I bought an Olhausen about 10 years ago. Once debugged, it has been a fine table. The original installer did not seat the slates on the frame properly (hold down screws), and somehow the slates squeezed beeswax out of the joint, which caused problems. In addition the bolts from the slates to rails were not torqued properly and needed constant adjustments to prevent a dead rail.
On the first cloth change (3 yr) the excess bees wax was removed, I used a dremel tool on the edges of the slates to remove a line where a ball bouncing off the back of the pocket could cut the cloth if velocity was sufficient--without altering the shelf length, and I had the pockets "double shimmed" for a smaller opening.
3 years ago the table went into storage, and I set it up when it got back {I did table mechanics back in the Frat House 1973-77}. So far, none of the gremlins have reappeared--and I an happy with the table, flatness, seams, rails, ... Moral, have someone who actually knows what he is doing do the install--not someone who says he knows what he is doing.
There are 5 levels of furniture grade tables--prices from memory.
1) veneer over particleboard .......................... $1500 way back when
2) veneer over cheap wood ............................ $2000 way back when
3) hardwood fronts particleboard backing $2500 way back when
4) hardwood fronts cheap wood . backing $3300 way back when
5) hardwood throughout ................................. $5000 way back when
Somewhere in the middle, the slate backing wood changes from cheap wood to poplar so the cloth can be changed more times before ... If you buy a furniture table, crawl up underneath it to view the interior wood(s) ... buying a used furniture table is an exercise in frustration--especially if the first buyer specified the wrong step on the ladder. This/these are the main reasons to specify a Diamond of Gold Crown--lots of cheap furniture tables and few top-end furniture tables. Buying a D or GC simply removes the debugging process from your list of "to dos".
I do not think my journey would have turned out as well as it did if I had not learned "table mechanics" at the Frat House. One year we even replaced the slate backing wood on a 90 year old table--it took forever to get the slates level.
