Industrial Metal Desks

[Bull]

Do any of you have one of these in your garage? I am talking about the very heavy steel desks, probably from the 40s or 50s, often in olive green or gray, some with a metal top and some covered with a kid of tar/rubber top. Couple/few drawers on the right side, sometimes a cabinet on the left, plus a narrow drawer in the middle.

I let a roaming scrap metal guy haul one away a couple years ago, kind of regret it now. But, I have one old beat up one in a shed that needs to be cleaned up if I am going to use it. There is also at least one, in good condition, in my parents' basement that would be free for the taking.

If anyone might appreciate and use these things, I figure it would be people on here.

 

[A_Pmech]

I'd love a "battleship" for my office, to match my Mayline 8' drafting board. But MA is a bit far.

The tops are covered with drafting linoleum.

 

[speed bump]

We have one at my dads office, and a big wooden one from the same time period both of which weigh an impressive amount.

 

[Bull]

Is "battleship" a common slang name for them? I don't know what drafting linoleum is like. The one the scrap guy hauled away had a top that was covered in some sort of like a waxy/rubber deal. I had chipped/peeled most of it away when it was being used in my upstairs office.

The weight is impressive...from a time when manufacturers did not skimp on steel. It took me and a friend to carry mine upstairs, with lots of grunting.

The more I think about it, the more I want one in my garage. But, they don't offer a ton of storage...although the drawers are pretty deep.

 

[Steve from Socal]

The curvy ones from the late 40' early 50' are sought after by the industrial loft crowd around here. There was a company restoring them and painting them outrageous colors, tangerine metal flake, candy apple red, lime green, and asking over 2 grand for them. The ones with Art-Deco trim are even more highly sought after.

Steve

 

[Bull]

How curvy are we talking here, Steve? Just rounded edges, or whacky wavy bodies?

I need to get some pics of the ones I have access to. The one in the shed I don't even know the history of, but it has been in there a good long time.

 

[turrican]

I think you're talking about Steelcase desks?

http://www.pastpresentfuture.net/examples/desks.html

Love them; had one as my office desk for a few years - was too big to move cross country recently, though.

 

[Steve from Socal]

Some of them were like the ones in the link above, some were more curvy and ornate. The ones that were done here in L.A. had painted tops and many were pin-striped

Steve

 

[Bull]

Is Steelcase the brand?

This one looks quite a bit like the one I threw out, except the top is different:

 

[Bull]

One of these chairs would be great to go with the desk, too:

 

[Steve from Socal]

Steelcase is one of several brands; I think Hamilton and Hon were others. The one in your picture is I think later perhaps 60's the early desks has stub leg and the later ones had full height legs that form the corners. One of the companies that made steel desks "Hon" had a factory across the way for a hangar I used to fly from and their front office had an old Decoish desk. I got seconds shelving and door cabinets from them.

The rounder the better for the Mid-Century collectors, the ornate detail was aluminum trim around the top and base IIRC kind of like body side molding.

Steve

 

[Steve from Socal]

Bingo,

That is the style and the chair is a must!!! Are you going with Mid-Century Pink?

Steve

 

[Bull]

One of my projects tomorrow will be to assess the one in the shed and at my folks' place.

This is how mania starts. It's late, I'm surfing, and then I get fixated on an idea, usually about something vintage.

 

[Bull]

Bingo,

That is the style and the chair is a must!!! Are you going with Mid-Century Pink?

Steve

Haha, not my first choice, but it is pretty retro!

 

[Steve from Socal]

And here I would of thunk that a guy with a wood barn would be more inclined towards a nice quarter sawn oak desk. I am big Art Deco fan but I pound out these messages on a 100+ year old roll top. The metal desks are cool, I had one and an old Hamilton drawing table in my hangar for a long time.

Steve

 

[A_Pmech]

"battleship desk" is fairly common slang amongst the used office furniture guys I know. Or, "tanker desk". Just describe what you're looking for and you can see the lightbulb go off on top of their head. Usually followed by "I know exactly what you're looking for, follow me!"

Drafting linoleum comes in various thicknesses. When new, it has an extremely smooth top with a light matte sheen. It's usually about .075" thick, +-, although I've seen it up to 1/8" thick on desks. It is designed to provide an optimum writing surface, which has a very small amount of "give" under the point of the writing instrument. This prevents a pencil from skating on the paper, as it does on a hard surface. It also allows for a more uniform density mark and provides a surface that can be pricked by drafting instruments like compasses, dividers, and trammels. It's made in the same process as linoleum flooring, but to much higher standards of quality.

 

[-B-]

I have an old typewriter desk I am trying to rid my self of now must weigh 150lbs . It is OD green and has 6 draws and the center section tilts to revel the space for the typewriter. I know some of the linage of the desk as it came from United Shoe Machine in Beverly and arrived in my basement in the early 70's. 3 guys carried it in but on slide it up and out.

 

[Lookin4'67Galaxieconv]

Bull, I'd love to have one of those older desks in my garage. One things stops me...space. If I had a much bigger garage, I'd find the room for one. A lot of times people will give them away b/c they just want them gone. Those big old metal desks are kind of like pool tables...you can't wait to get one...but when you really need the space, you can't wait to get rid of it!

btw, I type my messages on a 1940s wood desk that I restored the top of with a beautiful mahogany finish. I took the drawers out of it and carried it in here by myself. Being 50" wide and 26" deep (the desk, not me!) I was able to handle it. I think a 60" x 30" one, which is a standard size, would've been a bit too heavy for one person.

 

[nate379]

They are on Craig's List all the time here. I don't think many people want them cause they must weigh 500-600lbs!

I helped move one up a flight of stairs a while back. 3 guys and we even took the drawers out. I darn near had a coronary!

Though I'm pretty sure you could park a car on them and they wouldn't even flinch

 

[Merkava_4]

I let a roaming scrap metal guy haul one away a couple years ago, kind of regret it now.

Those old Steelcase desks are costing a serious premium now.

 

[ironroad 9c1]

http://richmond.craigslist.org/bfs/1231010594.html

 

[KCarGuy]

Yes, I have one of those old "Tanker" style desks in my Garage. They are serious Beasts.
It has a thick Rubber Top on it. An Aluminum trip strip around the top. I Keep a spare Computer on it.
My Desk has a nice center drawer with a metal orginizer. On the right side is 3 pull out drawers with removable metal seperators. On the left is 1 large metal door that opens (I keep all my Drills/Cases...Sanders/Cases...Nailers/Cases inside there.
Originally it had a hydraulic shelf that would swing out and lift up...used for some type of Machine shop equipment. It weighed a ton, so I removed that and scraped it years ago.
I love that Steel "Retro" Desk......My Chair is a Racing Bucket seat thats modified with a swivel stand on casters. Its my Command Center!
Everyone who sits in the chair wants to steal it...its so Darn Comfy!
(I do want to repaint my desk in Corona Colors...Dark Blue and Mustard Gold.)

 

[bgott]

Build some extensions for the legs and add a 1/4" plate top and those old desks would make one hell of a work bench.

 

[Stuart in MN]

I don't know if they still make them today, but they did build those battleships at least up until the late 1980s - I had a new one in my office at the place I worked at the time, along with the matching table. By then the top was made of a Formica-type material, instead of the drafting table stuff they used in earlier years.

 

[ears]

I dont really have a place to use one at home, but I have two floating around at work and one down at moms house I jacked up and put on casters to use as an outfeed table for her table saw.

By the way the swing out table was made for the old heavy electric typewriters.

 

[kbs2244]

They were way over built.
I use the 3 drawer side as work tables and tool bases.
I put casters on them.
I don’t have much use for the side with the file sized drawer.
The long drawers are great for breaker bars, toque wrenches, etc.

 

[ironroad 9c1]

nothing wrong with over built, all kinds of stuff wrong with the under built **** we have to deal with nowadays.

 

[sammerdog]

Yup. Steelcase. Used to employ a couple thousand people here in Grand Rapids Michigan over on 44th Street. Shoot, as recently as the early 90's.

Japan signed the surrender documents on a Steelcase desk.

Steelcase went public in the 90's. Started moving their production facilities initially down to the Carolinas, now mostly overseas. China, Mexico, and now Thailand.

Their corporate offices are still here in Grand Rapids.

They've closed and bulldozed most of their huge desk plant.

Their old chair plant is in mothballs. They'll probably be bulldozing that too belong long.

We used to make stuff up here in Michigan.......

 

[A_Pmech]

Japan signed the surrender documents on a Steelcase desk.

I didn't know that....

They've closed and bulldozed most of their huge desk plant.

Their old chair plant is in mothballs. They'll probably be bulldozing that too belong long.

We used to make stuff up here in Michigan.......

Good stuff, too.

I have a BUNCH of 50's and 60's Steelcase 5-drawer filing cabinets out of McDonnell Douglas. They weigh more empty than a new Hon does when full. The drawer slides are heavier and larger than a Snap-On toolbox, too.

I'm rebuilding the band speed tachometer of my Do-All today. It was made by AC Spark Plug company of Flint 7/1946. It's a converted car speedometer, as I'll show tonight. Built like an instrument should be, not the cheap chunky Playskool looking things they put in cars today.

We used to make stuff here in America.

 

[Bull]

I checked out the desk in my barn. Where are the Steelcase manufacturer labels usually placed? It was too creepy and dirty to open the drawers...I know there are rotten mice bodies and spiders living in them. There is a tag on the outside that says it belonged the General Electric at one time. Next time, I'll go into the shed with some gloves and more fortitude and open the drawers.

Going to see my folks for dinner in a few minutes. I'll check out the desk in their basement. My wife is pregnant, so she can't help me move it, and my dad is in his 70s with a bum ankle. Not sure how I'll get it up through the bulkhead, even if I eat my spinach.

 

[sammerdog]

I checked out the desk in my barn. Where are the Steelcase manufacturer labels usually placed?

Sorry, but you do have to open the drawer to see the Steelcase emblem. There will be a 1"x2" metal tag on the outer edge of either a bottom drawer or the center "pencil" drawer with a serial and part number etched into it.

Moved a ****-load of Steelcase desks, file cabinets, and chairs over the years - some of the metal desks had removable legs, most only will allow you to unscrew the chrome levelers on the bottom.

The older ones are heavy, but very very well built. My MIL was retired out of there in the 90's. She can still get into the company store. I've been in there a few times. The new stuff just isn't the heavy duty quality furniture of days gone by.

Steel? Not so much.
Particle board? Yeah.

Used to be like GM as far as a GREAT place to work. Fathers would sponsor their Sons and jobs would get passed down from generation to generation. Hourly pay was "fair", but the families that owned it when it was private were really big on sharing their good fortune in the form of quarterly bonuses with the employees. Heck, the local furniture, appliance, auto, and carpet stores knew when those bonuses were due to come out and would hold special "Steelcase Employee Only" events late at night. Those were the days.

I suppose Steelcase should still get a pat on their back - they stopped laying people off on Fridays due to the suicide rate. Guy would get fried on a Friday afternoon, go home and stew about it over the weekend, and Sunday evening....... well, things would just come to a head.

Now they fire their people on Mondays.

Nice people.

Oh - but this past quarter, they announced they made a $12.8 million installment on their new corporate jet! That's cool..... but they're canning another 200 people. White collar this time.

Nice people.

 

[-B-]

Bull to remove heavy desk you need a good hard wheel two wheeler and a long 2x6 ( 10 or 12 will do to) Tip desk up on end buy on two wheeler move it to the bulk head now lay the 2x on the stairs as a temp ramp. now tip desk on to the 2x so that it is at it's narrowest push up ramp or pull ( with straps) my favorite is get it quarter on it's way then pic up low end of ramp and slide the desk right out the bulkhead.

 

[Bull]

B, I think I get what you are saying. If I can't find help, I'll have to try that.

The desk at my folks' place is not a Steelcase, but a Yawman and Erbe, but it is definitely quite old, made of thick steel, and heavy. It looks like the Steelcase pieces, but I suppose more than one company was in the big desk game back in the day.

 

[Coach James]

I have an old bank(BB&T) desk in my garage. It took 5 of us to move it out of our building and onto my truck. I also have two steel desks in the building that I plan to bring home as soon as I make room in the garage. I paid $50 for both of them a few years ago at a used office furniture store.

Coach

 

[Lookin4'67Galaxieconv]

So whatcha gonna do with all those desks, Coach?

 

[-B-]

B, I think I get what you are saying. If I can't find help, I'll have to try that.

The desk at my folks' place is not a Steelcase, but a Yawman and Erbe, but it is definitely quite old, made of thick steel, and heavy. It looks like the Steelcase pieces, but I suppose more than one company was in the big desk game back in the day.

Pivots and levers and you can move most anything by your self. I have been left alone on many a work site or warehouse with noting but bars and levers to get things done.

 

[A_Pmech]

How to move a desk?

With a desk mover, of course!

Roll it under the desk, push down on the handle. Easy as that, empty or full. I always wondered how the school janitors managed to get the teacher's battleship desks out to the hallway when cleaning, yet leave all the stuff in/on the desk. Then, one day I saw them in action.

Some real rental houses still rent them.

 

[Coach James]

I have an old bank(BB&T) desk in my garage. It took 5 of us to move it out of our building and onto my truck. I also have two steel desks in the building that I plan to bring home as soon as I make room in the garage. I paid $50 for both of them a few years ago at a used office furniture store.

Coach

I really like old stuff like that. It reminds me of my days as a little boy. Being in the offices in the old division area at Ft Bragg and my dad's classroom after he retired from the army and started teaching. I plan to use them as work stations and tool storage in my garage. The bankers desk is already serving that purpose.

Coach

 

[Bull]

If anyone has pics of these desks in action in a shop/garage, I'd love to see them to give me some motivation to move the hulk from my folks place and start using it!

 

[Iron-Iceberg]

Ryan the owner of this site has one thats pretty trick. Maybe he will post a pic.