18th century table

Hi everybody

I've got this late 18th century (supposedly German, Austrian or Swiss) rustic table I'm patiently restoring ans was wandering if it was of common use back then to use difference essence of wood on a same piece (see photo, the center wood section) ?

I tend to think that this middle section is a late addition, although the accumulation of dirt equaly distributed and of same color as the rest tend to suggest both section are contemporary, so both would then be original (see detail on the other photo). So the visual result, once cleaned is a dark reddish wooden piece in the center and dark honey tone legs. Normal ? What do you think ? Feel free to give me your impressions.

Many thanks,
Matt

 

Hello, Matt. Interesting project. Do you really mean to call it 18th century (which would be the 1700s) or 19th century (1800s) instead?

 

Oh yeah, this is dated to around 1780. Contemporary to the French Revolution

 

Okay. So many people have trouble with the difference, I wanted to make sure.

 

Yeah, I know....I asked specifically the same question to the person who sold it to me ! Common mistake.

 

If by "different essence of wood" - you mean different shades or hues of the same type of wood, then YES!

I've been challenged more than once to strip the paint from an old piece to see a wood surprise! Most recently was a darker, different color of cypress wood for one door panel of a very large cabinet. I thought about using wood bleach, but even if I could knock down the darkness of the wood, I still doubt it would have come out the same in hue. I couldn't "resolve" that, so I varnished it and was done.

 

Is that the Table TOP, back in the far left of your image??

 

the sorry remnants of a Schragentisch; anybody's guess what the table top was when still in good nick. many original slate tops were replaced when defunct or split.

https://www.google.ch/search?q=ssch...=img&ei=j0NHX5fdGNG6a6nBhLAH&bih=652&biw=1376

 

Your base frame....

 

Thanks for the word "Schragentisch". That's all I needed