An Old Drop Leaf Table
My wife and I found this old drop leaf table at a local antique fair. I thought it was a nice size for a breakfast nook or a sitting table in the office. I was intrigued because it was obviously quite old and showed signs of being made with hand tools. I don't know what wood it is made from, maybe just pine. It uses swing arms to support the table leaves and the drawer is nicely dovetailed. I could see gauge marks, hide glue and roughly sawn stock on the underside.
The table had lived a long life and had some repairs. It seemed that the top had a piece inserted with tongue and groove, perhaps because it broke from pressure on the swing arm. The drawer knob had been replaced with a rather old and crudely cast brass pull. The legs had loosened up over time and it looks like cut nails were used across the tenon to reinforce it. The top was screwed through into the top of the legs to help hold it down and maybe as more reinforcement for the frame. The screws and nails were patched over and the whole thing was re-finished to help hide the repairs.
I decided to remove the top so that I could shore up some of the problem areas a bit more, but also to understand the joinery. I used an oscillating saw to cut the screws holding down the top. I also removed the original screws in the rails which were set into chiseled notches in the old tradition. Although a couple were loose, I could not separate the mortises due to the nails that were added. There is some irregularity in the M&Ts as one shows on the top of the leg, while the others do not. The drawer rails appear to be a bridal joint on the top rail and I assume a M&T joint on the bottom rail.
Here are the tops of the M&T legs. You can see the tenon show through the top on one leg and nothing on the other. I think it was originally built this way, so maybe it was done quickly or by an apprentice. Seems like a mistake to me.
The drawer rail joints seem to have held up well and are quite tight.
On the underside of the rails, you can still see the mortise gauge marks in several locations.
Lastly, the hinges were installed in the traditional way using saw cuts and chiseling. The hinges were set with a variety of screws, some with points and some without. Maybe it was repaired this way or they are really old pointless screws, I don't know.
The drawer is nicely dovetailed and slides on rails that are attached with cut nails.
I plan to remake this table as a learning opportunity. I will use only a limited kit of period hand tools. Stay tuned.
My wife and I found this old drop leaf table at a local antique fair. I thought it was a nice size for a breakfast nook or a sitting table in the office. I was intrigued because it was obviously quite old and showed signs of being made with hand tools. I don't know what wood it is made from, maybe just pine. It uses swing arms to support the table leaves and the drawer is nicely dovetailed. I could see gauge marks, hide glue and roughly sawn stock on the underside.
The table had lived a long life and had some repairs. It seemed that the top had a piece inserted with tongue and groove, perhaps because it broke from pressure on the swing arm. The drawer knob had been replaced with a rather old and crudely cast brass pull. The legs had loosened up over time and it looks like cut nails were used across the tenon to reinforce it. The top was screwed through into the top of the legs to help hold it down and maybe as more reinforcement for the frame. The screws and nails were patched over and the whole thing was re-finished to help hide the repairs.
I decided to remove the top so that I could shore up some of the problem areas a bit more, but also to understand the joinery. I used an oscillating saw to cut the screws holding down the top. I also removed the original screws in the rails which were set into chiseled notches in the old tradition. Although a couple were loose, I could not separate the mortises due to the nails that were added. There is some irregularity in the M&Ts as one shows on the top of the leg, while the others do not. The drawer rails appear to be a bridal joint on the top rail and I assume a M&T joint on the bottom rail.
Here are the tops of the M&T legs. You can see the tenon show through the top on one leg and nothing on the other. I think it was originally built this way, so maybe it was done quickly or by an apprentice. Seems like a mistake to me.
The drawer rail joints seem to have held up well and are quite tight.
On the underside of the rails, you can still see the mortise gauge marks in several locations.
Lastly, the hinges were installed in the traditional way using saw cuts and chiseling. The hinges were set with a variety of screws, some with points and some without. Maybe it was repaired this way or they are really old pointless screws, I don't know.
The drawer is nicely dovetailed and slides on rails that are attached with cut nails.
I plan to remake this table as a learning opportunity. I will use only a limited kit of period hand tools. Stay tuned.