Teaching Classes at the William Ng School
I receive quite a few emails from viewers/readers asking if I teach classes. Although I no longer offer classes out of my own shop, I do occasionally teach on the road. This January, I’ll be teaching two classes at the William Ng School in Anaheim, CA. You may remember this is where TreeFrog and I attended the Darrell Peart Aurora Table class. William has an incredible facility and I can’t wait to get back! So here are the details with class descriptions:
Modern Hall Table (Jan. 18th – Jan. 22nd, 2010)
This modern hall table was designed with two goals in mind: to capture attention and to teach you numerous key woodworking techniques. The jatoba legs feature compound curves that are cut on the bandsaw and finished with various hand tools and rasps. The legs are attached to the aprons via traditional mortise and tenon joints. The drawer and front apron are all cut from a single piece of wood and the custom drawer pull is attached via stainless steel dowels. 
The drawer joinery also features stainless steel dowels in a creative reinforced rabbet joint. The frame of the top features splined miters and the raised center panel is wrapped with a decorative wenge strip. This unique project will challenge your woodworking skills, as well as your creativity. Sign up here!
The John Hall Frame (Jan. 23rd – Jan 24th, 2010)
This unique picture/mirror frame is an accurate reproduction of the John Hall original and was featured in the August 2009 issue of Popular Woodworking Magazine. If you aren’t familiar with John Hall, he was one of the brothers responsible for building the large majority of the Greene & Greene creations we know and love. This walnut frame’s primary feature and challenge is the “inlaid half-lap jigsaw puzzle joint”. In order to make it, we’ll use many of the same skills required for decorative router inlay (a handy skill to have in your back pocket!). The frame also features various ebony plugs, giving the piece a measure of Greene & Greene styling. Sign up here!
On a side note, I actually taught a small class on the modern hall table a few years ago. Its a pretty intense 5-day project but its a lot of fun! I threw in some pictures below so you can see what a class might be like.
I hope to see some of your smiling faces at the William Ng School in January!
The Other John Hall Frames
One of my favorite projects ever to come out of my shop is the John Hall Frame reproduction (mine is on the left and the original is on the right). Just as a quick refresher, John Hall was one of the famous Hall Brothers who were responsible for the construction of many of the best known Greene & Greene creations.
Now many of you may remember that I was attending a week-long class being taught by Darrell Peart at the William Ng School when I had an opportunity to handle, trace, and measure the original Hall frame. During that week, in addition to meeting Gary Hall (Peter Hall’s grandson), I had the opportunity to meet Tom Moore, a Greene & Greene enthusiast and docent at the Gamble House in Pasadena, CA. Recently, Tom was able to view and photograph three more frames made by John Hall. These frames are still in the family and needless to say, its probably not easy prying them away from the hands of their owners. Fortunately for all of us, Gary made it happen and Tom was kind enough to share his photos with me. So let’s take a little trip back in time!
The first frame is being referred to as “Carved Frame“, for obvious reasons. The frame seems relatively simple, which is just as well given the wildly pronounced grain and the carving on the top rail. The wood looks to be pine or maybe some wild douglas fir. What I find amazing about this piece is how John Hall let the wood guide his carving. At first glance you might not even notice its there. I imagine its much more obvious in person. Tom reported that the wood appeared to have been “liberally wire brushed for deep texture”. This carving style seems reminiscent of the wall panel carvings I observed at the Gamble house itself. I remember taking note of how the carver (one of the Hall Brothers I assume) utilized the natural grain lines in those panels and this frame clearly exploits the same natural properties of the wood. Here’s an excerpt from Tom’s observations:
“The top rail is carved, although it doesn’t show up dramatically due to the coloring. The full carved scene shows three clouds, one over the full moon, and five large birds (seagulls?).”
The next frame is called “Island Paradise” and appears to be another straightforward frame. Judging from the ray fleck and grain pattern it looks to be of quarter sawn white oak. Remember that the Greene Bros. (and certainly the Hall Bros. as well) took a great deal of influence from the Arts and Crafts movement and the stylings of Gustav Stickley. So its not surprising to see white oak show up here. The joints on this frame appear to be pegged with white oak and I do see a few design features (cloud-lift-like elements) that are also present in the original Hall frame that started me down this whole path.
The final frame is called “Tender Memories” and is named after the painting within it. The most striking thing about this mahogany frame is how similar it is to some of the Gamble House frames: Gamble House Virtual Archives DA-005 and DA-002. The big question on my mind is when was this frame made? Was it before, or after the Gamble House project? Were these Gamble House frames actually built AND designed by the Halls? Fun questions to ponder. The frame features an inner frame made of walnut and Tom speculates that the outer frame was made before they knew exactly what would go inside it.
Tom and Gary disassembled the frame to see how everything was held together. Here’s Tom’s account of the event:
“We disassembled it to see how it was done. What a surprise. In addition to the Citizen newspaper, there were free floating strips of cardboard and small pieces of wood, most a bit smaller than a wooden match, that served as shims. The frame is similar to the one in the Gable House but the Hall frame is portrait while the Gamble is landscape. In addition, the Hall splines are mahogany, while the Gamble splines are brass.”
So after pouring over the numerous photos I received from Tom, I really started to wonder about the story behind these creations. While beautiful in their overall design, the fit and finish is not exactly at the same level as the pieces that adorn the various Greene & Greene houses. Being a woodworker myself, I can envision a few scenarios here. These frames could have simply been intended as practice. Perhaps they were done to iron out a particular technique or to play with unusual proportions. Were these just the “oops” projects? Maybe they were presents made for family members in between the paying jobs. After all, our family members tend to be a little less picky than our customers. Even without an accompanying story, these frames are a sight to behold.
I have never been much of a history buff but I just can’t seem to get enough of the Greene and Hall legacies. My Hall frame reproduction adorns a wall in my kitchen and every morning I get to appreciate it as I prepare my cup of joe. It serves as inspiration and a reminder of why I work with wood. The passion that went into John Hall’s work is the same passion that drives all of us, regardless of our skill or experience level. So I encourage you to exercise that passion as much as possible. Get into the shop and create! Just remember, even if you screw something up its not the end of the world. Give the “oops” projects to friends and family members and move on. You never know, your next creation could be your masterpiece!
Completed John Hall Frame
Well here it is folks: the Hall Frame reproduction. This was an incredibly fun project and was one that had a profound effect on me. Having actual contact with the original piece (made in 1909) and creating a reproduction in 2009 just made this project that much more special to me. As you can see above, the frame is a fairly accurate copy in terms of overall shape, size and proportions. Its pretty clear that John Hall did something to color his frame, as it has a distinct red color that is missing from mine. I also made a prototype out of alder which will be a gift for my mom, and you’ll see below how dramatically different the mood of the frame is when made with a lighter colored wood.
I am incredibly proud of this piece and would like to thank Darrell Peart for putting a picture of this piece in his book, since that’s where I first saw it. I would also like to thank Gary Hall (grand-nephew of John Hall) for giving me access to the frame. And I can’t forget to thank my buddy TreeFrog (Brad) for helping me take measurements and photos of the original, and also for exhibiting an enthusiasm equal to my own concerning this project.
This frame will be featured in a future issue of Popular Woodworking, and that’s why the details are a little sparse here on the blog. But I can assure you it will be worth the wait! Hope you guys like it!
Hall Frame Progress
Well this week I started working on my Hall Frame reproduction. I decided to make a prototype on this one. This will help me test out my templates as well as get my inlay skills warmed up. Much like hand-cut dovetails and other techniques that require a certain amount of manual dexterity, router inlay is not something you want to jump into “cold”. And remember, prototypes make great gifts for family members!
This process started with the creation of a few templates from the original tracings and outlines taken from the original frame. These templates were then used to create the prototype in some alder stock I had laying around. Once the basic shape is established, I had to work out the joinery. These joints are nothing short of unusual at first glance. The only way I can think to describe them is “Inlaid half laps”. To make things a little trickier, the pieces are different thicknesses so that the inlay piece stands proud.
The details of this process will be covered in a future Popular Woodworking article, so I apologize for the lack of detail here. But I did want to keep you guys updated on the process since I think its pretty cool.
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