French Butcher's Block Table with Horse Head and Drawers

• Back Boards - As the name implies, the boards that back a piece of cabinet furniture such as a chest of drawers. The backing timber is usually of cheaper material like pine (often called 'deal' by the British trade), though in early Australian colonial days, red cedar was also used to back a piece. As cedar became scarcer during the later 19th century, craftsmen turned to kauri pine.
  
  On early furniture, made before the first half of the 19th century, the backboards were often chamfered at the edges and the wide boards slotted into grooves in a supporting central frame. In later furniture, the backboards were generally nailed or screwed into rebates cut directly into the carcase and the boards became much thinner and narrower.
  
  From about the first world war plywood was frequently used for cheaper pieces.
  
  Backboards are one important way of judging the age of a piece of furniture.

This item has been included into following indexes:

• tables, French - French, wine and ocasional 548
• tables, purpose or type - butcher's and baker's 10