1920s Craftsman style Drafting/Machinist table.

[SquirrelsTools]

So, the title, is what I was told. I didn't pay what one apparently goes for (yikes) but it was enough.

The top tilts, is original and scarred.

The hardware looks pretty old (square nuts and such. And mostly original?

It's in incredible shape, if it's actually that age? Seriously. Wow.

It's solid wood and steel. So heavy...so...heavy.

The only thing missing as far as I can tell is what looks like locks that were taken (not drilled) from all of the drawers? And frames of it's supposed to have them?

I don't think the sheet metal guards on the legs are original, I could be wrong.

This is the only coat of paint on it.

I cannot, for the life of me, find a makers mark, stamp, brand, date etc. Can anyone help me out here? Any information would be appreciated and awesome. It's been in my shop, driving me bonkers for months.

I know it was referred to as craftsman "style" not sure if that's indictive of a maker though?

Don't even know if the date is right honestly, just thought it was cool. Anything helps, thanks.

 

[RTM]

I'm not sure I would focus on "craftsman" as much as "frame and panel" construction. That looks like every old school desk I've seen. 1930-50s would be my guess on age. Value, not much. Around here people are giving away school desks, with the oak not painted over. The panels are oak ply, the legs can be built up of several smaller pieces to look like 2x2 solid QS oak on all four faces, which if solid wood would only display QS on two faces..

The individual locking drawers implies it was probably used in a school, and each student locked their stuff up, vs a single user where one key would lock everything. So I would look in school supply catalogs from 1930-50s to see what you could find.

And the paint really hurts value.

QS = quarter sawn, the prettiest white oak.

 

[SquirrelsTools]

I'm going to have to disagree with you there. It's almost chest high on me (6'1) and four foot across. It's got drafting panel racks on the side and a top that tilts to a 45° never seen a school desk that size.

This isn't ply, anywhere. It's over 250lbs.

 

[RTM]

I'm going to have to disagree with you there. It's almost chest high on me (6'1) and four foot across. It's got drafting panel racks on the side and a top that tilts to a 45° never seen a school desk that size.

This isn't ply, anywhere. It's over 250lbs.

The door panel, and the side of that cabinet aren't plywood? Color me surprised.

 

[SquirrelsTools]

Nope haha, they're solid. I was surprised too. Part of the reason I bought it. I have a garage full of quarter and half sawn sanded (red) oak plywood. Furniture making is how I stay centered (I have a lot of post traumatic stress issues and a TBI) I just didn't want to add more to my profile thing. It already looks braggy to me and I don't like feeling that way. I just put most of that up there so people had a rough idea of what I'm about.

 

[RTM]

maybe start poking around here

Bruce's School Shop Annual

www.google.com

 

[GreyOwl]

I’m going to expand on RTM’s idea and say a high school or college drafting class with the drawers for each student’s drafting supplies.

 

[rancherbill]

It doesn't look like school stuff to me. I think it's an upright desk used by several people, such as shift foremen or schedulers. here's a foot rung for comfort working standing up. Each person has a drawer. Clipboards or schedule boards or something like that go in the vertical slots.

 

[SquirrelsTools]

I've tried 4 brands of school tables from 2 decades. A lot of them come close to the style/design for sure. Thank you for the reference and I genuinely stand corrected if it's the case, but none of the school tables from that time period seem to have the six drawers, cabinet, and tilt together. Nor the footrest that is definitely factory installed.

Again, if it is a school table, I'll 100% admit I'm wrong.

Also, the price on the modern ones that do have all of it are..... significant. The school ones in a similar style with just drawers are ...not cheap. Especially when compared to what I paid

 

[slowtwitch73]

Any company making stuff long ago had legions of draftsmen... seems this could have been from industry just as well as from a school.

Unless you can find a makers mark, you'll just need to do lots of google image searches until you find a hit that hopefully has some info as to the maker.

 

[SquirrelsTools]

Yeah, I'm having issues with the side cabinet of that style+metal drawer together in that configuration. What I'm discovering unfortunately, is that a great deal of producers had dozens of customization options for specific industries. They even made one for prisons ha.

 

[RTM]

This may be your target.

E. H. Sheldon & Co. : Shop Bench and Drafting Table Section of Catalog No. 25 : E. H. Sheldon & Co. : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

40 p., illus., 27.8 cm, trade catalog

archive.org

 

[SquirrelsTools]

This may be your target.

E. H. Sheldon & Co. : Shop Bench and Drafting Table Section of Catalog No. 25 : E. H. Sheldon & Co. : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

40 p., illus., 27.8 cm, trade catalog

archive.org

I ....I....oh my God man. Thank you. Thank you so much. I've seriously been agonizing over it since it came my way. Like, this has been a rough year too.

Is there anything I can do for you? Like do you need anything for finding it? Seriously. PM me, let me know.

I can't even, I have a compulsive disorder. That was like instantaneous pain relief haha. Like wow. You're amazing. Thanks.

 

[RTM]

Glad to help. I would like to say it was the results of lots of study, painfully crawling thru my notes, etc.

The truth is, I stumbled across it while researching bar clamp makers, and recognized the shape from your description and photos.

It’s a little newer than I was (second) guessing at 1940, but the no plywood bit threw me off.

 

[SquirrelsTools]

Yeah I can't find anything older. Find your clamps?

 

[RTM]

Yeah I can't find anything older. Find your clamps?

Nope, not yet, still poking about in my free time.

 

[SquirrelsTools]

Let me know what information you need, PM me. Two heads are better than one and I'm going to be posting to eBay all day anyway.

Have a bunch of carbide burrs, cutters , Micro mills, and abrasives to unload. Thinking about selling my Curtis Drawers. Funerals are unrealistically expensive. It's ridiculous. Glad I stockpile when I can.

 

[FJ 432]

i had one of these for a bit. White oak taken out of a local area trade school for drafting.

 

[SquirrelsTools]

Nice! I guess this one came from about two hours away from me. There's a museum there with one that isn't the original color, or the original top. They also have it listed as 1950s.

I've looked at what they sell for right now. Outside of the quick flip on offerup that exists, it's decent. Really leaning towards seeing if the museum wants it though. I don't know yet. I'll post something.

 

[Aaron_W]

Nice desk, it is hard to find a smallish drafting table set up. Most of the small ones are cheap junk and the nice ones are usually like 3x6 foot full size tables. I finally found a small 2x3 nice all wood drafting table a right before the Covid lockdown.

I like that bank of drawers and the side cabinet for storage. Mine just has 2 thin, full width drawers under the top.

This may be your target.

E. H. Sheldon & Co. : Shop Bench and Drafting Table Section of Catalog No. 25 : E. H. Sheldon & Co. : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

40 p., illus., 27.8 cm, trade catalog

archive.org

That is an awesome catalog. I'm downloading a copy for future desk making use.

 

[SquirrelsTools]

Nice desk, it is hard to find a smallish drafting table set up. Most of the small ones are cheap junk and the nice ones are usually like 3x6 foot full size tables. I finally found a small 2x3 nice all wood drafting table a right before the Covid lockdown.

I like that bank of drawers and the side cabinet for storage. Mine just has 2 thin, full width drawers under the top.



That is an awesome catalog. I'm downloading a copy for future desk making use.

Honestly I think the only bad part about it is that there's no room for it, and it's God awful heavy haha. It's pretty awesome otherwise.

 

[captaindiode]

We had similar in drafting class. The drawers are for each students drawing tools and the other area is to store each students drawing board. The t-square was shared. Six drawers and six boards for a traditional 6 period high school.

 

[SquirrelsTools]

We had similar in drafting class. The drawers are for each students drawing tools and the other area is to store each students drawing board. The t-square was shared. Six drawers and six boards for a traditional 6 period high school.

I wish it had come with the square, or any of the drawing instruments. I left a set of 1920s student drafting instruments in the divorce. (And a collection of 1970s sci Fi ....)

 

[Aaron_W]

Honestly I think the only bad part about it is that there's no room for it, and it's God awful heavy haha. It's pretty awesome otherwise.

It doesn't look that big, but hard to tell in a photo. I can believe heavy.

Mine was clearly meant for a home or nice office where it would be taken care of. it is deceptively lightweight despite being made of solid wood. I can believe that yours was made for a school, it looks like it was built tough to handle years of hard use.

 

[SquirrelsTools]

It's a pretty heavy gauge steel. And solid. I think the add page shows 233 lbs? When I went to lift it onto the truck the first time it was a little surprising. I was expecting office furniture heavy, not dresser lol