will trip the breaker if you try to saw red oak over 3" thick. But, wearing a mask and still breathing in too much dust I managed to get 2 feet and 2 long cross supports milled up square.
> 
> ...


thats why I rewired the shop with a large sub panel it is the best thing I have ever done .


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## derosa (Aug 21, 2010)

derosa said:


> *pallet crafted feet and cross supports for the workbench.*
> 
> Managed to spend a little time in the shop this evening. First lesson of the day, if the dust collector is running then the tablesaw will trip the breaker if you try to saw red oak over 3" thick. But, wearing a mask and still breathing in too much dust I managed to get 2 feet and 2 long cross supports milled up square.
> 
> ...


There is actually two circuits but the second is run through a gfci and I can't find where it is. Since I don't own the place and my shop is in a second floor attic while the panel is in the basement. Any changes have to go through a committee that doesn't like changes being made. Depending on where I move to that may shortly change.


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## derosa (Aug 21, 2010)

*Pallet crafting a bench, lots of tenons. A couple of contest rings. *

Just trying to squeeze in an hour a night has been making a difference, tonight I managed to make 8 tenons on the 4 legs. Each tenon is 2.5" long, 1.5" wide and .75" thick. At first these sounded like some solid numbers but one actually milled out they seem kind of small. Too late now to change it so I hope they'll be strong enough. 









Tomorrow I'll lay out and cut out the mortises for the long cross supports and try to mortise the feet. If I can get the feet done I'll try assembling the ends. Just missing the top pieces that the actual bench will sit on.

Also spent a little time working on a ring for the winter contest. I sliced a ebony pen blank on the bandsaw, cut out three squares and glued them up with alternating grain to give strength. I then discovered that at three layers it was already twice as wide as my wife's wedding band and for my design I still needed to add 2 more layers. So, back to the bandsaw and I cut all the original slices down. The result was a pair of blanks, still 3 layers thick that is narrower then the wedding band. Should be the same thickness with the last 2 layers added. 









I've also now drilled them and mounted them on a pen mandrel and tomorrow will make the blanks completely round then drill it out to fit my wife's finger. I decided to add in the over sized one for my daughter. It'll be wide but that'll make it harder for her to lose.


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## derosa (Aug 21, 2010)

*Joining the legs and how I'm doing it. *

I've reached the point of some actual assembly. Basically the tenons are cut out of both ends of all legs, hopefully I can mortise the feet tomorrow, and the mortises have been cut for the short braces and the long supports that will hold the bottom shelf and prevent racking. 
That allowed me to cut some 5 degree wedges out of walnut and drive them in using my sturdy new mallet. With titebond III on the cheeks of the tenons and drizzled down into the opening for the wedges the legs are permanently connected to the brace. That is a 1.125" x3"x2.5" deep tenon and the wedges are never coming out. 









The other set is just waiting for the wedges to be driven in. 









So how is this done? 
Step one, take a straight board a couple inches wide, set your miter saw to 5 degrees and cut down through the board. Lacking anything remotely resembling an accurate miter saw I went for option 2. Take a one inch thick board, and it really needs to be one inch thick or just over, that is a few inches wide and set it on its side. From the end measure out 11 7/16" and from that point draw a line to the opposite corner, the result should be a triangle with a 5 degree-ish angle. For the picky you can set your dot at 11.4301" but my ruler uses increments of 8 so 7/16 is closest.

To cut it out I did the cut free hand on the tablesaw, I don't truly recommend this and believe you should use the bandsaw, my bandsaw blade is currently too dead to do this. My board was 4' long, I stood to the side and you don't try to just push through, you push a little, retract the board and do it again. If it feels like the board may start to bind pull back. By lining up my line with the blade I accurately followed the line with no curves or deviations from straight.

The resulting wedge and be used to set angles for the whole project. Carry your front mortise lines over to the side, set a square to it and lay the wedge against the square, draw the line based on wedge and carry the new angled line around to the front. This lays out the ends of the mortice. Remember, the square doesn't have to touch the line that is carried around to the front, it just has to be parallel to it so that the wedge can cross the line and set the proper angle









The wedge can also be used to lay out the lines on the board that the smaller wedges will be taken from, these can be cut out on an inaccurate ryobi mitersaw like I have, just cut to the lines. The wedge was also used to angle the legs on the bed of the morticer and to lock the legs in place against the hold down.

To allow the wedges to fit I drilled 2 holes in each tenon just near the cheeks and then cut a line to the holes on the bandsaw. These holes allow the wedges to be driven in without splitting the rest of the wood.


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## derosa (Aug 21, 2010)

*The vagarities of life; all projects are on hold as life reorganizes. *

My wife and I have been sharing a pastor's position for the last 2+ years for a pair of churches, about a year ago things started going south with one of them, honestly I expected to be let go sooner and the process is still in the works. 
When we took the job initially it was with the understanding that we had to live in the church provided house, which almost prevented us from taking the position after seeing its condition, but ignoring our instincts we forged ahead.

In the just over 2 years that we lived there we shared the space with at least 3 squirrels, who knows how many mice though the cat has left us an easy 50 of them, 2 voles, 4 chipmunks, several birds, and finally a couple bats; these resulted in rabies shots for everyone. 
The list of problems with the house were legion with an entire wall falling off, a leak in the roof for well over 2 years, a second leak that they occasionally patch, windows that are installed so poorly the top sashes don't stay up on their own, massive drafts in the winter and floors that aren't flat; think the surface of the sea. To top it off there was two blatant lies, first that they would fix some of this which they never did and second that the house contained no lead. The professional lead tester said it was the worst he'd ever seen; it does explain why the bunny died the way it did. 
The final kicker was that one of the churches wasn't spending the money on it that they should have, ministers have a housing allowance that we don't get paid if we live in the church's housing with the caveat that they will keep and maintain the property in a proper manner. Instead the church had been abusing their relationship with their partner church and pocketing most of the cash after paying utilities and trying to avoid as much work on the place as possible. 
When my daughter came back from a lead test with elevated levels, thankfully not critical levels, we decided to push things and move though we had to wait a couple months first. The result is that my entire shop and most of the wood I had now sits stacked in a garage.

When my wife and I first started bringing the issue to light and informed both the denomination and the partner church of what was happening the church started moving against us, suddenly all the issues that the church had with the last two pastors now existed with us. The result is that last sunday I hopefully preached my last sermon there, we've given our termination notice pending an agreed upon severance packet; if an agreement can't be reached I'll have to head back but they won't like the sermons. I also start interrum training in a week to add another dimension to my ministry.

The up side is that the partner church really wants to keep us though it knows it will have to settle for one of us and so we'd still be making 40 percent of our current salary which is already slim pickings but it means that the other of us can fill in preaching at other churches as needed, lead meetings, and assorted other odd jobs.

So the good news, sorta…
My parents picked up 9 acres of land with a house and a barn, and are offering us the house for free if we want it, however they only paid 11k for the whole package, that should tell you something. 
The house









No pic of the front but it isn't any better, the temp was 8 degrees without the windchill when I went to look it over. 
Downsides
it is gutted, there is no wiring, no plumbing, only 1 of three doors left, only 3 of 24 windows left, extreme water damage to the downstairs hardwood floors, the furnace and heater ducts have been stolen along with the water heater and it has a lot of interior damage.

upsides
the foundation is solid, my parents had the roof put on 4 years ago as a gift to my sister and her husband when they claimed they would fix it up, my parents will still be covering most of the taxes since they will sign over the house but keep the land and barn in their name, it's gutted so there's no restriction on what to put where, it would give me a place I own outright and can keep as a family retreat when we do move in a few years.

The possible overly ambitious plan. 
If the partner church does offer one of us a new contract which wouldn't be till the dust settles in 2 months then I will start working on the house, if an amazing opportunity opens up in the meantime then this plan is abandoned for that better opportunity. 
I will attempt to completely refinish the entire house for the grand total of 20k and no more in an effort to avoid a loan. 
This means all new electrical, heating, flooring, everything for under 20k. Because there is no long term view on living here I will not be going deluxe so don't look for that, I'd never recoup the cost difference of double vs. triple pane so I'm not wasting the cash. .042 siding is thick enough for the area, so I'm not spending the extra 1k to go up .003 in thickness. Most if not all materials will be sourced from craigslist, building supply auctions, and similar sources of materials. I will not use used materials, remnants will be commonplace; and I will make a lot of things such as all the flooring and trim; actually want to make the flooring from locust which looks pretty to me. My FIL will be helping some in the beginning as he is able, he is also a retired furnace installer and can get me the furnace and all ducting for wholesale. 
Basically there will be more time then money invested in this but for the next 5-6 months I may have nothing but time. If I do go ahead with this project I will keep a running blog here to show what is being done and total up the costs so people can see how close I stay to my 20k goal.


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## oldnovice (Mar 7, 2009)

derosa said:


> *The vagarities of life; all projects are on hold as life reorganizes. *
> 
> My wife and I have been sharing a pastor's position for the last 2+ years for a pair of churches, about a year ago things started going south with one of them, honestly I expected to be let go sooner and the process is still in the works.
> When we took the job initially it was with the understanding that we had to live in the church provided house, which almost prevented us from taking the position after seeing its condition, but ignoring our instincts we forged ahead.
> ...


Russ, you know the adage "when life gives you lemons, make lemonade" an it looks like you may have an oppertunity for a lot of lemonade. Since the inside is gutted, you can basically start from scratch with new wiring and sheet rock and etc. and etc. but don't let all the etc. get you down!

I know that you will do a good job and be proud of your accomplishments! Good luck!


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## rob2 (Nov 27, 2007)

derosa said:


> *The vagarities of life; all projects are on hold as life reorganizes. *
> 
> My wife and I have been sharing a pastor's position for the last 2+ years for a pair of churches, about a year ago things started going south with one of them, honestly I expected to be let go sooner and the process is still in the works.
> When we took the job initially it was with the understanding that we had to live in the church provided house, which almost prevented us from taking the position after seeing its condition, but ignoring our instincts we forged ahead.
> ...


I'll be praying for you. You are in a tough spot.


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## JoeinGa (Nov 26, 2012)

derosa said:


> *The vagarities of life; all projects are on hold as life reorganizes. *
> 
> My wife and I have been sharing a pastor's position for the last 2+ years for a pair of churches, about a year ago things started going south with one of them, honestly I expected to be let go sooner and the process is still in the works.
> When we took the job initially it was with the understanding that we had to live in the church provided house, which almost prevented us from taking the position after seeing its condition, but ignoring our instincts we forged ahead.
> ...


You already know that the good Lord will not give you more than you can handle. Sounds like your repore' with the 2nd church is good, so once you start working on the house you'll probably see some volunteer labor (and possibly some donated materials) heading your way. Iif you were close enough, I'd be coming to help.

For now the best I can do is add you to our prayers. 
Luke 18:27


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## mojapitt (Dec 31, 2011)

derosa said:


> *The vagarities of life; all projects are on hold as life reorganizes. *
> 
> My wife and I have been sharing a pastor's position for the last 2+ years for a pair of churches, about a year ago things started going south with one of them, honestly I expected to be let go sooner and the process is still in the works.
> When we took the job initially it was with the understanding that we had to live in the church provided house, which almost prevented us from taking the position after seeing its condition, but ignoring our instincts we forged ahead.
> ...


I hope everything works out well for you and your family.

As far as the house goes, I love a good challenge. I bet you can do an awesome job of it.


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## ratchet (Jan 12, 2008)

derosa said:


> *The vagarities of life; all projects are on hold as life reorganizes. *
> 
> My wife and I have been sharing a pastor's position for the last 2+ years for a pair of churches, about a year ago things started going south with one of them, honestly I expected to be let go sooner and the process is still in the works.
> When we took the job initially it was with the understanding that we had to live in the church provided house, which almost prevented us from taking the position after seeing its condition, but ignoring our instincts we forged ahead.
> ...


Very much looking forward to seeing the progresws to come!


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## derosa (Aug 21, 2010)

derosa said:


> *The vagarities of life; all projects are on hold as life reorganizes. *
> 
> My wife and I have been sharing a pastor's position for the last 2+ years for a pair of churches, about a year ago things started going south with one of them, honestly I expected to be let go sooner and the process is still in the works.
> When we took the job initially it was with the understanding that we had to live in the church provided house, which almost prevented us from taking the position after seeing its condition, but ignoring our instincts we forged ahead.
> ...


Thanks for all the replies. Honestly I'm really hoping that life and the Lord send me in this direction; I really want the challenge and the direction.


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## ClayandNancy (Feb 22, 2010)

derosa said:


> *The vagarities of life; all projects are on hold as life reorganizes. *
> 
> My wife and I have been sharing a pastor's position for the last 2+ years for a pair of churches, about a year ago things started going south with one of them, honestly I expected to be let go sooner and the process is still in the works.
> When we took the job initially it was with the understanding that we had to live in the church provided house, which almost prevented us from taking the position after seeing its condition, but ignoring our instincts we forged ahead.
> ...


Sorry to hear this. I'm an elder at our church that started 6 years ago after some philosophical differences. Never a good time when God's children can't play fair. Our church believes in taking care of our Pastors and make sure they can either can buy a home or we can find them one that we will take good care of. Hang in there,you know who wins in the end. God Bless


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## Karson (May 9, 2006)

derosa said:


> *The vagarities of life; all projects are on hold as life reorganizes. *
> 
> My wife and I have been sharing a pastor's position for the last 2+ years for a pair of churches, about a year ago things started going south with one of them, honestly I expected to be let go sooner and the process is still in the works.
> When we took the job initially it was with the understanding that we had to live in the church provided house, which almost prevented us from taking the position after seeing its condition, but ignoring our instincts we forged ahead.
> ...


Russ:

My prayers are with you as you step forward in life. May your path be straight and full of blessings.

Karson


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