Scott Bailey Posted December 16, 2014 Report Share Posted December 16, 2014 . . . a story (you do not have to read, I tend to be wordy) I am an attorney by profession, and a small-town lawyer at that. I have a small office, and pretty much do everything myself, with the help of my wife who I cannot say enough about. I share office space with another attorney but we are essentially separate (but are friends, of course, and often work together on this or that). A week ago Sunday our office burned down. it was arson, and it started in a neighboring unit in the building and spread, like fire does, and destroyed pretty much everything. The fire fighters were downright heroic though and we did manage to save most of our files (wet and stinky files now). This, of course, created a mountain of work that I did not anticipate, and for the past 9 days I've put in 12 hour days trying to recover lost work and continue with current work. It's no joke, going through this, and I've been exhausted... not only that, but my garage / workshop has been commandeered to dry out wet files (it's a 3-car garage of which 1/3 is devoted to my "shop"), so now the humidity has changed, not to mention the smell... ... and unable to make any sawdust. at least until Sunday (the day-before-yesterday one). I have been working on a decorative box for my mother for Christmas (very similar to the Rogowski box on Marc's site) and, well I'm not finished yet. I pretty much only have shop time on the weekends and for brief periods in the evenings (say, for that next coat of finish), but this fire has really stopped the woodcutting entirely. On Sunday, after some frustration with insurance companies and so forth, I decided to go and cut the lid for my mom's box, bad smell and all... I don't have a bandsaw, and I am cutting a 1/2" thick lid at about 8x12 inches, all out of 4/4 black walnut that's about 10" wide (a beautiful piece, by the way). I have to resaw mostly by hand, but I did cut the first 2" on each side on the table saw, jury rigged a clamp at the edge of my "bench" and started ripping away with a half-dull ripsaw that I've had for years.... took me about an hour. best therapy ever. I got sawdust everywhere but I cut through it just fine, it's even straight. I then whacked away at it with my smooth plane until it was nice and smooth and then went to town with the ROS. It's not finished yet, I still want to shape the top with contoured edges, and I would still like to make a little figured handle, and of course several coats of finish, but I have to say that it was the best 3 hours I've had in the last ten days. I have no pics yet, but I will soon. the only real downside is that I'm going over to see my mom on Friday (she lives about 6 hrs away) and her box won't be finished. I will have to mail it out to her when it's done, but I am not going to cut the work short just to have it before Christmas. She will understand. I guess what this story is about, at least for me, is a little bit of confirmation that while I may be new to all of this, I'm pretty well hooked. and when things go bad, there's always something good we can latch onto to keep our spirits up. I generally have a very sunny disposition, I tend find silver linings in just about any situation. this past week has really tested that, and frankly the best "therapy" that I found during that time has been getting into the shop and making dust. fine, brown, walnut dust (yes, I wore my respirator ). 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
..Kev Posted December 16, 2014 Report Share Posted December 16, 2014 That's rough! Glad to hear that wood working is a nice release for you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Eric. Posted December 16, 2014 Popular Post Report Share Posted December 16, 2014 jury rigged Just doesn't sit right when a lawyer says it. Damn! Sorry to hear that man. Trials and tribulations. (See what I did there?) Woodworking...better than any head-shrinker. Long live woodworking. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Bailey Posted December 16, 2014 Author Report Share Posted December 16, 2014 I had a little bit of tear out when I was planing away at the top and i just looked at it and said "sweet, I get to repair this!" ... yes. woodworking is awesome. thanks guys, I mostly just needed to tell a story, but really, I just want to go home and make more dust. also, all lawyer puns and jokes are both intended and encouraged, so fire away 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dwacker Posted December 16, 2014 Report Share Posted December 16, 2014 Fires suck, sorry to hear about your loss. Are you sure it was arson? I think a real criminal would show a lawyer some professional courtesy. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Bailey Posted December 16, 2014 Author Report Share Posted December 16, 2014 it was definitely arson, it didn't start in our office. there is a drug/alcohol treatment center next door (same building, separate unit), it started there. all my clients love me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coop Posted December 16, 2014 Report Share Posted December 16, 2014 Being in the fire protection business, we have all of our "paper work" backed up in the clouds, whatever the hell that is. Probably won't know for sure it works until we need it.Sorry for your misfortune. The box sounds fantastic and I bet Mom will love it. Merry Christmas to her. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wdwerker Posted December 17, 2014 Report Share Posted December 17, 2014 Take mom some pictures of your progress so far, or take the parts along and show her how they fit together . She will still be proud her son is making her something with his own 2 hands ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raefco Posted December 17, 2014 Report Share Posted December 17, 2014 My house burnt in May 2012, the wife and girls were at a track meet, I was on my way home from an out of state job. The president of our town council called my cell phone and told me about the fire, I was still 3 hours from home. We lost everything but 3 cars and the clothes we were wearing, it sucks and so do insurance companies. It is a bad thing to go through but as long as nobody was hurt, the rest is just stuff. I personally tore down our house and except for the framing and dry wall, I built the entire house, the demo was very hard, the reconstruction was therapeutic, and exhausting. I wish you the best of luck in your recovery Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mzdadoc Posted December 17, 2014 Report Share Posted December 17, 2014 Sorry for your loss but thank you for sharing and trusting a bunch of wood nut strangers with your story. Reading it I still read the tone of a sunny disposition person. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wdwerker Posted December 17, 2014 Report Share Posted December 17, 2014 I have distrusted insurance companies for a long time ! What they sell and what they deliver are so far apart ! I hope there is a special place in hell for them, right next to the politicians ! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post ..Kev Posted December 17, 2014 Popular Post Report Share Posted December 17, 2014 I have distrusted insurance companies for a long time ! What they sell and what they deliver are so far apart ! I hope there is a special place in hell for them, right next to the politicians ! Hey, you left out the lawyers.. Oh wait... 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wdwerker Posted December 17, 2014 Report Share Posted December 17, 2014 ROTFLMAO ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janello Posted December 17, 2014 Report Share Posted December 17, 2014 I had a little bit of tear out when I was planing away at the top and i just looked at it and said "sweet, I get to repair this!" ... yes. woodworking is awesome. thanks guys, I mostly just needed to tell a story, but really, I just want to go home and make more dust. also, all lawyer puns and jokes are both intended and encouraged, so fire away What's the difference between a catfish and a lawyer? One's a bottom dwelling scum sucker, the other is a fish. Always loved that joke, lol. Kidding aside, I hope you have a fast recovery from the damage done, and I look forward to seeing pics of that special box ! Thanks for sharing this story. Most of us can relate, that our escape from all the rough things in life can be easily drown out by the satisfaction found in woodworking. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
..Kev Posted December 17, 2014 Report Share Posted December 17, 2014 Heard it was so cold in Oregon this month that the lawyers had their hands in their own pockets Ok, I'll stop now... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Bailey Posted December 17, 2014 Author Report Share Posted December 17, 2014 strangely enough insurance companies are a lot like lawyers...everyone hates them until they need them, and then? well let's just say you have a new best friend. frankly, my insurance has been great so far, I made a detailed list of what I lost, and when the adjuster showed up and looked at the fire, he said "holy smokes". when I gave him the list, he said "well ok I'm just going to use this, I do not want to try and take pictures of everything." the arson investigator said "well it's clearly not your fault". I also have "business interruption" coverage and it looks like they will pay a portion of my hourly rate for lost billable hours. it's time consuming, and sometimes they aren't easy to get hold of, but frankly they have been just fine here. one very odd blessing in disguise is that it was arson, so they can't try to pin the fault on me. pretty sure that they are looking at this as a "just pay it and be done" claim because there's no question about anything. i also recommend servepro for anyone who needs their services. very professional group my biggest issue is just the extra time and work. @ Raefco, I can't imagine what you went through, this is just my office that burned, and you are right - nobody was hurt, much was saved (files) and what was lost is just stuff. I could not imagine being 3 hours from HOME knowing it was burning. @ K COOPER about 75% of my business is in electronic records, and I take my laptop home daily so that was of course just fine. I also do some wills/trusts/estates and any originals that I hang onto for clients go into the firesafe. The only ones of those that I have to recreate are the ones I was working on, and the ones in the bottom drawer (which took on some water). maybe 20 total files. it's not bad actually. my garage still stinks tho ... what's the difference between a dead deer in the road and a dead lawyer in the road...? ....... ..... .... the skid marks in front of the deer.. heh 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raefco Posted December 17, 2014 Report Share Posted December 17, 2014 My insurance was pretty good as well, but the fine print is a killer, I had a replacement value policy, In order to get all my money I had to replace what I lost, otherwise, I only got the depreciated valve of a house built in 1890's. Then there is the mortage company who refused to let me self perform the reconstruction so they had to be paid off and every other bank who refuses to give construction loans on new homes unless you hire a Builder. Long story short. We rebuilt using our continence money and 2 years later have a new brick home in a small town surrounded by 100 year old houses Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Bailey Posted December 17, 2014 Author Report Share Posted December 17, 2014 replacement value vs market value is standard fare for insurance, the idea is to put you back to where you were but no extras. so, for example, I lost 4 filing cabinets, if I replace 3 of them (at about $300/pop) they'll pay but the 4th (if I don't replace it) is probably only worth about 25 bucks. so yeah, I feel you there. mortgage companies are a whole different ball o wax, ever since 2008 they have been tight as hell so I'm not surprised you got hassle there. I used to work in that industry, so glad I got out of that racket. this is probably weird for a lawyer to say but practicing law is orders of magnitude more ethical than the mortgage industry. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raefco Posted December 17, 2014 Report Share Posted December 17, 2014 The insurance company wanted to pay out according to actual cost when we started building, when the framer started I send a bill to my adjuster that was 185 pages of itemized charges, at that point he decided a percentage of completion payments would be better for him. In the end I beat them out of the face value of the policy, of course I had to build twice the house I had. I'm with you on the banking thing, my youngest daughter is a political science major and says she is going to be a lawyer. God help us All Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vyrolan Posted December 17, 2014 Report Share Posted December 17, 2014 practicing law is orders of magnitude more ethical than the mortgage industry. Rapidly approaching the forbidden line of politics so I'll not expand on the topics further, but I had to say this line cracked me up and I had to stifle an audible chuckle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric. Posted December 17, 2014 Report Share Posted December 17, 2014 Good call, Vyrolan. Now back to arguing over WOOD. Anyone who cuts pins first is a MORON! Craftsman tools SUCK! Buy a Sawstop or you'll lose your HOT DOGS! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Bailey Posted December 17, 2014 Author Report Share Posted December 17, 2014 I have a craftsman router Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Bailey Posted December 17, 2014 Author Report Share Posted December 17, 2014 OK a few pics now, here is the box so far, it's really almost done I just need to do a bit of finishing on the box and make the lid... pretty happy with the results so far, though it's pretty clear that I still need to do a bit of sanding and a few more coats of finish. and just for good measure, a shot of the burned out remains of my office... this is a shot of what was once the hallway, my offices are those too "doors" ahead and to the right. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vyrolan Posted December 17, 2014 Report Share Posted December 17, 2014 Yes yes...back to more important topics...like "which table saw should I buy" or "should I get a planer or a jointer first" or at the least more router table vs shaper discussion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
..Kev Posted December 17, 2014 Report Share Posted December 17, 2014 Nice looking box! Rough looking office.. I was a firefighter for many years and saw that scene many many times.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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