PURCHASING A RUSTIC FARM TABLE
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Comfort zone
French rustic farm tables have been appreciated throughout the centuries for their simplicity, practicality and warmth, and they just happen to fit so perfectly with the styles of our New England opened kitchens! Many have crossed the Atlantic, but we can also run into more or less successful replicas. So if you are on the market for an authentic French rustic farm table, here are a few tips to make your search more enjoyable.
The most common rustic farm tables are rectangular, around six feet long and two and a half feet wide, although some "community tables", also called monastery tables can be as long as 25 feet! They were not built to be taken apart, so before you go shopping for the table of your dreams, measure your doors and make sure your table will pass the corners and fit in its designated space.
They are usually built with a large belt supporting the structure and the table top. This belt gives it support and elegance, but it sometimes makes regular size chairs too high for a comfortable sitting position. That is why farm tables often come with benches, which usually sit lower. If you are not seduced by the relative comfort of a bench, test the chairs you will use to make sure you have at least eight inches of space between the belt and the seat.
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Authenticity
If you are looking for a real antique, first examine the top. It should be made of two or three thick solid wood boards (3/4 of an inch to 2 inches thick) often finished with a cross piece on each end. It should present the usual wears and tears of daily use (streaks, notches, cigarette and dish burns, stains,...). Those scars should be aged with time... beware of marks of lighter color. They are probably recent.
If the table included one or several drawers, they should be a bit lose. The number of drawers varies with the regional origin of the table. If there is only one, it should be at the end of the table: that's where the master of the house stood to cut and distribute the bread kept wrapped in cloth in that very drawer!
Hundreds of shoes and clogs should have worn out and on some areas rounded the central longitudinal board or beam connecting the feet, which are themselves particularly vulnerable. Beware of feet that are too neat and clean. Whitened feet show expected repeated floor wash.
The quality of joints is also a good sign of authenticity. Conceived to last forever, rustic farm tables are always assembled with impeccable fit of tenon and mortise, reinforced with large wood dowels. Screws and glue on those tables only appeared in the XXth century.
If several parts of a same table do not show the same wear, they are probably not of the same origin. But the artisans who made them were often poor, and would create their table with whatever wood was available to them. Certain differences are therefore sometimes the fruit of fabrication!
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The final touch
Regardless of certain imperfections, the overall look and feel of the table will determine your decision. Always ask the seller for a descriptive invoice. Ask for the regional origin of the table (if possible), the wood it is made of, its dimensions and its age or period. If the seller hesitates, do not reject the table you fell in love with. Instead, try negotiating its price!
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Top table: Late XIXth century walnut table from Auvergne (France). L: 7' 21"; W: 3' 21"; H: 2' 6"
Bottom table: Early XVIII century beechwood table from Auvergne (France) with 2 small lateral drawers and 2 large end drawers. L: 6' 6"; W: 5' 10"; H: 2' 7"
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