Charak? Who's Charak??

Are you ready for my tall tale of the table I showed you at the end of my last post?

My Mom received a phone call one morning from one of her co-workers saying someone was putting a table out to the road. It looked like something we could use.  That was all I needed to hear. My Son & I jumped into my mini van & made it there within minutes.  At first glance it looked like your run of the mill drop leaf table.  It was in pretty good shape.  So we loaded it up.  It came with four leafs in a custom made crate.

When we get it home I take a closer look at it.  The first thing I notice is how dry the wood is.  The top has several scratches, a couple of gauges, two water rings & a huge bleach ring.  OK, now do I paint?  I decide to wait.  There are two arms under the top that swing out, but their on the same side of the table... Why?

 We open it up & install all the leafs..

Wow! This table is Huge. It would seat 10 easy.  When we opened it up, inside there is a label...

We stopped what we were doing & did a little research.

Charak Furniture Company? Have you ever heard of Charak Furniture?  Turns out  Charak Furniture was one of the leading manufactures of reproduction Colonial Furniture during the 19th Century in Boston. They are known for their eclectic pieces.  Most of their pieces are dated & numbered.  The date on this table is 1934, the "Danbury" table, number 89.  

Now I'm thinking maybe I should wait & not paint this table.

We couldn't figure out how to get the leafs to drop.  We could see the hinges underneath, so it had to drop somehow.  There is a bolt underneath at each end of the table top that secures the last leaf to the base.  When un-screwed, it releases the top from the base.  But it wouldn't drop.  Hmmm.....

Then my brilliant Husband said "Wait a minute,  it can turn!"

What!?  The light bulb goes off! That's why the arms are on the same side of the table.  This is not your traditional drop leaf table...

Once you pivot the top, you insert two of the four leafs to fill the open cavity of the base & you get a serving table!

Amazing!..... Not only am I not painting this table, I am not selling it either!  I am keeping it :)

I'm not sure if this table is a valuable antique or not, but if it is I don't want to do anything to it to hurt the finish. Since I am keeping it though, I do want to make it look as good as I can.  Not being very knowledgeable in Antique Restoration I didn't know where to start.  The table was dirty & had a funky smell.

So we decided to look on You Tube for some direction.  That sent us on a quick trip to the hardware store for some Murphy's Oil Soap & a bottle of Old English Oil.

We first vacuumed it off, then washed it down with the Murphy's Oil Soap & let it dry.  Now we wanted to see how this Old English Scratch Cover (for dark woods) would work.

We started with the leafs & was pleasantly surprised!  It made the scratches disappear & hydrated the wood as well as shining up the finish.

This stuff worked miracles.

I swear you could just hear the wood soaking up the oil & sighing with relief.......

This I could defiantly live with!!

We quickly moved it into our kitchen....

We love our new table.  Now when we have company we can add a leaf or two & enjoy a meal in the same room at the same table. 

It amazes me every week what Treasures I find on garbage day.  This has to be my best Roadside Treasure to date! Thanks Chris for the phone call & No, we did not paint it!  

So that is my tall tale on the Charak table. Unbelievable, yet true.

Have you found any Roadside Treasures you couldn't part with?

 Don't forget to check us out on Facebook to see what else we're up to.  Thanks for visiting,  Dee