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WATERLOO - For a few several hours per day time with the past two many years, Pat Vollbrecht may be preparing for his death with planks of walnut, a compound miter saw and cans of shellac.

The retired Waterloo firefighter and accomplished woodworker has become applying individuals methods to think about, design and construct the ornate casket he’ll one day time be buried in.

“I know I am gonna die,” Vollbrecht, 65, stated. “But not tomorrow.”

Indeed, the Waterloo man seems to possess great control above his physical and mental faculties as he moves all over the woodshop attached to his garage, hoisting boards, measuring precise angles and cutting slim margins into dark pieces of walnut.

He figures he’ll be performed with the massive project in about a month. Then, he reported, he’ll either store the casket within the garage attic, or take his daughter’s advice and turn it into a curio cabinet till it’s necessary.

On a sunny Monday morning, Vollbrecht was working on the sloped cover of his casket. The body of the casket is nearly finished in an “old world” style that has a tapered head and base, having a wider element at the shoulders. It’s 80 inches lengthy, and Vollbrecht said he produced positive it would fit him by lying in it.

It wasn’t the very first time he has lain in a casket - there was a Halloween event once at his church, Westminster Presbyterian - but he didn’t feel superstitious or creeped out this time.

“I’m older now - I’m around it,” he explained.

Some buddies, Vollbrecht noted, imagine it is morbid he’s building his personal casket. He says it is just his way of funeral preparing, which a lot more and more seniors are doing these days.

“Many folks are afraid of dying and don’t even would like to talk about this, or consider it, and that’s silly,” he reported.

He’s also saving a ton of funds. A similar casket at TrappistCaskets.com, particularly the premium shaped walnut casket like he’s making, retails for $2,400 without the need of shipping.

Vollbrecht’s casket, to the other hand, charge him around $500 for your wood. The member of the Cedar Valley Woodworking Association previously had the resources he desired from the time he owned a cabinet shop on West Fourth Street.

He doesn’t count time as cash. If something, casket-building and woodworking in general have offered him a hobby.

“The 5 several hours I expend out here (per day) are so rewarding,” he explained. “You’re not sitting in front of the TV.”

His wife, Betty, doesn’t find it morbid at all.

“I think it truly is cool,” she mentioned, checking in on Vollbrecht as he cut pieces of walnut in his workshop Monday morning. “I’m waiting for my individual.”

As Vollbrecht performs, he listens to audio books on tape. Monday, that was “Redeeming Love” by Christian author Francine Rivers, which played on his mp3 player while he measured pieces of walnut for that top of his casket.

“We’re all going to die,” he mentioned. “The benefit is, I know in which I am going.”