Yesterday I finally managed to sharpen one of my chisels for the first time to cut pine endgrain in smooth, thin layers. It has nothing to do with the video, I just wanted to share the satisfaction
'Grats. I remember my first time. Long ago, but I remember. You stand there and look at the chisel in awe, and think "Where have you been all my life?"
My dad has one of these. It's sometimes called a threshing table. It's a normal kitchen table most of the time, but the sides drop down to be able to take it out the back door and then put all the leaves in it for feeding all the threshers.
Interesting! I acquired an old oak farm table that had the same features as this one, minus the drop leaves. The sliding pieces on mine were made with sliding dovetails, and I was just tickled pink when I discovered what it did. I always wondered why a farm table would need to expand so much. I just assumed it was for family get-togethers.
Yup, my parents had one too. There was a whole rack of leaves for it. We used it full size once and it went diagonally across the living room and sat EVERYONE.
@@Victoria-jo3wr It occurs to me that the sliding dovetail probably does the same job but is probably a lot easier to cut with hand tools. Woodwork by Wright has at least one video on the topic, and if I recall correctly the only tools he used in that build were a wooden dovetail plane (angled bottom), a saw, a chisel, and a router plane. He pulled up the blade and laid the dovetail plane across the board to guide the saw on the angled cuts. I can imagine a table like this being useful for a lot of reasons. All kinds of planting and harvesting and cattle drives come to mind as places where you'd want a lot of extra hands. Barn raisings and moving parties too. Only thing I think this table could use is a built-in rack to store the extra leaves. But that might not have been considered elegant enough for its user. I so want to build this table. Or, well, one like it. Even if it was more square and functional. Wish Rex had taken a closer look at the leaf hinges though. I'm not really sure how those things go together, and from this angle it almost looks like another wooden hinge. But it's probably a long metal hinge. Here's hoping he makes replicating this table into a series.
@@twotone3070 My parents had something similar that included a single center leg that attached to a cross member and was held in place just by weight of everything. The thing was huge 18+ feet (>6m).
You mentioned that this table was made about the time that machining wood was becoming more common. I'm wondering of part of the reason for the shortcuts was he was having to compete with machine made furniture, with the attendant efficiency that entails.
The leg flanks were cut by a band/coping/skillsaw and an axial jig which uses the points made by the lathe to mount the wood. Still a sign of excellent skill that they were then carefully planed and sanded. Remember you can keep old planes around as sanding guides!
I've been trying to design a table like this (to avoid spending $2500 to buy one) and watching a bunch of your videos to plan it out. This was helpful because it showed a few details and gave me some ideas on how to accomplish some of the joints and mechanisms.
Oh man be careful. That's how you get bit by the sawdust bug. Next thing you know you're leaving your job and trying to convince your wife how you going to make a living as a custom cabinet maker. Might I suggest you pay the money then take up golf. It will be cheaper in the long run. You can just look at my emblemen know this is a cautionary tale.
Great video, as always. Fun fact about American sycamore: it wasn’t just used as an imitation for maple; it actually is a type of maple! Check out the leaves next time you see one around town… they have the same structure as the more known maple leaves, apart from being enormous (assuming it grows similarly to how it grows here in central Indiana).
That depends on which sycamore you are referring to, as common names are confusing. I believe the one Rex showed was an "American Sycamore" (Platanus occidentalis), but it is not part of the genus "Acer", that maples belong to. I did not know it was used as imitation maple that is pretty cool. There is a tree called the "sycamore maple" (Acer pseudoplantanus), that is native to Europe.
@@timconway2810 they're still related just a larger separation. Plus, if two sycamores are functionally more similar to each other than other woods (i.e. machining traits or ecological niche) then it is a useful category regardless of taxonomy
My grandparents could have used something like this when I was growing up. They lived alone, but had 6 kids and ~20 grandkids that were over every month. They made do with several tables (including some expanding tables), but they never lined up as well as this would have.
I really enjoy the bits of philosophy and speculation you put at the ends of your videos. It doesn't feel forced and there is something that really hits home for me about the philosophy of creating something as it applies to a traditionally blue collar craft like woodworking.
I got to replace a broken track on one of those things about thirty years ago. The one I worked on was a sliding T track essentially and I ended up making a custom router bit to do it. The only way I could see to do it by hand was with a custom made plane set for just that job or a lot of time with carving chisels. Very cool design for the time. I would gladly give up my router for a Barnes velocipede. The one I worked on also had glue blocks on the apron and legs; and the joints had separated. I replaced the glue blocks to tighten them up.
I'm fixing up a table with similar flys that support the drop leaf now, except they have a floating dovetail instead of the T-track, and only three segments instead of five. Old oak or some other rock hard ring porous wood from somewhere in Texas turn of the century, and with complicated scalloped legs that now make me consider the context it was made in. The edges of the top got what I suppose was alkali rotted sitting on it's side in a barn for longer than I've been alive, so I've cut tennons into it and put on breadboard ends to replace the damage. I've got a new appreciation for it after your forensics of this one.
I’ve seen many expanding tables but also with well designed and integrated wooden brackets to hold the extra panels when they’re not in use. Hide them away right under the table and they are always there without getting lost.
Love these videos Rex! It's so cool to see how you figure out how the details were made. I picture the maker watching this while smiling and nodding haha
Hey Rex, have you ever thought about doing a video like this for a Hoosier hutch? Being a midwesterner and historian I think this might be a piece of furniture you would like to get your hands on. Personally, I would love a video like this one going over one! Thank you for all the great information and hard work you do everyday!
Rex, my guy, you've got to be one of my favorite humans. You speak wisdom into mundane words. You infer data where others see mystery. You create potential by speaking its virtues. You, Brother, are Wizard. P.S. Please, someday, grace us with a beard.
The question isn't "who would need a table that can seat a 10 foot table?" but "who would need a table that can seat a 10 foot table and a 3 foot table variably?" It doesn't seem like a super rich client, because they have dedicated tables and rooms for such large number of guests, that don't need to be shrunk down. Like, someone who doesn't have the space, but occasionally wants to seat a large number of people, I guess.
Like my grandma's. Sitting in the kitchen the whole year alone or at two. But at birthdays even some sideboards would have been taken out and A LOT tables put in. The kitchen was so crowded almost nobody was able to leave to the toilet anymore :D This table would have been perfect for her.
could have been in use by a restaurant, or a small sort of event hall which need to account for different table and seat arrangements. like in a restaurant you want a bunch of smaller tables for couples or small groups of friends to sit together, but when a person or organization wants to rent the place for an event of sorts (like a wedding or an association meeting), you want everybody sitting at the long table. and to that end i feel the one long table that still only has four legs is a lot more comfortable than just having all the small tables pushed together to form one where 60% of table space is blocked by there being just way too many table legs in the way.
@@hermit84 That's a good example of a use case. But again, I wouldn't say it's for the ultra rich. Because they got dedicated rooms for everything. Just a minor point/distinction I was making.
Great video. I really enjoyed the analysis of technique and especially the materials used. The table comes from a time when materials were relatively expensive compared to a man's time. I am a professional furniture maker who doesn't hesitate to use a machine when it makes me more money. Nevertheless, I do a lot of handwork. The table is a window into the thinking of someone who did what I do 130 years ago, I suspect the issue with the joints, besides the lack of pins, is hide glue. Hide glue is water soluble. In a hundred years it only needs the moisture in the air to dissolve. I've knocked apart many loose table or chair joints, re-glued them, and found them to be as good as new. Modern glues have no resemblance to hide glue.
Perhaps there were 5 leafs, since the first piece of the table is #1, and the last is #7, there would be 5 inbetween (#'s 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6). Also, the leafs would have had small dowels on the ends to keep everything locked in place from anyone pressing too hard on one side and torquing the leaf upwards, which would make the table a just a little bit shorter, as the table would have to expand a bit in order to get the leafs in and then contract to lock them in place. You can see 2 dowels on the the 1st leaf and on the 7th section, there are holes where the dowels would have inserted into. My family had one of these while I was growing up, and that's exactly how mine worked. I also remember there being metal locking mechanisms on the bottoms of the middle leafs to keep them in place, although I cannot remember exactly which kind.
Did your friend have the additional pair of legs that fit the final center leaf and nest into it when it's not mounted in the table? I'm also thinking a pair of less bulky hinged supports at each end that had short dowels to fit into index under the folding leaves would have put this up into the "rich" range, this table is just well-to-do.
I wondered the same. I do see a screw extending below one of the slide rails around 7:15 in the video. We own a similar table and there is a single leg mounted to a plank that spans and attaches to the center slides to distribute the tables load.
Me too. I think it must have been lost with the leaves. My table has the same middle supporting leg. It makes me think maybe the previous owners didn't expand it much. Growing up, I remember trying to find the table leaf at holidays was always an adventure... :)
Hi Rex, update on my previous post (below). I have recently been given a much more modern version of your table. Stacked away, it is 35.5 by 19.5 inches. It doesn't have drop down end leaves but when fully extended, it is still 10 feet by 35.5 inches. It has six legs, two of which support the centre of the table while the two ends slide out on metal mechanisms. It weighs a ton, even without the six drop-in leaves installed! It is made from thick plastic-covered chipboard, similar to kitchen worktop material but not quite as thick. Each of the drop-in sections has two holes on one side and two metal pins on the other side, all of which correspond to 'dowel-lock' together when connected. The only fault is that one of the central legs has completely snapped and been fixed back together with thin metal plates. My idea is to replace all that - the whole thing - with some decent wood, which would give it much more strength; in other words, just strip it apart and remake it in real wood. It would be much better than the Ikea styling and flat-pack jointing techniques that it has now. Plus, I could then add drop down end leaves to make it even longer.
I'm a software developer, off-by-one errors are our specialty. I'm assuming that the joints would be numbered to match I-I, II-II etc. So the first insert leaf is numbered I on the side that matches the end leaf, and II on the other side. So the far end of each leaf is sequentially II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, so you have six missing leaves. The split between the aprons is offset from the split between the end leaves - you can see this at 11:25 in the video. Each leaf therefore has to go a specific way round. The numbering also suggests that these leaves were perhaps not completely identical, otherwise you'd just mark the sides as I and II and it wouldn't matter which one went where. It might be usable with only a few leaves inserted but the whole thing might not line up quite right unless each leaf was in the right place.
That table is really cool! Shame the middle portions are missing. You could make some new ones, though. I wonder if there were extra legs to support the hanging middle. Perhaps those would form another table you could take apart and add the pieces to this table. Edit: 0:41 I took a closer look at the undersides of the slides, and the middle one seems to have these pegs or holes, and then there is an area, which is lighter in colour extending to the centre, which would be too narrow to be a table. The middle legs would be stored right there. Then there is a possibility that the middle leg would be just one leg to be more out of the way. Though you could have them closer to the centre, too, and have a ladder-like shape to store the leaves perpendicular to the table, but only with the two flaps up. Perhaps with the flaps down, you could neatly stack them on the top? Maybe those bevelled edges locked the bottom pieces to the table? Then you could have pins going into holes, most of the time hidden by the leaves, and when extended, by a tablecloth. Or do the bevel thing all the way up. Perhaps the table is intended to have those flaps up most of the time, and only to be lowered to ease in moving? So you would take the leaves out, remove the extra legs, fold the flaps down, move the table to where there is room to expand it, and then reassemble into the long configuration.
Great analysis Rex! Spot on. This was definitely produced in a larger production shop not a one-man operation. The short-cuts were done by one of a several craftspersons who were paid by the piece and pushing work out the door was the name of the game. Modern hobbyist or smaller custom shops fuss over details they just didn't care about even in fine furniture back in the pre-industrial world. Fine Chippendale chairs have very rough surfaces under the seat where NO one would ever see them. This table would have had a nice table linen over it so none of the rougher elements would be seen and the client just would not have cared. It is interesting to wonder where the enter support went. They all had them when they opened that wide and with out it, the table would have given way! Keep those videos coming! Thanks for sharing.
I actually have a table that does JUST THIS . except its a lot more clear on its function, no drop leaves, and a center support that the table top rests on. I'd be more than happy to share pictures of it. It has been refurbished with the same metal hardware but new wood for the expansion mechanism, but my parents got it as an antique in the 80s and now it serves my own family.
My theory is that was made for a wedding venue as it could be stored very efficiently and it also explains why only the show faces are pretty. I think the slides where made with a spindle moulder as they're usually used with a feed roller.
Nice table. Great review of the construction techniques. The expansion slide mechanism still in use today. Thank you for sharing. Have a great day and stay safe.
Another awesome video Rex, thank you! One of my favorite features on these drop leaf tables is the complementary mounding profiles on the edges between the table top and the drop leaves. It's such a clever feature that makes the whole thing look so much more polished. It softens the lines so your eye moves over it instead of seeing a harsh break when the leaves are down.
My mother has a similar table from an estate sale. It pulls out to around 12 feet. It is made from walnut. She had 3 leaves made for it's full expansion.
I've been french polishing my heirloom table I am working from now. It's a little older and commisioned by an old Uncle circa 1850, It's Brazilian mahogony with 2x3 foot boards and 2 more inserts and a detachable 5th leg. All legs part turned and sculpted. It has a metal threaded rod to expand. It has 2x cracks across it, one repair is still holding after my Grandad's cieling fell onto it when a bomb landed on the house in WW2. Still has origional ceramic wheels. I have seen an identical looking table but a little longer on display at Sandringham, the Queen's Norfolk residence.
My father loved refinishing antiquities. We had several tables like this except they all had a single leg attached to the sliding peace that ended up in the middle when expanded.
That expanding joint reminds me of an old "table" my parents had. The thing looked like a basic cabinet. We kept a tv on it most of the time. The front though, could be pulled out into a super long (>18' {6m}) expanding table. Leaves were folded in half and stored inside with an extra center leg. Fully opened it was longer than any room in the first few houses we lived in. Later we did get a place with a large combination great room (living room, dining room, eat in kitchen [something like: 30' x 40' {10 x 12m}]). With that, a formal dining table, and a kitchen table (all in that room) we could host most of the family for Christmas dinner. As the family has continued to get bigger, we have resorted to renting community halls.
Love the fascinating forensics. Makes me wonder sometimes what someone might think if they had to repair or tear out something I had done. “Here you can see where … .” I’m late discovering this video, but with respect to avoiding “old fashioned” ways to fix a tenon in a mortise, I recently discovered Fox and blind wedges. Thanks for the video.
I love these furniture forensics videos! Is the expanding section really rigid enough to support ~1.5m of table in the middle though?! It looks like it would sag
Coincidentally I stumbled upon this video after just refinishing my wife’s grammas table that expands like this one. Instead of having a drop leaf the table folds up to about 24 inches wide with a single panel that folds over the entire top via three mortised hinges. The original hinges were long gone so I purchased three new ones from Lee valley tools. Unfortunately the new hinges were slightly wider so the original screw holes so I had to use a small router bit on a dremel. It took some careful work but in the end the top lines up perfectly in time for a family Christmas dinner in a few days.
I have a “cabinet” table that is constructed in a similar manner. My grandmother had one like it and I found it in vintage shop. It’s mid-century modern, and supports 6 leaves. So it goes from 3 feet deep to, well large enough to seat 12 people…. I paid $165 US for it…. a steal
you can make a mortise and tenon joint without glue or a pin using one of three methods which i am aware of: performing a rip cut into the tenon and inserting a wedge which would force the tenon to expand as it is driven into the mortise (this can prove difficult to do as the wedge must be exactly right as the joint won't be flush if it is too long or the wood might split) or: getting the tenon as dry as possible before fitting it into the mortise, this will allow the tenon to expand inside the mortise as it absorbs moisture. or: since nobody can see the end grain of the leg when the piece is finished, cutting the mortises that are used to attach the aprons open at the top is an option, this would allow the carpenter to cut both mortises in a way where they intersect, which is something the carpenter could then take advantage of by cutting a slot of the same width as the tenon, half way through one tenon from the top and half way through the other from the underside, allowing the two to slot into one another, the cross piece could then be driven into the intersecting pair of mortises in the leg from above.
I always enjoy your videos and I especially like your furniture forensics videos. I have repaired a 100+ year old small side table with a drawer that was badly broken when my brother fell on it. It was really interesting to see how it was built, certainly was not a high end piece but it had been used/abused and was still going. Since I had to manufacture and replace many pieces any $$ value the piece may have had is gone but it still looks the same and it is still Grannie’s table.
I can't believe this table wouldn't sag some without an added mid-span post for the full size. @Rex Krueger how would you feel about those aprons being attached with blind wedged tenons instead of just glued?
My grandmother has one like it that expends up to 12m. The system is the same except each corner has two feet. As you pull it open, at some point the feet start to spread out ! Last time we used it we had 20 people (of some of them were children) on the table and 4 more planks so we could have added 6 or 7 more people comfortably ! EDIT : it also has foldable leaves, but i think in this case they're only there so the table can be moved through the doors between the dining room (where it wouldn't even fit completely extended) to the reception room, and back again when dinner is over and one might want to dance
My guess is that those rails and slots were made with a milling machine (I don't know what they state they were in the late 1800s, but they've been around for decades at that point, so I assume the basic tools were more or less our basic tools already). T slots scream metal machining for one, and the pattern you saw on the surfaces that had to be dead flat is a lot like a fly cutters' patterns, which can also be used to both surface and make things dead flat. T slot is pretty vanilla operation, the regular milling (basically a router bit) from end to end, probably one pass down to final depth, then another with a circular cutter to make the horizontal slot. As for the joints, I think a blind wedged mortise and tenon would be a good technique to introduce there. No glue needed, won't come apart, completely hidden.
Hey Rex if you want to see a cabinet maker who did a really good job combining handwork and machine work you ought to look up Thomas Day. It's really awesome story. He died about 1860 right before the civil war. At one point in time he was the largest cabinet maker in North Carolina. And he's why we have the Day bed (that's right it's not daybed).
Absolutely fascinating! I thoroughly enjoy this series, it really puts me in a different mindset when looking at furniture now. Thanks for sharing and take care!!
My father inherited a table very similar to that one from his grandparents. I've always thought the mechanism was fascinating. I have no idea what wood it is though, but it's probably different as it has been built in France.
Glad to know the hunk of junk in our apartment is cousins with such a finely crafted table. Ours has the super long stretchers, but none of the nice crsftmanship xD. That's what you get for yardsale prices
Here in france you can find this type of table very often in old barn / at flea market. I bought one recently (20€) to help me create one for one of my client (with metal frame and legs). I don't really think it was for rich clients tho, lots of people had them for family gathering on sunday.
The machine made slides on the hand made table scream aftermarket add-on kit, OR antique table updated with parts from a more modern (broken or ruined) one.
My grandparents had one of these tables, made from Matai (I think) as I am based in New Zealand. Great memories of a big meal with everyone in the dining room. Then after dinner the table would be unexpanded and placed against the wall with drinks laid out. Then the carpets were rolled up and we would dance the night away in the dining room, which we then euphemistically called our 'ball room'
The slides are short and there are many of them, so it means it will be like a banana, when the leafs are under the weight. This surely needs one extra leg in the middle.
My dad bought a table identical to this at an auction in the late 80s that we restored. It had to have been made by the same builder or the same plans or something
What's the best way to bevel end grain super smooth and level like that? Just a hand plane freehand? Was it sanded, and was sandpaper commonly used at this time? I've noticed that chiseling produces a much smoother finish on end grain than planing. Why is that? What's the best way to bevel a very smooth surface on end grain? And possibly just a fun little mathematical fact for some of you out there: an ellipse can be traced out with two nails in a board, tying a loop of string, placing the loop around the two nails, pulling the excess of the loop tight with a pencil, and drawing the path of the ellipse around the nails. If it's an oval, which has no precise mathematical definition, it was done some other way, like freehand. Thanks for the cool video Rex!
I love everything you do. That being said if you channel ever devolved into you just doing forensics on furniture. I would still be a fan. That being said this, plus the woodworking for humans makes you content timeless, and gives something for ever level of skill to crunch on.
Looking forward for what you will come up with !!! I have got the modern ultra version of that table the only wood in it is the Oak veneer....🤣🤣.. I will not miss your upcoming video!!
Hi Rex , as always great vid , love your channel. Did you consider those M&T joints may well have a hidden wedge (often called a fox wedge here in the UK) would fit in with the general craftmanship on the rest of this table? Keep safe and well and keep 'em coming, thanks again
My mother has a similar table. It is painted in an of white colour. I assume that the top is made from plywood since there are no glue lines to be seen from under the table. It is also round or oval shaped and has a lovely edge molding.
