Trestle table

The basic trestle table (also known as a folding table or card table) is a structure comprising two frame-based legs (the trestles) over which a tabletop is placed. Such tables were known to be commonly used as early as the Middle Ages, using a wide variety of materials. As well as ease of assembly and storage, which made it the ideal occasional table, it has long been popular for dining, as those seated are not so inconvenienced as they might be with the more usual arrangement of a fixed leg at each corner.

Construction and uses

*Today the trestle table is quite commonly a utilitarian, portable work surface much favoured by professional decorators. It typically comprises two or more trestles - in this case often collapsible, folding or height adjustable (not unlike the woodworker's sawhorse) - over which a plain, lightweight, wooden tabletop (often little more than a cheap flush panel door) is supported.

*A second, equally common form, often used in school dining rooms, utilises a folding-leg construction (example [http://www.lifetime.net.au/Hiten.htm here] ) which is similarly valued for its portability and easy storage. In this case a basic tubular steel framework is employed, with the tabletop a combination of metal and plywood laminate.

*Trestle tables also figure prominently in the traditional Americana style of household furnishings, usually accompanied by [http://www.shaker.net/html/trestle.html spindle-backed chairs] . The trestles in this case are normally of much higher quality, often made from oak and braced together with a stretcher beam with a keyed tenon through the centre of each trestle. These typically support a similarly high-quality waxed oak tabletop. [http://www.oldandsold.com/articles03/hf1.shtml]

Trivia

The decorator's trestle table is acknowledged as the basis for the pseudonym adopted by Robert Tressell, a decorator-turned-author, for his novel The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, published in 1910.

ee also

*Refectory table
*Table (furniture)
*Trestle desk

References

External links

* [http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=trestle Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary]
* [http://www.nga.gov/cgi-bin/pimage?18107+0+0+iadfurn National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC]
*Historical reference at [http://www.bartleby.com/65/ta/table.html Bartleby/Columbia Encyclopedia]