OldTools Archive

Recent Bios FAQ

73290 Ken Pendergrass <kenp794@e...> 2000‑01‑07 Bio
Bio,
While pokeing around in the archives recently I discovered that the bio
I was sure I had posted 2 years ago isn't there. Maybe I didn't do it
after all.  I'll try again. Short version.  Important stuff first I'm
married with 2 children one of each gender 9 and 11 yrs.  We live in a
large college town called Ypsilanti,MI. Which is contiguous to a small
college city called Ann Arbor. Since spring all the time I should have
been devoting to galooting has been spent on remodeling our house.
It's now a 2 story and my job is to make the old downstairs look new
like the new upstairs. Plus I have to do it before the interest rates go
up next month.

I'm in the luthier business which means I woodwork all day at work and
then when I have a chance woodwork at home in the evening. I spend 80%
or so of my time working on cellos.  I work for a large fiddle dealer.
You can literaly buy anything from a cheap student instrument all the
way up to a Strad. from us.  Plus bows strings and sheet music etc. This
is a second career for me so I kind of new and still learning but I get
to see some very interesting stuff.  Such as the dissassembly repair and
rebuilding of 300 year old fiddles with values in the 6 and 7 figure
range.  Violins are actually quite fragile a 300 year old one would
likely have been taken apart a many. Unless it has spent the last 100
years in a museum. This is really woodworkin at the higest level.  Where
it really has to fit and it's all done with handtools.  The Stanley
blockplane is the real deal. As one of the masters said to me it makes
modern luthiery work possible.

My first career was spent as a jeweler. Where I did it all and I was the
master in the shop.  Towards the end I just carved wax models for lost
wax casting.  It was all highend stuff and I was quite proud of what I
did.  But I got burned out and tired of doing that so nuff said about
that.

My "hobby" (I really don't have hobbies only passions/obsessions)
interest in woodworking is building lutes and small boats.  But here
again I'm just getting started. And I woun't be building any boats until
I build a shop which is'n in the basement so I can get them out the
door.  I'm currently obsessed with buying saws I must have a few more!
Saws are another thing which they just don't make anymore like they used
to or should.  From time to time I practice a little falconry.
Regards
Ken
in Ypsilanti



Recent Bios FAQ