Kindergarten desks

saltbreez

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Hey Guys,

Shoot me for listing a non-arcade restoration topic, but this is the best resource I know of to answer some of these questions.

My son is entering Kindergarten and his sister is right behind him. I picked up a couple of very used desks.

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I have some practical question regarding restoring these desks. Is sandbalsting [for $45] the preferred path over paint stripper, rustoleum and sandpaper?

How do I deal with the 'rivets' to remove the wood? How do I replace the rivets?

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Theses seem to be really neat desks, and my kids might get 5-6 years of use out of them.

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TIA,
Saltbreez
 
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On the one hand, I'd almost want to preserve the patina on the wood and not restore it. On the other, all that metal would look nice if refinished. I agree that you can't really do much with the metal without removing the wood.

You'll likely need to just drill the rivets out. I would then replace them with chrome plated carriage bolts. Probably would want to cut the bolt length down so that the nut doesn't leave any sharp edges.

If they'll get exposed to kid abuse, might be worthwhile to just have all the metal parts professionally media blasted and powder coated. I don't know that I'd do anything to the wood. Putting a coat of poly over the wood probably would look worse than the natural/worn look you have now. Neat project.
 
Man those bring back memories. I think we had those exact style desks in my grammar school. I remember resting my feet on that single long bar on the bottom. And the flip top with pencil holder at top and the stop at the bottom. Thanks for the pics. Very cool.
 
Are you kidding? If you cut a hole in the lid, there's room for an LCD monitor and a 60in1 in that baby!

A cocktail with built in seating......BRILLIANT!!!
 

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I personally would leave them alone other than making anything that's loose snug again.

+1 on that. The wear gives them character. If you insist on repainting them, you can drill those rivets from the backside and as mentioned reattach them with carriage bolts. I'd also suggest using acorn nuts on the back of the chair as opposed to regular nuts. Otherwise you'll always have a minor scrap or snagging hazard there.

As for refinishing, that's probably baked enamel so you'll need a strong stripper and plenty of elbow grease. Personally, I'd look into having them powder coated and save the hassle and expense of stripping and painting, which isn't cheap in it's own right.
 
I'd just scrap, light sanding, tape up the wood and then apply some semi-gloss rustoleum with a brush... For the wood, I'd just give it a sanding and apply 2-3 coats of varnish or better yet, 2-3 coats of paste wax and buff it up.
 
Ok...this is totally desk AND arcade game related....

When we were in elementary school, we would make our own pinball games on there. We would bring in ball-bearings and arrange our books, erasers, rulers, etc. into a course for the ball to fall through. We would use pencils as flippers.

I had kinda forgotten about that until now.
 
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