I have an antique cherry drop leaf table. It was used by my great great grandfather who died in 1922 at the age of 86 in Canton, Ohio.
The table is solid cherry. The wood is one inch thick. The top and drop leaves are single pieces of figured cherry. There are no glue joints in the table. There are wooden hinges for the swing legs that hold up the table leaves and there are unevenly spaced saw marks on the underside of the lumber that suggests to me that the lumber may have been cut with a pit saw.
What I am interested in is the age of the table.
The story behind the table and the Lincoln rocker is that my great great grandfather Kept his Bible on the table and would sit in the rocker next to the table and read his Bible. When he died the rocker was moved to the porch of the old log house where my great grandparents lived. My grandmother collected the chair, table and Bible from the old home place before it was sold. I refinished and caned the rocker 40 years ago. It was hanging by its rockers in the rafters of the barn with bailing twine woven for a seat. The table I recently acquired from my uncle's estate. My sister has the Bible.