What ever happened to Hendrixson?

[Perimeters]

I have returned to Picture framing after several years in the furniture repair business. I still have my old C&H Mat cutter modified with a Hendrixson Head that I installed in about 1984. I'm curious, whatever happened to Bob Hendrixson?
I know that Larson Juhl still sells the Hendrixson Premium Blades, but is there anyone else who sells them? Larson won't sell to me .. blah... blah... blah. (I used to be a good customer of theirs, but hey, if they don't want my $$$....)
Any old timers out there who remember Bob and his mat cutter "baby" at the trade shows?

 

[wpfay]

I took a full day course in matting from Bob back in...lets see, um, 1979? He was using "Baby", a 40" Keeton. I was on the list to convert my 48" Keeton to Hendrixson technology, but the bars were never made and the heads were real hard to come by.
If you are looking for the blades, I think you need to look no further than the top of this page.

 

[Perimeters]

Unfortunately the Hendrixson Heads were short lived.
I saw a prototype on display at the L.A. Trade show in, I think, 1984 and ordered one on the spot. It was expensive, somewhere around $450. I mounted it on my 54 inch C&H cutter with a stepped bar, and it's run like a champ ever since. What a beautiful piece of engineering. It took ages to get the head after I ordered it. Bob told me at the time that he kept sending it back because the tolerances weren't close enough for him.

The "manual" was typical Hendrixson. It consisted of three parts which kept switching you back and forth between them in the text. It was also very, very long winded. Still, I think it might be the best manually operated mat cutting machine I have ever touched.

 

[Framar]

Ya know, I have been meaning to start a thread with this very same topic. I saw Bob "perform" at a trade show in Toronto in 1979, and he eventually came to our shop to train the employees for nearly a week. I was lucky enough to obtain a Hendrixson Head for my 54" Keeton, as well as Bob's guidance system, both of which I use every day.

Bob spent two hours on the phone with me as I "installed" my new head, and I did not have one clue as to what he was talking about. He was originally in the aerospace industry and that man measured the thickness of matboard with micrometers!!! He was a real character, and I think this industry owes him a lot, whether anyone remembers him or not. "The Art of Precision Straight-Line Mat Cutting." He did stuff with mats back then that I STILL can't do!! Amazing!!

I hope someone responds with some current info on Bob's whereabouts. I would love to see what he's measuring these days with those micrometers!