I have recently seen some tables in stores that solve a problem of ours, but rather than shell out the $$$ they’re asking, I’d of course like to build my own. Problem is, I have never seen the pivot hardware. Here’s what the tables are:
The table top is hinged in the middle, allowing it to fold in half on top of itself like a book. The top is also connected to the base on some sort of pivot toward one end of the table. When “closed” (ie, the top is folded in half), the top is slightly larger than the apron. To open and expand the table top, you fold open the two halves and pivot the top 90 degrees. It is now much larger than the apron.
For example, assume the apron’s dimension (top view) are 1.5′ wide by 2.5′ long, and when closed the table top is 2′ wide and 3′ long. The table top can flip open and rotate 90 degrees so that it is now 3′ wide and 4′ long. In other words, the open width is the same as the closed length, and the open length is twice the closed width.I hope this description is clear enough. If not, I could post or e-mail a drawing.
Has anyone ever seen this type of table before? Has anyone ever seen the pivot hardware available anywhere, and/or plans? I could not see the pivot on these tables, so don’t know what it is.
Thanks for any suggestions.
Nat
Replies
Nat --
A bolt will do just fine for the pivot. Okay, it is actually a lag screw driven into the underside of the table top.
Nat,
I own one; I inherited it from my Aunt Opal thirty or so years ago. It's an older mahogany piece, though not an antique, well made and finished.
It's in storage, so I cannot check this for sure; but as I recall the pivot is simply a largish peg fixed into the proper spot in the bottom of the top, that extends down through a cross-piece that runs between the front and back apron. The peg has a smaller peg through it, below the cross-piece, which holds a wooden washer in place. Very simple.
Obviously the peg is off-center on the top, and the hole through the cross piece is off center, as is the cross piece itself. I think figuring out where all those elements go would be more difficult than figuring out how to make it pivot. But I've never made one.
Alan
I've got such a table in my living room. It's an English antique and it's a game table. Underneath the rotating top (and enclosed within the apron) is storage space for games. The table is perfect for two to play chess on with the top closed, and when open can be used by four people.
I haven't tried to find out what the mechanism is for rotation. If you don't have any luck, get back to me and I'll see if I can find out more by doing some detective work.
John
Nat, they are known as swivel top tables, and are a variation on the envelope table (often the pattern used in Georgian card tables, etc..)
The hardware you're looking for is a card table pivot (aka table swivel plate) allowing the lower top to rotate 90°. The hinges used to join the leaves are either the counter top hinge (looks like a butterfly with its wings open) but many people prefer to use the mangle top hinge, which has a circular end to each plate. Both hinges have a double pin and are designed so that no knuckle protrudes when the leaves are folded closed.
A full description of this type of table and its construction can be found in that trusty old tome The Technique (US Dictionary) of Furniture Making by Ernest Joyce-- available at online booksellers, etc.. Slainte.
Edited 12/23/2002 3:15:27 PM ET by Sgian Dubh
Nat,
Sgian pretty well nailed the description and answered your questions. Mine has those hidden barrel type hinges, and a lag bolt it pivots on. As kids we called it the flip-flop table...and it is where my sisters kept their white gloves for church on Sunday...
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