tables, pt 2: tops

Judging by the probate inventory references, tables in 17th century New England could be round, square, small, large, joined, framed, long, short and more besides. One of the most well-known examples is the long table at the Wadsworth Atheneum - a beautiful frame. The brackets and the top are replacements, done long ago. It's big - 34” high, over 7’ long and 28” across its narrow dimension.

long table, Wadsworth Atheneum photo

I made a pretty close copy of that table some years ago - with a conjectural top made up of quartersawn oak boards. The challenge is always about the top construction. Are there cleats/end caps? It’s a good idea to have them, but what form of connection should there be between them and the end grain of the top?

This “long” table at the Smithsonian - (long in this case just meaning rectangular, it’s top is just under 4’ long) -

table w drawer, Smithsonian Institution

has a pine top with narrow strips seemingly just nailed into the end grain of the top boards.

I did this on the table in my kitchen. It’s fast, simple and somewhat effective.

a totally staged photo of our kitchen table

[just as an aside - that photo of our kitchen is complete fiction…it never looks like that.]

On the square table at the Historical Society of Old Newbury - the only one from my previous post with its original top - there’s a groove running along the cleat, with a corresponding tongue fitting in it.

detail of the Newbury table

If there are any actual tenons too, they aren’t pinned. I mentioned in that first post that I haven’t seen that table in detail since 1993. Maybe I should stop in there & have a look. I don’t have any detail photos of it - just these lousy scans-of-slides.