Every Man Should Have a Roll-Top Desk

Metallicman ^ | 16DEC18 | Editorial staff

[vannrox]

Here I would like to discuss a long standing dream that I have had since I was a small boy; the possession of a large roll-top desk complete with a multitude of tiny drawers, chubby-holes, and spaces for all my personal junk and treasures. I have had this dream for a long… long… long time. With that in mind, let’s discuss this work of art; this magnificent idea and concept of the roll-top desk.

During the last century, the idea of a Roll-Top desk was appealing and very popular all over America. Many American homes had these styles of desks and throughout the 1960’s and 1970’s they faded into obscurity. There was a brief revival of Roll-Top desks in the 1980’s and then they have been forgotten as overly expensive and extravagant items of furniture. This is unfortunate, because every man should have a Roll-Top desk.



The first time that I encountered a roll-top desk was a very long time ago. One of my friends had inherited it from his father. It was in his bedroom and he would work on his various projects at the desk. He had this kind of glue with a rubber top that you could use to spread glue on paper and make scrap books with .

He also had a punching bag in his basement and me and him would try boxing at such an early age. Heck! We were only in second grade, for goodness sakes. It was kinda goofy at the time, but our fathers both thought that boxing was something that all boys had to learn.

What is a Roll-Top Desk?

A roll-top desk is a large

[Bell Bouy II]

A premade kitchen counter top with a back splash from Home Chepo or Lowes placed on a 3 drawer file cabinet at both ends served me well for years .(adjust height with brick if required)
Functional, inexpensive & not bad to look at.

Friend had a huge L shaped one set up same way

Dont get the one with a sink cut out LOL

[KeyLargo]

I am passing mine on to my son for Christmas.

[HotHunt]

When I was a young man in the Air Force, I was stationed at Holloman AFB near Alamogordo, New Mexico.

There was an old rundown gas station on the outside of town I used to go to because the German guy who owned it, worked on my VW when it was having problems, which seem like all the time. Or rather he taught me how to work on my VW microbus engine. He let me use his tools and space to tear my engine apart and rebuild it. So I was there a lot.

One day, while waiting for a part for my VW to arrive, I was looking at all the junk he had stored in the back of the station. Piles of stuff. And in one pile I noticed parts to a roll-top desk.

I was in pieces stacked on the floor. They were almost black from old varnish. I asked him if he'd sell it to me and he said no. He just gave it to me to haul out of the back of his shop.

My first real antique piece of furniture.

It took me awhile to figure out all of the parts and put it back together. And when I was done, I refinished it. Removing the old varnish, sanding and staining the beautiful oak pieces. After few coats of lacquer, I had a beautiful piece of furniture.

That was over 50 years ago. I still have the desk but retiring and moving to a farm in Florida, my wife uses it now for her desk in the large country kitchen we have in the house. It's a beautiful piece still and is the centerpiece of the kitchen.

Luckily, when I met my wife and married her while on assignment there in New Mexico, she liked old furniture too. So over the decades we've been married, we have filled our home with old, antique oak furniture.

Some people have asked us why we don't upgrade and buy new furniture for our new house we had built when we retired here to the farm. Because we could never replace our old antiques with anything having half the beauty, strength and character of old oak furniture.

My first piece was the roll-top desk and I was hooked. Its character cannot be understated. No modern furniture could ever replace the sturdy oak antiques we have found hidden in old barns, on people's back porches and in piles in the back of old gas stations.

I would never even think about getting rid of my beautiful roll-top desk.

[Redleg Duke]

My maternal Grandfather had one. It was always locked, and when he opened it, it had the most amazing things in it. His collection of indian arrow heads and a mace head...his coin collections and other wonders.

I have always wanted one. I guess I will just have to build me one!

[super7man]

I know that model and know where the secret compartment is. Send me a check for $100 and I’ll tell you where it is. Then you can find all the Doubloons that some forgotten soul put there. ;o)

[discostu]

Mmm nope. The wife has one. Actually her second since I’ve known her. She loves for her papercrafting. Too much organization for me. I’d spend days putting everything in just the right place, then I’d never be able to find anything. They look cool, but not useful for me.

[Larry Lucido]

“I like something” = “Everybody else should like this.”

The logic of illogicals.

[super7man]

I am passing mine on to my son for Christmas.

Do I sense a passive/aggressive mean streak?

My parents gave us a massive church reed organ as a wedding gift. We dragged that thing around for years. Eventually, our kids learned how to play the piano and could also play the organ. So it turned out OK. We finally gave it away.

[outofsalt]

I have one of these steelcase desks that I got from a VA hospital that was dumping them. I love this thing but my wife hates it. In a nuclear detonation or earthquake you could hide under it.

[outofsalt]

Good story! You should have kept the microbus too!

[backtobasics]

I have a large roll top desk from about 1890 made by the Wick Organ Company. Thats right....an organ company. When you are done with your paperwork you simply push the writing desk inward and a compleyely hidden keyboard appears as the keyslip descends into a compartment to reveal the keyfronts and stop knobs. While this is taking place the pump pedals rotate into position on the floor. Its a reed organ, or pump organ as some call them, with eleven stops. Sounds and plays beautifully.

The mechanical connection between the heavy writing desk and the other moving parts is so well balanced that it requires little effort to move between desk, and musical instrument, or visa versa. When in musical configuration, an intricately designed, and hidden, music desk can be pulled out into position.

Its a very heavy piece of oak furniture, with cubby holes, and ledger compartments. In the knee well, where the pump pedals appear, two knee levers fold out. One controls loudness, and the other is basically a quick way to open all the stops for the fullest sound.

The organ is so well hidden that someone could buy it as a rolltop desk and possibly never realize what is hidden inside. There are only two or three other of these in the world that Im aware of. There is a salesmans demonstration model around somewhere. Its a smallscale model that sold at auction awhile back.

[super7man]

The sad thing is that millennials do not have any connection to antique furniture or antiques in general. The antique market is dying. Everything they have is viewed as temporary and can just be walked away from if needed.

The same is true with the classic car market. Millennials view cars as a piece of transportation, in the same way you might view a refrigerator. A car does not say anything about you. In the next 20 years you will see hot rods and restored classics being given away.

[P.O.E.]

I have one. It’s a PITA. I can’t fit my legs under that small kneehole. The drawers keep locking up. It’s become a junk magnet.

[GingisK]

...we became such a paperless society...

Just say "NO!".

[GingisK]

Pictures, or it isn’t real!

[GingisK]

They have also never heard the wonderful sounds old shortwave radios make as they are tuned onto s station. Not one student in my high school class had even heard of a vacuum tube. (I teach embedded computing, no Arduino allowed.)

[2111USMC]

We have one. Had to disassemble it to get it into the house. Heavier than hell.

[Kirkwood]

I had one passed to me and I passed it along to my sister. I think she eventually sold it. It was very heavy and impractical. The desk surface was too small to do much of anything but write a letter. It looked interesting, but really wasn’t.

[super7man]

What’s wrong with Arduino?

I think it is very cool... and cheap.

Not so thrilled with Raspberry-pi though. IO seems harder.

[Afterguard]

My dad had one that my mom kept after he died. When she became unable to tend for herself and moved into an assisted living facility, she couldn’t take the desk with her so she asked me to sell it. This was about 2010... I could not find a soul that was interested in it. It was the last thing in the house and I ended up giving it to a local antiques dealer. Even he wasn’t interested in buying it. Of course now I wish I had it, just because it belonged to them.