Furniture, Wood and Cabinetry Finishing - How about refinishing those rusty file cabinets?
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m60462
08-30-02, 08:32 AM
Ok, maybe it's not grandpa's old dining room table (and that I can gaurantee it isn't, I turned his into a workbench;) but it's still too darn expensive to buy brand new. A file cabinet, constructed of decent gauge steel, can easily run into the $100's. Yet I find these under-appreciated metal paper-pushers abandoned on a weekly baisis for the trash heap. Why? because of a little rust? A couple of nicks and dents?
Well call me sentimental, but I pull these strays in off the curb, safe from the garbage mans ax, every chance I get (once after stepping past a particle board computer desk with a closer likeness to mashed potatoes, probably caused by a couple of good rain storms). Many of these monsters, a few decades old are built like tanks, and just as heavy. They really don't make 'em like they used to!!
More to the point, I was wondering if there's a nitch out there for crazies like me, interested in the restoration/preservation of WW II & Cold War era office furniture. Not OFFICE MACHINES (i.e. typewriters, old telephones, etc..) I know there's already a pile of info out there on that sort of thing.
I'm not anticipating a new antique/retro movement. I simply believe these "old-timers" represent the golden era of simple, supperiour quality, affordable (At least it used to be) office furniture.
Tell me what you think.
Well call me sentimental, but I pull these strays in off the curb, safe from the garbage mans ax, every chance I get (once after stepping past a particle board computer desk with a closer likeness to mashed potatoes, probably caused by a couple of good rain storms). Many of these monsters, a few decades old are built like tanks, and just as heavy. They really don't make 'em like they used to!!
More to the point, I was wondering if there's a nitch out there for crazies like me, interested in the restoration/preservation of WW II & Cold War era office furniture. Not OFFICE MACHINES (i.e. typewriters, old telephones, etc..) I know there's already a pile of info out there on that sort of thing.
I'm not anticipating a new antique/retro movement. I simply believe these "old-timers" represent the golden era of simple, supperiour quality, affordable (At least it used to be) office furniture.
Tell me what you think.
George
08-30-02, 04:38 PM
Sounds like you're right in there with others who recycle whatever - and I'm with you. I have an old desk (WWII era) that I wouldn't trade for a pretty. Weighs a ton, oak veneer - the kind with the dorp down center for a typewriter, drawers on both sides. Painted when I got it. Stripped adn refinished, I've been offered as much as $1,000 for it (so far). I wear I think it would take the jolly green giant with a sledge hammer to do it any serious harm - this thing is BUILT!
Most of the older file cabinets had a baked on enamel finish, and yes they did have a heavier guage steel. A complete sanding, naval jelly to remove the rust, a good primer and paint, and they'll look like new and give far more service than the more recent ones on the market.
Most of the older file cabinets had a baked on enamel finish, and yes they did have a heavier guage steel. A complete sanding, naval jelly to remove the rust, a good primer and paint, and they'll look like new and give far more service than the more recent ones on the market.