Kauri Pine Farmhouse Refectory Table with 2 Drawers

• Kauri - An evergreen conifer tree associated with New Zealand, but also grown in northern Australia, and islands around the Pacific rim including Borneo, Vanuatu and New Guinea. The timber is generally golden in colour, and straight grained without much knotting.
  
  A by-product of the kauri tree was the kauri gum, the fossilised resin extracted from the tree. The gum was obtained through digging, fossicking in treetops, or more drastically, by bleeding live trees. Kauri gum was used in the manufacture of varnishes and other resin-based products, and also crafted into jewellery, keepsakes, and small decorative items.
  
  Kauri forests were prolific in the north of the North Island of New Zealand. European settlers in the 1700 and 1800s realised that the timber from these tall trees with broad trunks would be ideal for ship building and construction and a thriving industry was established harvesting the kauri tree. The forests were substantially reduced, and now the remaining Kauri trees that grow in New Zealand are protected, and there are reserves in various areas of the North Island.
  
  The remaining stands of kauri in New Zealand are under threat from "kauri disease", a microscopic organism that causes dieback in the trees, with vast tracts either dead or dying.
• Refectory Table - A long, substantial, solid-topped table, without leaves or extensions, used as a dining table. They were originally used in the refectories, or dining halls of monasteries, and are found in such places as boarding schools and university halls of residence. The tables usually have heavy turned legs, sometimes connected by stretchers close to the floor, and often have additional supporting legs along the railed frame. The term is also sometimes applied to a much shorter solid-topped table with a somewhat Jacobean flavour of the early 20th century.

This item has been included into following indexes:

• tables, large dining
  • dining, fixed tops, English 433
  • farm and farmhouse 118