Industrial Metal Desks

[Toddzio]

@agoins I am going to try and take a drawer out to align it tonight, I will share my results.
If anyone has any suggestions, I am open to them!

 

[Bull]

You threw it out? If I ever meet you in real life, remind me to poke you in the eye!

Yeah, I know...

I used the desk in my office for a while. Then, I replaced it. At that time I didn't have a garage of any kind, and my small house was not setup to store a huge desk indefinitely. I put the desk on a front porch and said that I was saving it until I got a garage built. Then that porch was torn down and rebuilt as a three-season room, and the desk ended up next to the house, under a tree. It sat there for a long time. One day, a guy in a rickety truck cam up the driveway asking about it because he was a scrap metal dude. I let him take that desk, and he ended up helping me get rid of a giant old freezer that was in a shed I tore down.

I regret getting rid of the desk, for sure, but not having a garage made the save a tough one.

 

[JC23]

Bull, the way your luck has been in finding great deals, lately, I'm sure one will drop in your lap very soon!

 

[Bull]

Bull, the way your luck has been in finding great deals, lately, I'm sure one will drop in your lap very soon!

Heck, my problem is that I need to stop looking for deals. Craigslist should be blocked from my computer. I don't have the money or the space to drag anything else home, but sometimes it's difficult to avoid "the hunt!"

 

[Toddzio]

I still cannot get the drawer removed, but I was able to shim the left hand side of the drawer with a cut up rubber gasket to get it to open and close. It still lines up horribly though.

Anyone removed a drawer from a General Steel Desk? Model is GF 1440 I believe.

 

[nine4gmc]

I just open my drawer all the way, then lift the rear of the drawer up over the rollers and it comes right out.

 

[JC23]

I don't have the money or the space to drag anything else home, but sometimes it's difficult to avoid "the hunt!"

The Hunt is a big part of the fun!

 

[senlow]

My work in progress. I still need to put the other handle on. Anyone have any suggestions on how to align the drawers Its driving me insane.

The cabinet is racked. It's not square. The fix is simple. Just remove the drawers, and place a jack between the opposing corners that are too close together. Then use the jack to carefully push the cabinet back to square. Be sure to use some blocks of wood in the corners, so that the jack doesn't dent the cabinet. I've repaired metal cabinets and tool boxes with this method many times.

 

[Bull]

I might move my desk to the upstairs of the garage, or I might keep it downstairs and use it as a bench/work surface. In that case, 'd want to raise it up. What do you guys think the best method would be to raise it up?

 

[fflintstone]

I might move my desk to the upstairs of the garage, or I might keep it downstairs and use it as a bench/work surface. In that case, 'd want to raise it up. What do you guys think the best method would be to raise it up?[/QUOTE]

IMO the BEST way to raise a desk is to have 6 naked women each grab an edge and lift…….

 

[Johnson]

Score! I am cleaning out my mothers garage and there is an old metal desk sitting in there. I actually had our local habitat reStore scheduled to pick it up along with an old wood burning stove but now I'm going to cancel! I work for the post office and some of our old desks are steelcase, but the one in the garage doesn't have a badge on it (that I can find). It will need some cleaning, as racoons have been living in the garage. I think this one may have come from the dept of Veterans Affairs.

 

[Bugeyed Earl]

Here's one I had in the garage for a while. I eventually decided it was too deep for my needs (and I couldn't get it upstairs into my office,) so I sold it for a few bucks on craigslist.

 

[Bugeyed Earl]

I spotted this desk at a thrift shop this afternoon. The name tag said something like Steelart or Artcraft, the price tag says $40. The desk is actually lighter than the small one in my previous post, maybe under 150lbs?

 

[reddog289]

You know this was the first place I thought of when my co-worker asked me if I wanted to haul a desk out of her basement to scrap it. I'll get it out.. But I ain't gonna scrap it, I'll find room for it. It's an old Palos Industries? desk.
Wife ain't gonna like it but it's coming home. I'll figure out how to get it out.

 

[Bull]

You know this was the first place I thought of when my co-worker asked me if I wanted to haul a desk out of her basement to scrap it. I'll get it out.. But I ain't gonna scrap it, I'll find room for it. It's an old Palos Industries? desk.
Wife ain't gonna like it but it's coming home. I'll figure out how to get it out.

I believe you can unbolt them and break them down into their constituent parts for easier one-person maneuvering.

 

[reddog289]

Thanks Bull, I was thinking that myself. It went together, So it should come apart.

 

[Bull]

Thanks Bull, I was thinking that myself. It went together, So it should come apart.

You're welcome. I think somewhere on GJ is a thread in which a member even does this to a desk he was refinishing.

I haven't ever taken mine apart, but plan to if I refinish it or move it upstairs.

 

[Alchymist]

I believe you can unbolt them and break them down into their constituent parts for easier one-person maneuvering.

They come apart, then they get repurposed:

 

[bullnerd]

They come apart, then they get repurposed:

That is very cool! Never saw that before.

 

[Alchymist]

That is very cool! Never saw that before.

Still needs to get it's wooden top.

 

[Flathead Johnny]

just a heads up if you want to restore these desks, they used asbestos as fireproofing material

 

[jdaallen]

just a heads up if you want to restore these desks, they used asbestos as fireproofing material

Very true Flathead. I've been in the abatement business for 20 years and have wrapped & disposed many of these desks, file cabinets and safes because of the asbestos content.

 

[Flathead Johnny]

i picked on up up today for $30 at a auction, i got lucky no asbestos padding in it!

 

[gatewaysysop]

Very true Flathead. I've been in the abatement business for 20 years and have wrapped & disposed many of these desks, file cabinets and safes because of the asbestos content.

Is this particular to certain manufacturers or desks coming out of certain industries? Crossed paths with quite a few in academic settings and never seen the asbestos padding in any of those, although that might be a consequence of where they came from (hence the question).

 

[Flathead Johnny]

it seems like some dont have the padding which i just encountered with my recent tanker desk purchase, all the ones i have run into in the past had the asbestos padding

 

[wrenchin883]

so after reading all these posts im gonna make most of you people mad , I work at a power plant that was built in the 1920's and we just shut the old coal side down in 2010 , all the old office equipment is still in the old abandoned building that I have access to and permission to take anything I want , I am gonna start rounding up the desks and then get my car trailer and load them with the company forklift and stick them in my garage then get them on craigslist , and of course keep one for myself , but if anyone is around the Northeast PA area let me know and I have no problem taking care of the GJ community first

since the building is not going anywhere and neither is its contents it will be a long time before I get them all out , im just one person so please bear with me

I will post pictures as time permits

take care

 

[Too_Many_Tools]

I believe you can unbolt them and break them down into their constituent parts for easier one-person maneuvering.

Yes you can.

It makes it much easier to move...and one can swap the components to make any number of different setups.

 

[iamcitizen]

Has anyone figured out how to replace the tops of the desks with the vinyl-type tops? I recently realized my mom has had one of these in her back room for YEARS and has been begging me to take it to the dump. Naturally, I want to keep it for myself. The top is not salvageable at all... in fact, I peeled it up today. I'm not sure what type of material can be used to replace it.

The desk is identical to this one: http://img3.etsystatic.com/000/0/6011536/il_fullxfull.251742619.jpg

I was sort of wondering what is beneath the top.... beneath the silver tray that holds the vinyl top. Might it be possible to pry up the silver tray to reveal a plain steel top beneath?

I have no idea where to go from here, so any help is appreciated!

 

[I PLAY FOR KEEPS]

This is my McDowell & Craig. Its been in the family for four generations and still going strong. It has been neglected for the past couple years since I got out of the boating industry, but she's getting a face lift. I plan on raising it 8 inches to be the same height as my workbench by putting it on castors and possibly adding a butcher block top.

 

[Harwinton]

I've got a big old All Steel Equipment desk in my basement that I got for free from work a while ago. They're great desks--they're very easy to disassemble and move, and are very sturdy and durable. Packed it up from work, moved it, and brought it up and down a total of two flights of stairs all by myself with minimal trouble.

 

[Bull]

Has anyone figured out how to replace the tops of the desks with the vinyl-type tops? I recently realized my mom has had one of these in her back room for YEARS and has been begging me to take it to the dump. Naturally, I want to keep it for myself. The top is not salvageable at all... in fact, I peeled it up today. I'm not sure what type of material can be used to replace it.

The desk is identical to this one: http://img3.etsystatic.com/000/0/6011536/il_fullxfull.251742619.jpg

I was sort of wondering what is beneath the top.... beneath the silver tray that holds the vinyl top. Might it be possible to pry up the silver tray to reveal a plain steel top beneath?

I have no idea where to go from here, so any help is appreciated!

I'm interested in this also. My desk needs a new top badly, as the old material has cracked and broken off in places.

 

[Steve V.]

I spent a couple of hours taking this beast apart. It's amazing to see how this was built. There is a mechanism in the rear for the drawers that I'm not sure what it does and the top connects with a latch type system similar to a window in your home, everything else unscrewed pretty easily. The top is trashed, the rubber is not salvageable and I'm not sure how to replace, so I will try and blast it off or just get a stainless top from Ikea. I removed the feet and hardware and polished them up, turned out nice. I think I will powder coat in metallic deep red. I'll get some pics of the insides with the top off tomorrow.

I have one just like this. I got it in St Louis for free when my son and I took a baseball road trip in 2009 (Got to see Pujols hit a home run at Busch stadium). I just happened to look on Craig's list the night before we left. Picked it up the next morning. They still have the small rubber bumpers and nylon pieces for the drawers for these. Mine was made in August 1956.

Steve

 

[Talisheek]

That is the type of desk I have my ham radio station on.

 

[iamcitizen]

Has anyone here removed the asbestos padding from their desk? Please tell!

I addressed the issue of the top of the desk. First I peeled the old rubber/linoleum and removed the sticky residue with acetone. I then sprayed two coats of rustoleum primer. I took the rubber stuff to Lowes and had them mix a paint in the same color as the top material. I painted over the primer a few times and then put a bartop epoxy over it. It looks beautiful! But I must address this asbestos padding issue ASAP!

Edited to add: Where is the asbestos normally? I will take the desk apart and check for it but I'd first like to know where it is so I don't spend too much time searching.

 

[Albiemanmike]

Has anyone here removed the asbestos padding from their desk? Please tell!

I addressed the issue of the top of the desk. First I peeled the old rubber/linoleum and removed the sticky residue with acetone. I then sprayed two coats of rustoleum primer. I took the rubber stuff to Lowes and had them mix a paint in the same color as the top material. I painted over the primer a few times and then put a bartop epoxy over it. It looks beautiful! But I must address this asbestos padding issue ASAP!

Edited to add: Where is the asbestos normally? I will take the desk apart and check for it but I'd first like to know where it is so I don't spend too much time searching.

I would not worry about the asbestos as long as you don't disturb it there should be no danger in contaminating the air you are breathing. If you start messing with it you will be contaminating the air around you and potentially endangering your life. Asbestos is no joke believe me. My biggest client is a law firm that has become experts in asbestos litigation and the stories of the workers who have been contaminated and subsequently died is heart breaking.

 

[iamcitizen]

I would not worry about the asbestos as long as you don't disturb it there should be no danger in contaminating the air you are breathing. If you start messing with it you will be contaminating the air around you and potentially endangering your life. Asbestos is no joke believe me. My biggest client is a law firm that has become experts in asbestos litigation and the stories of the workers who have been contaminated and subsequently died is heart breaking.

I know it's a bit irrational, but I'd rather have it removed by a professional than have it sitting dormant in my house. Do you know where it was so that I can check to see if the desk has it?

 

[JC23]

Anybody have any pics of one of them apart? That would be cool to see.

 

[Nowater]

No pix, but mine comes apart from six clips that hold the top down to the two pedestal bases. Some of the clips are right inside the top drawer cabinet. Remove the two (outside) top drawers-both sides. My clips are made of two pieces, a bent heavy duty wire and a "flatish" part about 3 inches long. Once you find one clip, you can find the others with some looking. Note, if you disassemble one of these desks remove the center drawer and modesty panel first. Then take off the top, the two pedestals will now stand free, or probably fall over, so get some help.

 

[Flathead Johnny]

Anybody have any pics of one of them apart? That would be cool to see.

I do...i just redid mine, i will post a thread on the project and post the link here

 

[RStewart]

So I sign up last night to get garage ideas and spend an hour reading about old desks. I think I like it here.