Single piece tops ?

Generally speaking, when did U.S. furniture makers switch to clued up boards instead of single piece table tops, lets says in the 24 x 36 size range. I've been looking for a replacement walnut top for a circa 1890 table base. Seems like the sectioned tops came in in the 1920's ? ?

 

When they ran out of old-growth/ virgin/ first cut forests which was toward the end of the 18th century on the east coast and gradually followed west during the 19th century. I would note that the "west" in the early 19th century was Ohio, Mich, Illinois, etc.
The good news is, you can still purchase old-growth timber/lumber but get out your pocketbook, it is hideously expensive. Walnut, white pine, poplar, etc. boards that are 24+ inches wide are used mostly on restoration projects, either furniture or houses.
Here is an old-growth black walnut board I purchased 10-15 years ago, 27 inches wide x about 6 feet long. I was restoring a Queen Anne (1760) piece that needed a new top.

 

That is a beautiful piece of wood!

 

Indeed, it had a beautiful price tag attached as I recall!
Here in the states, they have what I call "boutique sawmills", sawmill companies that travel all over the nation, some, all over the world for old-growth timber, It's all they do.

 

Just out of interest, what would a ‘beautiful price tag’ be now for a piece like that?.

 

I don't know for sure, but I'd guess $250 on a good day, depending on the wood. (my late dad found a chestnut tree fetched up against a dam back in the 80s. The power company was going to call someone to haul it off. Dad told 'em to call a sawmill instead, who were out there lickedy split and did the job on their dime. good deal both ways) It's sometimes cheaper probably to get a granite or marble slab, the way some old Victorian bedroom pieces were done.

 

10- 15 years ago, I paid approximately $600- $700 for that board, today, you would have to double/triple that number easily.
The other thing you need to realize is, you can't release that kinda wood to any tom, dick, or harry. You have to hire someone who REALLY knows what the hell they are doing wood-wise. The cost of the above board plus someone to mill it into a newly finished top for my QA piece? $2000. 10-15 years ago.
The old-growth wood business is BIG BUSINESS these days. It's called WOOD PORN and depending on what kinda "porn" that you are interested in or need for your project it's no problem at all to drop 5k-10k on a SINGLE BOARD!
Here is a video below of one of these old-growth wood dealers who travel the world in search of old-growth timber.
These guys are like antique dealers, once you start talking to them, you can't shut them up!

WOOD PORN!

 

One guess, these are kindred spirits! I understand the enthusiasm if not the object thereof.

 

Yep, these guys are gone, Gone, GONE! on wood, in particular, OLD WOOD!

 

There's a market for this stuff by the wealthy as well, if you happen to own an ocean Yacht or large Airplane and you want the interior fitted with 500-year-old Carpathian Elm for example..........

 

Ahhh. rail nuts with a different emphasis. Old home week! I was raised by a railroad fiend.

 

Thanks for the replies ~ So I imagine we saw single piece tops through the mid Victorian period, say 1880 or so and as the large trees were eliminated, the furniture industry's demand made it necessary to go to multiple board tops.

 

Even by 1880, a lot of factories went to multi-board tops. Smaller companies and country craftsmen could have been still using single boards at that time but the bigger factories had switched over.

 

Another big factor I am pretty sure is, wide boards just do not fit in with industrial time/speed constraints when manufacturing furniture with machines.
That wide walnut board above had to be air-dried outside in a shed for 4 years BEFORE it reached a moisture content to safely finish the drying process in a wood kiln. You can't "rush" wide wood slabs with modern wood drying techniques or you'll ruin them.
By the 1850s here, steam power was the dominant method of manufacturing furniture so even if virgin/first cut forests were available, NO WAY they could wait around drying massive boards for years.
They needed timber that could be logged, sawmilled into boards, and then immediately dried in a wood kiln & ready for the factory floor.
You can't do that with wide boards, they REFUSE to submit to your modern ways!

 

More likely 1840s-1850 here in the states when furniture making went from all handmade to steam-powered machines.
Not only were old-growth forests greatly diminished but just as important, modern industrialization had no time for fussing with 24 inch wide boards.

 

Thankyou for a really interesting thread. Something I hadn’t ever considered before.

 

Yep, totally agree.
You see evidence of the change in furniture construction from the Federal period (1790-1830) where furniture was entirely hand made with mostly solid board carcass construction to mostly frame & panel carcass construction starting in the 1840s.
Frame & Panel (stiles & rails) construction was ideal for machines where wood parts could be mass-produced for different furniture styles.