I resto-modded a thing to solve a problem. (pic heavy)

"Grindintosecond" (Grindintosecond) 01/31/2018 at 16:17 • Filed to: None

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1935 Royal DeLuxe portable. Grandma’s. Looks alright, eh?

The problem: Everything I’ve used as a desk since 2009 was makeshift, small or not deep enough to spread out any work. So I finally did something and got a mid-century styled metal tanker desk from Craigslist; also found a six-foot heavy wood top. The two were made for each other so I just had to get them together. I got in my Tacoma and headed out.

I picked up the desk from pretty much the definition of a farm-house. $100 with only dents from the old-style metal office chairs against the inner pedestals. The drawers were straight which meant that no matter what other minor dents it had, it was fixable easily.

I began on it by unscrewing and unbolting everything. The top was a white laminate metal top designed for the worker to crawl underneath and survive a building collapsing earthquake. The whole desk weighed about a hundred pounds. Imagine old battleship grey and off-white work surfaces under fluorescent light in a grey cubicle. Nope.

I then got a wooden top. $45 Craigslist find. The guy had a small warehouse with things from all sorts of clearouts. If you think 1-800-got junk is kind of a ripoff by what they charge by the cubic foot of truck space to haul away your crap, then its doubly so as the store owner can keep the junk and get rid of it by selling it on Craigslist. So he had done a huge office clearout with some very high end, although well used, HON products. That’s what I got. A 1-3/8" thick, 30 x 72 surface with lots of screw holes underneath from various uses. Very stout.

So I got to work on the metal bits. I didn’t think much about it other than lightly scuffing the paint as directed by the paint cans and internets describing painting already painted metal. Then I started my first adventure with Bondo filler.

One teeny spot wouldn’t fill. Tried twice, so I just left it and hoped it wouldn’t look too horrible. After this and all the sanding of Bondo and the desk, I realized that old metal shouldn’t be sanded. Something about Lead and breathing it in and the dust all over the place, I dunno. Sounds like fake science keeping my personal manufacturing down. I’ll have to watch myself and see if I have memory-loss or sluggish muscles.

I attacked it with a 2 in 1 primer that fills light scratches for smooth finishes. So they say. In the end, yeah it about does it’s job. If you hand sand metal, you will leave scratches and this stuff does indeed fill those in. Then I started in on the “Hunter green - satin” rattle cans.

Recipe: 120 grit sandpaper squares and a RIGID power hand sander, 8.5 cans of Hunter Green, 3 cans primer, 2 satin clear coat. Probably $100 in paint. $250 all-in and I gots a big beefy desk and lots of workspace. The new desks of this size are roughly $400 and on up. Not all are this heavy and solid.

The computer case is by the wall under the side overhang. I got the red lamp in High School 25 years ago. By it are bookends where some references will go. Above each pedestal are slide outs for open books or even more surface area to work on. I don’t think I’ll need anything else for a very very long time. Each drawer is at least 25" deep so I can stash decades of junk in there. This also means I have no excuses for putting off the writing projects.

Now to distract all that with a mini restoration.

Galileo Humpkins (aka MC Clap Yo Handz) > Grindintosecond 01/31/2018 at 16:24

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Each drawer is at least 25" deep so I can stash decades of junk tons of candy and snakcs in there.

Grindintosecond > Galileo Humpkins (aka MC Clap Yo Handz) 01/31/2018 at 16:28

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Rewatch from the beginning if you like, its a straightforward guy about what he wants in his things and in his desk drawer.

Quadradeuce > Grindintosecond 01/31/2018 at 16:32

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I have several of these steel desks (used to have an office full of them!) and it was so hard to find homes for them. I couldn’t bring myself to scrap them, so they sat in the warehouse and got re-homed one by one. I also had matching shelves, side tables, stools, inboxes, etc. The works.

Galileo Humpkins (aka MC Clap Yo Handz) > Grindintosecond 01/31/2018 at 16:35

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Chocolate cookies and booze, I support this.

cmill189 - sans Volvo > Grindintosecond 01/31/2018 at 16:36

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I love these old desks with the skinny legs. They don’t look solid but are SOLID. The wood top looks great.

Grindintosecond > Quadradeuce 01/31/2018 at 16:37

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There’s a market for the really clean and straight ones. Good money if you ebay them but they gotta be cherry shape.

shop-teacher > Grindintosecond 01/31/2018 at 16:37

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AWESOME! I love these old desks.

Sn210 > Grindintosecond 01/31/2018 at 16:51

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Very cool, that came out awesome

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > Grindintosecond 01/31/2018 at 16:53

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Nice work! I’ve got a similar old desk as a tool storage/work surface in my garage.

Quadradeuce > Grindintosecond 01/31/2018 at 16:57

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They were all pretty much dent free, but these were used for 50+ years, so the paint was a mess on most. Pretty much all of the drawers and such worked great. They were built like battleships because they had a lot of surplus battleship steel after WW2!

Most people passed on them due to the weight, and they don’t come apart very easily, as you are now intimately aware.

gmctavish needs more space > Grindintosecond 01/31/2018 at 17:15

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Nice. I’ve got an old tanker desk at home, not restored or anything, but in decent shape.

We also have about 15 or more at work, and since we’re in a warehouse with tons of heavy shit up high, we figure under those desks is the safest place to go if there was an earthquake. Well, that or bolt for the door if that’s closer.

Grindintosecond > davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com 01/31/2018 at 17:24

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Me too. It was the first but the drawer fronts were all warpy. So i got this inside and a garage desk too.

Eric @ opposite-lock.com > Quadradeuce 01/31/2018 at 17:27

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Yeah, I like them overall, but their weight is the problem. Built to last longer than their manufacturers remained in business, it seems, and practically impossible to move with anything short of a forklift.

My in-laws have a number of surplus ones they picked up from Boeing decades ago that are all in good mechanical shape but have the same kind of paint wear you’re talking about... I couldn’t imagine anyone pays much for them if they can find a buyer at all when they need to liquidate them (if they ever bother to).

CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever > Grindintosecond 01/31/2018 at 17:30

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I wish I had a garage, I would do shit like this all day long

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > Grindintosecond 01/31/2018 at 17:37

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Ha - yeah, mine’s in decent shape but definitely more at home in the shop.

Grindintosecond > CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever 01/31/2018 at 17:49

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Ha! Garage is full. It’s chilly outside. I did this in a questionably ventillated unfinished basement. I’ve probably been high for the last three days

CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever > Grindintosecond 01/31/2018 at 17:51

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ah lol. I have a townhouse/condo, so this kinda stuff is out of the question for me sadly.

I was wondering why your garage had such odd walls

Gerry197 > CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever 01/31/2018 at 17:55

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My buddy does 5th scale gas RC cars, which take up a lot of space and require a lot of maintenance with smelly fuel and other stuff.

He has a condo and does it all on his balcony. Plenty of ventilation.

TheRealBicycleBuck > Grindintosecond 01/31/2018 at 18:04

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I like the color and the top, but the space between the drawers leaves something to be desired. I have some manspreading to do! :)

TorqueToYield > Grindintosecond 01/31/2018 at 18:09

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That wood top is sweet. They’re not cheap new. I’ve been looking to build/buy/piece together a new workbench and that would be a nice top.

That’s like a $170 top from McMaster-Carr.

I need to check craigslist more...

ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com > Grindintosecond 01/31/2018 at 18:32

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That is a fantastic color. You basically painted your desk my favorite color.

Grindintosecond > TorqueToYield 01/31/2018 at 19:22

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HON products shows $240 or something. Other popular tops for this thing are Ikea tops. For something really cool, if you don’t mind working the edges, look for a reclaimed bowling alley and buy a 6 or 8 foot slab, circular saw to fit, possibly strip and refinish. Would look wild and ake a great workbench desk. I had a workbench for a while made out of bowling alley two houses ago in Buffalo. It was so heavy i left it with the house.

Grindintosecond > TheRealBicycleBuck 01/31/2018 at 19:27

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Do you mean where the top meets the pedestals? The overhang of the top is 3/4" back and front and when seated at it I can’t tell and walking around it, well, I’m tall enough that it’s not noticeable. I’d have to be looking at it specifically and close up crouching to see it. It’s a non-issue.

Grindintosecond > Sn210 01/31/2018 at 19:30

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It’s pretty nice, but a 2-3 footer. It’s not perfect but perfect enough. If I had warm weather and garage space to really lay it out and spend some time doing it right, I’d get live air and a spray gun to lay on nice layers.

Or, Just coat the surfaces with a truck roll on bed liner. That would look pretty sweet I think. Black line-X . Would take much less time.

TheRealBicycleBuck > Grindintosecond 01/31/2018 at 19:41

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No. The distance between the pedestals! I like more room under a desk so I can move around. I can’t sit still for long which is why I’ve been using a standing desk at work for years.

Grindintosecond > TheRealBicycleBuck 01/31/2018 at 21:18

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Ohhh! Okay, well the cool part about this is if you want? You can just eliminate the center drawer and then mount the sides as far out as you want. They’re 58.5" stock and as pictured here. But with a 72" top, you can move them as far out as you want so you can add 16" to the knee room. also, if you do that, you could use the rollers from the center drawer and make a wiiide keyboard tray but then youre looking at a very deep desk.

TheRealBicycleBuck > Grindintosecond 02/01/2018 at 07:46

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This is exactly what’s on my project list. My wife bought a couple of old wood desks for the kids. Neither of them use the desks any more because they are too small and restricting. I plan to knock the tops off of them and reuse the pedestals to make wider desks for both. The only tricky part will be matching the mo lding/desktop edge to the rest of the desk. I’d like to just slap a repurposed top onto the pedestals and call it good, but my wife can be a little picky about the details.

CaptDale - is secretly British > Grindintosecond 02/02/2018 at 14:04

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Awesome! Looks great