 
MAHOGANY MONSTER The Nakashima influence is evident in this beautiful table. SHOP OWNER: David Frame Jr. LOCATION: Lafayette, LA Three years after being injured in a 1998 oilfield accident, one of my attorneys approached me about building him and his partner a conference table. He needed it to seat a maximum of twelve people. As you might notice, it was somewhat of a copy from George Nakashima's book, The Soul of a Tree. I wouldn't and couldn't rip-off Nakashima's work entirely. I had a talk with my dad, David L. Frame, famous for his paintings and cover design for Bucks County Magazine in Pennsylvania. We had a long talk about copying other people’s work. He made it very clear to me that if only one thing was changed about another’s design, the work belonged to me. For those that might have known my dad, he passed away in January of this year at the age of 73 from prostate cancer. 
To build the top for this table, I used four pieces of 8/4 mahogany that measured over 12-inches wide. The finished size was 10-feet long, 1 ¾” thick, with the ends being 36" wide and its span in the center was 48" wide. The legs and bottom stretcher were made from 16/4 mahogany. Under the top are two smaller stretchers holding the top down to its base legs. You can see by the way it is built that all of the wood is in the same direction, allowing for proper wood movement. To seal the mahogany pores I added a black pigment to oil based paste wood filler. I did this twice, sanding down to the wood between coats. I then sprayed one thin coat of conversion varnish to seal everything, followed by two more coats at full strength. My attorney loved the table and didn't mind paying for it. However, he didn't want to pay the price for twelve similar Conoid type chairs. They would have been more expensive than the table! . . .
David Frame Jr.
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