Steelcase Tanker Desk Restoration Tips

A. For all of you with torn up desk tops:
Just have a piece of glass cut to fit over the top. It costs about $150.00 for 1/4 inch, radius corners with the edge sanded. I have an old tankers desk with ugly wood laminate. I got some beautiful wall paper with a large graphic print & slipped it under the glass. It looks wonderful & I can change the look of the whole room by changing the wall paper.

A. Hi:

I've restored a couple of these steel desks for my home and office, and here are some things I've learned:

1) Always try to retain as much of the original paint as you can. It was baked on and is much more durable than the paints most of us will be using. The original color can be closely matched if you take a piece of the desk to a professional paint store that uses a computer-matching system. They will hold an artificial eye machine against the desk piece, and then the computer will generate a recipe for the color the eye "sees." (Although the metallic content of the desk paint usually throws the computer color off a bit.) For one of my desks I only had to repaint the front of the desk drawers; I left the rest of the desk alone even though it wasn't "perfect." Although only the top drawers were dirty and scuffed, because the mixed color was ever so slightly different from the original paint I repainted all the drawers so that it wasn't obvious that only two of the drawer fronts were repainted. Even when I've repainted the whole desk, I've kept as much of the original paint as possible and sanded it to use as a primer. One last thing about these professionally-mixed paints: they're expensive -- about $20 per spray can! But they're professional paints that are tough and have a short drying time, which making the job of painting go a lot faster.

2) These desks can be taken apart. This makes them easier to restore and paint. Missing pieces can be cannibalized from a damaged duplicate desk purchased very cheaply. To do this, however, you should know which pieces you're looking for and make sure that the duplicate desk has them. This means that you have to take your desk apart and then wait for a damaged duplicate to turn up -- which might take a while, during which you can't use the desk you're restoring.

3) If you love the brushed-steel look, paint the desk in a metallic silver or metallic gray. Taking the paint completely off and clear-coating the desk is not wise -- you're simply asking for rust. The desk won't look nice for long, and you'll just have to restore it again.

4) Linoleum tops can be restored using a hot air blower [on eBay or Amazon]. Similar to a hair dryer, these machines can be purchased for about $20 at a hardware store. They produce a small beam of extremely hot air. Directed towards the top of the linoleum and moved back and forth, you can heat areas of the linoleum until it gets soft and mushy. Then you can use a marble rolling pin [on eBay or Amazon] to smooth out the surface. Deeper ruts in the linoleum can be gently shaped with a spoon and then rolled out. I've found that this technique works best using a two-person team: one person runs the blower and the other person rolls the rolling pin over the area being heated. (You have to watch out not to get burned, however!) Letting the linoleum heat until it slightly begins to bubble seems to work best for me. Although the former dents and gouges might still be visible (they often leave a discoloration or "ghost" of their former shape), you can get the linoleum back to a smooth writing surface with a little work and elbow grease. But it's worth it -- linoleum is a natural material and is soft and warm to the touch. Also, you'll be restoring the original desktop, and any time you can keep an original part to the desk, you should. The linoleum should finally be coated with a protective surface of floor wax specially formulated for linoleum.

Those are all the tips I can think of at the moment. Restoring these desks takes time but if you are careful and do a good job the results are well worth it. Do you think the particle board desks you purchase at Office Depot or Office Max are going to last 50 years or more? These steel desks have been around at least that long and with proper restoration and care they'll last another 50 years. Think of your restoration work as an investment.

Good luck and have fun!

-- Kenny

A. Hi, Kay

I doubt that you'll find anyone with assembly directions for such an old desk, but the usual best way to start is with the desk lying on the floor upside down for safety and practicality. You'll be able to see the fasteners without climbing under the desk, and you won't be risking something falling on your face when you loosen it :-)

Regards,

A. I have a desk like Mr. Taliaferro's pictured at the top of the post (no pedestals, just a pencil drawer). The laminate top was cracked so I took a screwdriver/chisel and hammer to it and scraped it off. The surface underneath is stained with old, red glue. Not bad, just ugly. I don't think it's worth the trouble to replace the laminate. The non laminated surface was smooth enough after some sanding. Luckily, the family business is auto paint/body.

I'm going to cover the top with chalkboard paint [on eBay or Amazon] after primer [on eBay or Amazon] for a nice smooth surface. The hardware store also sells dry-erase board paint too.

In my opinion, replacing the laminate if it's cracked is not worth the time finding the laminate and installing it. Painting it is way easier.

After taking the desk apart, I've begun to sand the paint off the rest of the desk to the metal with an orbital sander and 80 grit sandpaper. Then my husband will prime it and paint it. I've chosen a BMW interior color for the rest of the desk. My husband's family has a ton of experience with paint/body and they said that sanding and painting would be the best way to go about restoring this desk. Other options are too expensive and time consuming.

A. I used gel paint remover [on eBay or Amazon] , naval jelly rust remover [on eBay or Amazon] , sandpaper, and car wax [on eBay or Amazon] . I did this to my tanker desk 2 years ago, live a block from the ocean, and don't see any rust.

I was going to clear coat it with this stuff they sold at Home Depot that says it prevents rust but was lazy and just waxed over the sanded steel. I did wipe it down with WD-40 [on eBay or Amazon] before waxing. I'm not an expert but am happy with the results.

I left the drawers original paint and I get compliments all the time. I found a matching chair on Craigslist: desk $60, chair $75.

I answered my own question! It worked great, scuff sand, 4 coats of white lacquer, wet sand each coat, 4 coats clear lacquer, wet sand each coat and buff with car polish.

A. I suggest contacting Berkeley Outlet in Berkeley, California.

A. I would use a dry graphite [on eBay or Amazon] to lube the drawers or a little candle wax.

A. I have had my tanker desk since 1990 where I use it in my home office. All the drawers open and close smoothly on nylon rollers which should not be lubricated. The center desk drawer with the pencil holder in it does need to be lubricated periodically. And for this I use a plain white lithium grease ⇨
This works well and doesn't attack the paint. Slide the drawer out and empty it if you wish. Then remove it completely. Looking at the tracks under the desk it will be obvious where the old grease was. I clean it out with a few cotton tipped swabs. Same for the drawer itself. The grease I buy comes in a squeezable metal tube. I just add new grease to the front half of the sliding surface attached to the desk, and the rear half of the sliding surface of the drawer. Slip it back in and it opens and closes a lot easier and smoother. The grease will migrate on its own to the entire areas that need it. One application lasts me well over a year.

A. Hi Christine. I'm no tanker desk expert, but I've worked at office desks for 50 years or so :-)

From the heavy look of it, and your statement about its weight, and the fancy feet, I doubt that it's from the 60s -- but probably the 40s or early 50s; maybe even the 30s from the lack of aluminum handles that have been used on almost all office furniture for many decades. Steelcase is probably the most common brand name, so I'd try that for some similar pictures on eBay , etc.

It's a small desk, probably not an executives ... maybe a teacher's desk?

Regards,

A. Your desk strongly resembles a small library table I recently purchased. The brand name is Shaw Walker and I believe dating is more like 1940-50's. And I believe those corner caps and feet covers are aluminum and can be polished up very nicely.

Try Google search "Shaw Walker student desk or small desk"

The top of mine is in horrible condition and I'll be trying the "melting" method mentioned in this thread after I clean it up as much as possible. I thought I'd replace the top with "Forbo marmoleum", but after looking at samples, I think it's too stiff to wrap around the bullnose perimeter. And lots of glue would also be necessary.

Good Luck,
SBerg

A. Hi Candace. These mechanisms were designed so multiple drawers couldn't be open at once, causing the desk to tip over, crush a foot, and spill everything. Each manufacturer probably patented their mechanism, forcing other manufacturers to do it differently ... so there are probably several different possible arrangements. But in any case, pushing the rest of the drawers in was supposed to free the remaining drawer.

What I would do is completely remove the drawers you can remove, then look up/down or reach up/down and see what needs to be pushed, jiggled, or held to free the drawer. I'd be virtually sure that it's easy with a drawer removed and difficult without. Once you free the stuck drawers, you can remove them as well and you'll have good access to fix whatever got bent or came loose.

Regards,

A. Hi Karen. Whichever is easier will be fine. Obviously a tanker desk isn't exposed to the corrosive conditions a car is, and any decent pretreatment and painting or powder coating method should be fine.

Regards,

A. Regarding painting an old tanker desk, just sand it, use auto-body filler on any dings or blemishes, and prime and spray paint. I used hard glossy black enamel spray from Walmart, it looks great.

My biggest problem is the top. Mine had the rubber surface, so I removed that. I guess painting and an epoxy surface would suffice, like I've read here in previous comments, but I'm more interested in a sheet of thin material to glue on and fit under the metal edging.

A. Am refurbishing a General Fireproofing 'tanker' desk. Removed the old soft surface pretty easily once I got started. Used a wood chisel and a beveled-edge putty knife with a hammer sometimes.

I would recommend NOT removing the steel band with aluminum nosing that edges the top. You can see underneath at the corners that the aluminum has a horizontal fin which is sandwiched under the steel sheet that the surface was glued to. Probably a tight, clamping fit. I don't see how you could remove it without bending it and certainly don't see how you'd get it back like it was.

The aluminum is only less than 3/16" above the steel surface. I'm thinking of using VCT tiles or sheet vinyl flooring to cover. Hope this helps.