Today was an absolute blast, for many reasons! We started by fitting the top “anchors”. These 4 pieces of wood not only create a decorate element just under the table top, they also give us a means of securing the top to the base. You can see the front one needs to be cut carefully into the leg itself. The rest are just attached to the aprons. And being jealous of all the attention Brad got for his injury yesterday, I sustained a very painful and terrible injury from the tip of my freshly honed Japanese chisel. OH the agony!
After licking my wounds, we turned our attention to the table top. This particular top has breadboard ends. The holes on the outside of the breadboard will be capped with ebony plugs, of course, and the breadboard is connected to the table core with a series of splines. Notice how only the center 4″ or so are actually glued in place? This will allow the outer edges to expand and contract with changes in humidity. Screws will secure the breadboard at the ends.
As some of you may know, I have expressed interest in building a very special frame I saw in Darrell’s book. This particular frame was not made by one of the Greenes, but instead was made by John Hall. John and his brother Peter were the ones responsible for actually building the designs that were thought up by the Greene brothers. When Darrell heard that Brad and I were interested in reproducing the frame, he made a few calls. And imagine my giddy school-girl delight when the frame showed up at the school today! Not a close reproduction, but THE frame. John’s name adorns the back and has the date 1909. Seems appropriate that I plan to reproduce this piece in 2009. As if having complete access to the frame for measurements and scrutinization wasn’t enough, the frame was delivered by its owner, Gary Hall (grandson of Peter Hall). We capped off the day with a great dinner with a bunch of Greene & Greene enthusiasts. Being a new “fan” myself, I didn’t have much to add but I sure did take it all in. I was honored to be sitting at the same table as these guys. Now, back in my hotel room, my brain is busy trying to process the day’s events while my fingers type out the blog post. Somehow, I need to sleep.
The Gamble house is a wonder! The Hall frame is interesting , I may follow your lead and make a similar one for myself.
Wow…what an exciting day for you guys!!! Thanks for the update!!
Sunshine Gerl
Marc, will your SoCal visit include a trip to the Gamble House? Or, have you already been there multiple times? I understand you can book special tours which include areas not seen in the standard tours.
Yup. We went to the Gamble House today. Just a regular tour. But it was an amazing experience.
Awesome! I grew up in the Anaheim area. I can’t believe I had The Gamble House in my back yard and I never went to see it. It’s definitely on the agenda for my next SoCal visit.
Was dinner with the “sewing circle” of G&G enthusiasts from the Yahoo forum?
It would be pretty interesting to sit in on a conversation with them. There is a lot of knowledge and resource between all of those guys.
OMG! Darrell was able to get the original frame delivered to the school! I hope I can meet Darrell someday. I think his shop is only 30 minutes from my house :). I’ve only recently started to give the Greene and Greene designs a close look. The style is really starting to speak to me.
Mike
Thank you Mark. Both my wife and I want to take some of the classes with Darrel and you have shown me that it will be well worth it when the time comes.
Must finish fight with government first dang it! But I dream of a day when we have a house again and I can fill it with Greene & Greene inspired everything!! Grin.
Thanks again, take care of that terrible wound you have there you would not want your finger to fall off. Grin Grin.
What a nice thing to do! Now Marc can be sure its an exact copy. lol, dont think he will like my words…
I totally agree with Brad – nothing can compare with measuring it down.
I just wanted to add my thanks to Marc’s to Gary Hall for bringing in this beautiful piece of woodworking history, and Darrell Peart for asking his friend Gary to bring it in for us to see. You see pictures of something like this or maybe see something on a wall in a museum, but that doesn’t remotely compare to be able to touch it, to turn it over, to take measurements and ot photograph it from every angle. Before today Marc and I could have made a nice looking frame that had the same shape, now, I think that we can really do justice to this fantastic work of art.