Popular Woodworking 2009-08 № 177, страница 17

— The Wood Whisperer —

BY MARC SPAGNUOLO

John Hall's Frame

One half of the famous Hall Brothers designed this piece of art.

Fate steps in. In a strange twist of events, I found myself face to (ace with the original of this John Hall-built frame. It's not as "puzzling" to reproduce this original design as it might appear.

H

I I istory was never an interest for me. It was my least favorite subject in school and much to my professor's dismay, I found lhal class to be a great place to catch up on some much-needed sleep. But as a woodworker, 1 am beginning to change my tune.

Recently, I have become infatuated with Greene SrGreene furniture, Darrell Peart "5 book "Greene & Greene: Design Elements for the Workshop" (Linden) was my first real introduction to the techniques behind this style.

Oddly enough, the first piece in the book that caught my eye was not even a Greene & Greene creation. It was a walnut frame with ebony plugs, designed and built by John Hall. John and his brother Peter were the lesser- k now n gen iuses be hi nd what we recognize today as the "Greene &r Greene" style. They were the craftsmen who took the Greenes' designs and brought them to life in wood. And judging by the whimsical yet elegant nature of this frame, the I lalls were capable designers in their own right

Recently, 1 attended a Darrell Peart class at the William NgSchool in Anaheim, Calif. Peart mentioned thatheknewthe grandson of Peter Hall and would arrange for him to bring the original Hall frame 10 the class. I am pretty sure my jaw dropped to the floor when I heard the news.

The very next day, Gary Hall came into the class with the frame tucked under his arm. 1 knew 1 wanted to reproduce this piece,

Jprt\ine EXTRAS

To watch a video of The Wood Whisperer as he creates, buffs and installs a pillowed ebony peg, go to:

pupularwondwurking.iQm/au^09

22 a Popular Woodworking August 2009

so with Hall's permission, I feverishly photographed, traced, measured and outlined every possible detail

With just about zero experience mak-inga reproduction, I could only hope thatl didn't miss something.

One adornment that I will never forget was the engraving on the back of the upper rail. It read "John Hall-1909."

Giventhefaclt hat 2009 marks the frame's centennial, I believe it's anappropriate Lime to honor this project with a reproduction.

The Templates

The first order orbusiness is to make a reliable set of templates. Use the drawings to transfer the shapes to a shee t of¹ A" plywood, then cut them out at a band saw.

Use a spindle sander, rasp, chisels or flexible sanding strips to do the final finessing ofthe curves. The inside of the "jigsaw puzzle piece" iscarefully cut usinga scroll-saw, thensmoothed usingvarious filesand sandpaper.

In keeping with the original, 1 chose

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