We’ve been building trestle base tables since the ’80′s, but we hadn’t been inspired to revisit this practical design for years. Then we thought that this might be the ideal base design to show our natural-edge table tops to best advantage. We offer this table with either a 2-board top or a 3 or 4-board top. A unique detail of our table tops is that the boards comprising the top are sawn in sequence, from one side of a single hardwood log.
The table shown, for example is made from 2 Cherry boards, each of which is 22″ wide. This requires that the log come from a tree which is at least twice as old as even the very highest grade of production-quality lumber. The goal is provide a visually ”quiet” table top, unbroken by boards which are cut from different trees, discordant in colour and grain pattern. This is especially important to us, as we rarely apply coloured stains to our Cherrywood. The advantages are several. A clear finished Cherry table showcases the unique copper colour of Cherry as it ages, and highlights the unique “chatoyance”, or cats-eye figure of the wood. And since we typically build tables for living rooms not precious rooms, signs of daily use do not show up as they do on stained surfaces, where the thin top coat colour may vary greatly from the natural wood colour below. We have also removed the tree bark and left a scrubbed, natural edge on both sides of the table top, though we could offer it trimmed if so desired.
For the table shown here, we chose Black Walnut for the cross stretcher, though of course it could be built in all Cherry. Like all of our furniture, we can also offer this table in Black Walnut, Tiger Maple (Eastern Red Maple) or Quarter-sawn White Oak, all from sequentially-sawn timbers, with a matching or contrasting wood stretcher.
The VERUS Trestle Table could also be scaled down to be a low coffee table, or made up to 11′ long or possibly longer, for a conference table.
