The Historic District

Could it originally have been e a library or institutional piece? Very nice!

I recently inherited a massive oak library table, with the shelf underneath and drawer - will use it as kitchen island aka work table. It has some sort of shelf on the bottom (like yours except with shelf where the brace is) and a nice big drawer. MUST put some kind of glass or clear plastic thing over the top though .... would not want to ruin the surface.

It's now mine, and I love it so much!

It's terrific - drawers on both sides! You'll get a lot of use out of it.

Kashka-Kat wrote:Could it originally have been e a library or institutional piece? Very nice!

I recently inherited a massive oak library table, with the shelf underneath and drawer - will use it as kitchen island aka work table. It has some sort of shelf on the bottom (like yours except with shelf where the brace is) and a nice big drawer. MUST put some kind of glass or clear plastic thing over the top though .... would not want to ruin the surface.

It looks like it was used for sewing perhaps. There's lots of cuts on the surface, but long straight cuts that seem more like cutting fabric than food. My kitchen table definitely looks like food was chopped on it.

Oaktree, you find the nicest tables. Maybe with the sewing theme it was used to lay out the material from the bolts for measuring and cutting. Are there cut (or ware) marks across the table. Looks like maybe at one end.
I noticed the legs taper from the inside, I think a more utilitarian (industrial) table would have plain straight legs. Indicates to me it was made with some aesthetic in mind. I would be interested in the thoughts of the fine carpenters among us.

Cutting tables for sewing/pattern drafting are typically a few inches taller than a conventional table, as this work is done standing v.s. sitting. Bolts of cloth are typically 36", 45" or 54" wide. Some cloth is folded double on the bolt, so the table would need to be a minimum of 27" wide to just accommodate 54" fabric.

Cutting for individual garments would have been done using large tailor scissors, which wouldn't leave cut marks on the table. Factories have a tool that cuts through many layers of fabric at once, sort of like a jigsaw crossed with a bandsaw, that also wouldn't leave cut marks on the table. In the last 20 years rotary cutters have become popular, but they are used with a cutting mat below. Fabric stores typically use scissors to cut fabric to length, not knives.

That said, it is possible that the table had a previous commercial application where something was cut ?

This might not suit your needs at all, but perhaps instead of replacing the casters, you might want to consider using some of those glass furniture caster cups. I know House of Antique Hardware carries then in clear and green glass.

phil wrote:If I had one like that I could save time clearing the table and just shift over a little each day

`I want a clean cup,' interrupted the Hatter: `let's all move one place on.'

That's a great table, Oaktree! Wishing you many years of enjoyment.

A banjo player? Really?

Nice table. I used to have three of them similar to that. Why three, you ask? Because my family had been in the grocery and dry goods business since well before the Depression. The tables were originally used for rolling out cloth to be cut to length. Eventually they were used for general storage in one of our stock rooms. Mine were a bit lower than yours so their intended use may not be the same.

The one I have left had to be cut down to eight feet to repair some water damage. One of the others was bartered to a cabinet shop/antique collector who did restoration work on my remaining table as well as my butcher's block. The other one was given to a family member who absolutely had to have a keepsake from the old store. She sold it as fast as she could find a buyer.