Trestle Table Dining In Ancient Design

Trestle Table Dining In Ancient Design

Trestle Table Dining In Ancient Design

Many of today's tables are designed after the trestle table which dates back to the ancient Greeks and Romans. It was the popular style in the 14th century. A very practical design, it is simply a matter of laying a few boards across two stands. You will see this design employed in modern day picnic tables to Amish hand-crafted dining tables.

The trestle tables built by the Amish are very well known for their craftsmanship and are a traditional Americana design of furniture often seen with spindle backed chairs. Amish wood craftsmen have kept the tradition alive and modern homeowners can acquire beautifully crafted pieces at affordable prices. It is the oldest American dining table and quite possibly the oldest design the world over. Shaker and Craftsman style furniture also employ this same design aesthetic.

Designs ranged from plain and very utilitarian to very regal and ornately decorated. Sawbuck, melon-turn and slab-side were the popular choices of style. Sawbuck is an X-shape support system, a sawbuck device used in holding the wood is where the named derives from. Melon-turned was spherical and very ornate rounded post ends, a predecessor to the pedestal design. The slab-sided design is slabs of wood possibly decorated and placed vertically holding the ends up between the trestles.

They were often made of maple, oak or pine. A modern style of the refectory table is know as the extension top or a draw table with leaves that are stored under the top and can be pulled out to extend the ends.

Imagine the great halls of Europe, Henry the XVIII ripping into a leg of wild boar served at his massive trestle table. In castles of kings, in great halls of the wealthy between the 12th and 15th centuries these great tables served feasts. Diners would be seated on long benches or stools on one side of the table while the other was used for serving. This may be why earlier tables were narrower. After the feast the table could be dismantled and stored to one side of the great hall. Free standing pillars with cruciform feet for stability were used for support.

Modern finishes are much different than those of the Middle Ages as sandpaper didn't exist. Back then craftsmen had to scrape the pieces of wood together to get a smooth surface. Trestle tables took a lot of abuse in the old days and to achieve that look today you could take a chain and beat the finished piece to give it a distressed look. Years and years of feasts with kings and their courts resting their elbows on the tables wearing out the edges to give them their character.

The predecessor to the trestle table was called the table board and frame style, being a long plank of wood resting on a frame of several trestles also called horizontal beams. The legs were designed to be easily dismantled for storage and were very practical for travelling. The bridges of wood were pegged and braced to he tabletop.

With its two pedestals fastened to a horizontal stretcher with stout tenons and locked into place with wedges the trestle table is born. For a little Gothic twist, add an arched stretcher with cut stopped champhers in the legs and the stretcher.

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