Introduction:
What could be more essential to a home than a dining table? The
table is the "board" in "bed and board," that catchphrase of
domesticity. People have been eating at tables for 3,000 years,
since they gave up nomadic life for the comforts of home. I suspect
the human brain is hardwired to prefer sharing meals with family and
friends to hunkering down with takeout food in front of the TV.
Of course, we use our dining-room tables for purposes other than
dining. Mine tends to become an extra desk. Others are pressed into
service as conference tables, card tables, or work tables. This sort
of thing has probably been going on for 3,000 years as well. A good
dining table is a versatile piece of furniture.
There's nothing new under the sun. All of the issues in this book
are as ancient as the table itself: how to make the table beautiful,
how to make it big enough (but not too big), and how to make it
strong.
The earliest pictures of tables show elaborate decorations and
carvings. The Romans carved table legs in the shapes of animals,
both real and imaginary. They made their tables into showpieces, as
we continue to do today. The size of dining tables and their role in
entertaining guests make them a focus for display.
We also know that people have been worrying for centuries, if not
longer, about how to feed a throng. In the Middle Ages, feudal lords
just set up extra tables in the dining hall when the odd hundred
knights came riding across the plain for a visit. As early as the
15th century, the English invented an expanding table. The "draw
table" had three tabletops stacked one on top of another, and the
lower two could be pulled out to lengthen the table.
Another preoccupation over the course of history has been keeping
tables from collapsing when they were moved or loaded down with
food. The trestle table was an early solution to this problem,
followed by the stretcher table, and then by apron and pedestal
tables.
In this book, I will address all of these issues. The first
chapter, Table-Building Basics, provides technical information about
sizing tables and about building tables that will survive the
stresses of wood movement and of domestic life, and also discusses
aesthetic design issues. The nine projects illustrate a range of
historical styles, from 17th century through modern, and of
solutions to technical problems, as worked out by myself and six
other craftsmen. You will find tables that can be knocked down,
folded up, and expanded; you will find tables held steady by
trestles, pedestal assemblies, cross braces, and aprons.
I've also included a variety of construction techniques -- solid
wood, veneer over sheet goods, and veneer over a torsion box.
Woodworking lore and techniques that are applicable to many of the
projects are scattered throughout the book, so it's a good idea to
read through the book even if you're only planning to make one or
two of the tables.
I hope there is something here for everyone. But if you don't
find exactly the table you want to build, use the book as a
reference source when you design and build your own table. Even
though the problems are old, you can always find new solutions to
them. Once you understand the principles of table design and the
basic techniques for building, the possibilities for invention are
endless.
Table of Contents:
INTRODUCTION
TABLE-BUILDING BASICS
KITCHEN TABLE
TRESTLE TABLE
VINEYARD TABLE
EXPANDING RECTANGULAR TABLE
EXPANDING RACETRACK OVAL TABLE
EXPANDING PEDESTAL TABLE
QUEEN ANNE TABLE
MODERN ROUND TABLE
BOAT-SHAPED PEDESTAL TABLE
APPENDIX 1: FINISHING
APPENDIX 2: BUYING WOOD
SOURCES OF SUPPLY
FURTHER READING
CONTRIBUTORS
Soft-cover, 9 x 10-7/8 in., 192 pages,
with color photos and drawings
Published 2001
ISBN: 978-1-56158-491-8
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