Halfway through the ordeal

[germdoc]

We have just accepted a bid for our house, which we put on the market about 3 weeks ago. As you can imagine, we went through a couple of months of pain getting the place up to speed--redid the kitchen counters, painted the stairways, threw out bags and bags of junk. Now Episode 1 is complete.

If you want to see the virtual tour, here it is:

http://www.lacrosserealestate.com/pr...sName=MetroMLS

If you want to make an offer, you're too late!

Believe me, it's the best the house has EVER looked since we moved in. BTW, I did the built-in shelves under the windows in the family room, the bench under the picture window on the stairway, and the built-in cabinets in the closet. I also did the little computer nook in the kitchen. As for the kitchen cabinets--I changed the door handles!

Now on to Episode 2--the move. We're not sure if we will be buying right away or leasing a house for a year. (We're looking at leasing an old Prairie-style home with a tennis court and pipe organ in the house--my kids couldn't be more thrilled.) I'm not looking forward to moving the furniture or my shop tools, but it's gotta be done.

Why are we moving? We're "downsizing" and moving into town, which will be much more convenient with 3 teenagers in the house who have 3 or 4 activities in town every night of the week. And, with 4 kids to put through school, I could either spend money on keeping up our current house or save for tuition but not both. Did I mention my wife's in real estate--a big reason we're flipping houses now! (And that is her picture as our listing agent.)

Anyway, I hope not to be out of the wood business too long. Last night I spent about 4 hours finishing a 12-key tongue drum for my kids, turning a pen and turning a wine stopper. It may be the last time that garage gets to see any of my sawdust.

[JR]

It must be tough to have to move out of that place. Nice!

FWIW - the "smart money" says lease for now, buy later. You might change your tax profile for a while, but your equity can be put to work in more profitable vehicles. Even a CD could get you 5% right now, which is likely to be a lot better than real estate over the next year or two.

Have you thought about renting a small shop space for your tools? When LOML and I talk about downsizing I make sure that's in the discussion somewhere.

Good luck getting rid of those kids, I mean getting those kids through school.

JR

[cabinetman]

Jeff

You can't look at it like what you're leaving, but where you're going. Pretty profound, huh? There's the excitement of what you can wind up with. For example: If one is used to a tent, a shed would be a castle.

Took the tour and didn't even have a ticket. Place looks great. Sounds underpriced. That house in So Florida would go for $600K - $700K, easy maybe more. Treat this endeavor as a fun thing to do and enjoy every minute.



"I'M NEVER WRONG - BUT I'M NOT ALWAYS RIGHT"

[DUD]

Very Nice Home Jeff, I know You hate to move. Bill

[SteveR]

GREAT home!.....congrats on the sale. Around here the "for sale" inventory is very high and things do not appear to be moving at all.

Last night I spent about 4 hours finishing a 12-key tongue drum for my kids, turning a pen and turning a wine stopper. It may be the last time that garage gets to see any of my sawdust.

Got any pics of the tongue drum?....always wanted to make one.
Steve

[bigsteel15]

That house would be same $ here as So FL. or more. Very nice.
Just hope you can get equal shop space in the new home.

[ElRay]

Last night I spent about 4 hours finishing a 12-key tongue drum for my kids ...

If you're looking at some "down time" (Yeah right, with a move in sight), could you do a "Finished Projects" write-up on the tongue drum? I'm looking at making one for my daughter.

Ray

[PJC]

Very nice house! Prolly go for about $850,000 in NJ and the taxes would kill ya (about 5,000-9,000+/yr depending on location). I see someone in your family is a "Rent-head". LOML and I love the show/movie. Saw it twice on B'way with the original cast.

[ChrisD]

Jeff, congrats on the offer! I hope you find the home and shop that you'll be happy with.

[germdoc]

You're right, pretty busy right now. Here's the house we're going to lease for 12-18 mos.--was over there today with the owner. (He and wife bought place but won't move here for almost 2 years, so they're leasing it to us for a very decent price.)

http://www.lacrosserealestate.com/pr...sName=MetroMLS

We hope to be moved in by the end of the month. It's a woodworker's dream--wood trim all over the place, leaded glass windows, etc.

I can put most of my power tools in the garage, but I plan on setting up a mini shop in a basement room next to the furnace to do turning, scrollsawing, and other small projects which don't require too much space and major dust collection--mainly for the winter, when it MIGHT be too cold to work outside...

Re' tongue drum--look at designs on www.tonguedrum.com/--I used a design in WWJ and modified it based on pics from website--made both a 6-tongue and 12-tongue model. Basically, it's just a box with a slitted lid. I'd rec. walnut or a dark wood for the top, because cutting the curves tends to leave burn marks that are hard to sand out and show on maple or oak.
For my next one I plan to dovetail the side joints. I'll post pics when I get a chance.

Won't be doing much WWing for a month at least...

[linear]

Jeff, Can I gently prod you for some pics/writeup on the tongue drum?

I would like to try this project. I own one made by someone else and I'm curious how the slits in the top are done. The guy on the site you mentioned says he cuts the slits after glueing up the box. How can that work? You can't get a bandsaw in, and a scrollsaw wouldn't accomodate the height.

[germdoc]

I don't have time to take pics right now. I cut the tongues with a jigsaw using a fine scrolling blade, after drilling some entrance holes. With care and a good saw you can do a reasonably good job of following the pattern. I sanded the edges with the scrollsaw using sanding strips.

My rec. is to use a dark wood like walnut or rosewood for the top, as it's hard to keep from getting burn marks making those tight curves.

I did think of cutting the top in two and using a bandsaw to cut out the pattern. One could then glue the two halves together. Really, there's no reason the 2 sides have to be connected--I've thought of some patterns that would have them separated by an inch or so. You just need a vibrating wood tongue over a resonating box.

Hope this helps.

[linear]

It did help, thank you. Jigsaw occurred to me only after I posted, since I don't own one.