I?m not looking to take his place, but this one time wanted to interview him.
I hope you enjoy the following. Thank you, Ken for taking time out to answer the questions.
1.How old are you?
I?ll be 58 in December.
2.Where were you born?
The Bronx. I grew up several blocks from Yankee Stadium. I both liked and hated growing up in NY. I longed for greenery, fresh air and open spaces, but enjoyed being able to go to Manhattan by myself when I was 12.
3.Where do you live now?
I live outside a rural college town in Central NY. The population of my village is about 2500, and it doubles when the college is in session. We?re at the end of a small dead end road.
4.Would you care to share a little about your family, wife, Ben (a FWW member), and any other children?
Well, Shelley and I have known each other since our freshman year at college. We married in 1981. Shelley is an avid and gifted gardener, and our home is surrounded by her gardens. We have two children. Kate, now 26, and Ben, who is almost 22. Kate has no interest in woodworking, but knows tons about plants and trees. Ben, as some of you know, is a turner. He?s studying engineering, and is in his senior year in college. We also have two dogs, Leo, now 5 years old and raised from a pup, and 2 year old Zina, who we adopted last December from a dog rescue organization. They are terrific dogs, and we often take long walks in the woods, with the dogs off the leash. Leo had both his knees operated on in July, so we are midway through his recovery, and looking forward to him becoming more active again.
This picture of Shelley and me is in the Pleasant Hill, Kentucky Shaker village. We spent the night there, and took the photo on the same steps that a group of Shakers were photographed in the late 1880s. It's in Kerry Pierce's book.
5.For those that don?t know, can you describe what you do/did for a livelihood?
I am a physician. Board certified in Family Medicine, and also certified in Hospice and Palliative Medicine. After working for 25 years in my village, the stress and strain of being on call ? responsible for patients in the ER, ICU, whatever stuff was hitting the fan, and working all day and then on-call all night ? was getting to me, and so it was time for a change. In January 2010, I quit my main job ? working for the local hospital but kept my two part time Hospice jobs. In January 2011, I began part time teaching family physician residents at an outpatient clinic in inner city Utica, NY. I have been really enjoying that work, I get to see lots of interesting patients from places like Burma, Somalia, Bosnia, along with various locals, most of them poor, and I get to interact with a delightful mix of bright and dedicated young physicians from various countries. With 30 years experience as a physician, I?m pretty good at what I do, and I?m having a blast, while still only working usually about 2-3 days a week. My work for Hospice is also very rewarding. I help manage the patients in our care, and I make house calls to terminally ill people, reducing suffering as much as I can, and helping families along on the journey we all must take sooner or later. Earlier in my career, I delivered babies. By the time I stopped doing that in 1995, I had delivered about 400.
6.Give us a one sentence self description of your physical appearance. And then would you say you look like anyone famous?
Well, I?m not much to look at, I?m a little guy, about 5?7 and 165 pounds. When I was young, some said I looked like Bob Dylan, now that I?m older, a little pudgy and with thinning hair, nobody says anything.
7.Before I ask any questions about woodworking, do you enjoy other hobbies, reading, traveling, fishing, softball etc.......
Well, I like canoeing and camping in undeveloped areas. Ben and I just got back from 5 days in the Adirondacks. I like to go to quiet places. Traveling is not my forte, but I try to be flexible for Shelley. After I quit my job, we got around a bit. I like to read, and I maintain my old Triumph TR6. My latest thing is to try to learn how to weld. I picked up a used welder from Craigslist a couple of weeks ago, so we?ll see how much trouble I get into with that. In the winter, I like to cross country ski, and usually get out at least a few times a week, just going on trails or in the woods around here.
8.And I have to ask, do you name your chickens with regular names like Martha?
Well, right now, we have 9 chickens. One has a name, ?Golda? not very clever, as she is a Golden Laced Wyandotte. After our other named chickens were decimated by predators and/or disease, we decided to stop naming them. This spring we bought 8 one-day-old chicks, and they are growing up quickly. So it?s ?Golda and the ladies? for now.
Welding? You thinking about making an indestructible chicken coop?
I just like to be able to fix my stuff. I?ve wanted to learn how to weld for a few years now. With wood I can fabricate a lot of things, but if I can join metal to metal, that opens up all sorts of new possibilities.
Moving on, when did you first discover woodworking?
I have an older brother, and I can remember him helping me make a little boat out of balsa wood. I was maybe 7 or 8. I was limited by no tools, no wood, and not much money, but I would scrounge up what I could. Vegetables came in wooden crates back then, and I can remember trying to make stuff from them. I took wood shop in Jr. high [middle school now] and liked it, took a little more in high school.
It?s difficult to label you as any specific type of woodworker, flatworker, turner, and there's little doubt you are leaning towards Neander. Do you share the same interest in all types of woodworking?
Well, I am no turner, that?s for sure. I have made some utilitarian items by turning, but really, I barely get by, 80 grit sandpaper is a turning tool in my hands. I do like hand tools and techniques, but I?m also getting older and not very strong, so I have the usual set of tailed apprentices working for me. I?m not a purist though, and do my preparation of stock with a table saw, jointer and planer. But I really love hand cut dovetails, and hand shaped edges. Does that answer the question?
We've seen your vast collection of hand planes and other assorted hand tools.
Do any of them hold a special story behind them, or have more value to you other than just its ability to perform a task?
That?s a really great question. Yes, some are really quite dear to me. I didn?t inherit tools from my ancestors, my collection was all acquired by me along the way. Some tools have been given to me, because friends know I like old tools. Some have been gifts from my wife and children. I really like some of my old planes. Very fond of my Bedrock 604, that I found as a wreck and fixed up, and an old Stanley 5 ? that I cleaned up. It has a nearly invisible hairline crack in one cheek, but works like a champ. I also have a huge old 2? wide firmer chisel that I found in a garage sale somewhere. I made a new hooped handle for it, an it took forever to flatten and hone the blade, but it holds a fine edge and is honed at a low angle. I have a Stanley 1? Everlast chisel, it was my very first really nice chisel, and it had belonged to a friend?s father. After he died, she gave me many of his tools, and it has been cherished since. Ben turned a mallet for me for chopping dovetails and such. I love it. My daughter bought me a 4? Veritas double square that lives in my apron. I use it all the time, and treasure it. And last to mention is my Wenzloff dovetail saw. Mr. Wenzloff and I wrote back and forth to come up with specs according to what size stock it would be for; it does its job beautifully, and feels great in hand. My wife is very understanding and accepting of my tool acquisition disorder.
Would you care to share some of you furniture pieces you have built in the past?
Sure. Here is a link to my album, which has some photos of my work:
http://familywoodworking.org/forums/album.php?albumid=3
Has anyone been an influence or inspiration to you regarding woodworking?
Well, when you see what I make, I think the influence of the Shakers is apparent, although I don?t come within a mile of their level of craftsmanship, and I don?t think I?d be able to comply with their lifestyle. About 20 years ago, my wife had a friend in town who was living in a smallish apartment with her husband and 2 kids. Her parents came for a visit from England, and her dad was a little bored. He had been a cabinetmaker there. I invited him to use my shop, and do whatever he wanted. He was there every day, building a piece for his granddaughters. So credit goes to Mr. Jack Stoll, who taught me about sharpening, I didn?t know what sharp really was before him. And planing, and thinking about design and proportions. He was only here for a few weeks, but for me it was an apprenticeship, and I learned so much from him.
Last edited by ken werner; Yesterday at 02:07 PM. Reason: fix typo
Source: http://familywoodworking.org/forums/showthread.php?t=24919
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