Stickley desks are a natural choice of Executives, CEO’s and discerning entrepreneurs for their office furniture needs. Fans of Stickley desks know they won’t have to sacrifice form and beauty for function. Every Stickley desk is made with the same attention to detail, quality craftsmanship and uncompromising tradition as the rest of the Stickley line of fine furniture.
The creation of each Stickley desk begins with the meticulous selection of the finest quarter-sawn oak which is grown in the Ohio Valley. (Quarter-sawing is a method of sawing oak so the cut is made parallel to the wood’s ‘medullary rays’ instead of across them. This special type of cutting creates a limited quantity of top grade boards featuring ray flake, which the name of the decorative wavy pattern that is always seen in quarter-sawn wood.)
Why Choose Stickley Desks for Your Office
The drawers on Stickley desks are side-hung and center-guided. Using this method guarantees the proper alignment of each drawer. The center guide ensures the drawers won’t slip or skew sideways. Plus, the suspension on the side guides keeps the drawers level, even when they’re heavily loaded.
Another feature found in Stickley desks is that there is never any pressure against the bottom side edges, so you’ll never see or hear scraping or screeching, and you’ll never have to tug, pull or yank open a drawer on any of the Stickley desks. Stickley desk drawers are literally strong enough to stand in.
A signature feature in Stickley desks are the tenons – these are boards whose ends have been cut so they fit tightly inside a mortise. A ‘blind tenon’ means it’s concealed inside the mortise. A ‘through tenon’ sticks out beyond the depth of the mortise. A ‘keyed tenon’ extends beyond the mortise and is slotted, and has a wedge-shaped block.
Another feature found in Stickley desks are the tongue and groove joints which ensure accurate alignment between boards and the strong glue joints. This means the lumber can be thicker, which is one of the reasons why Stickley desks become treasured heirloom pieces, meant to be passed down from generation to generation.
Re-sawn and book-matched door panels: When it’s appropriate to the design of Stickley desks, the craftsmen at Stickley use a process called ‘re-sawing and book-matching’ door panels. Basically what that means is, a thicker piece of wood is taken and sawn in half – so when the two halves are separated – or opened like a book – you get two boards that have identical wood grains. As you can imagine, this is a time and labour-intensive process, but the end result means that the door panels on Stickley desks are matched exactly.
The finishing process: After intensive machine sanding, every Stickley desk is thoroughly hand sanded – even on the insides of the drawers. This ensures that any scratch marks are eliminated. Excess glue is carefully removed by hand from all joints. Any sharp or jagged edges are smoothed and every joint is flushed – and this is all done by hand by skilled craftspeople who have been trained using these time-tested and proven methods.
After that, clear dyes are rubbed into the wood – again by hand. Stickley desks aren’t finished with opaque pigments. This means the wood’s own natural beauty and color tones are allowed to shine through, and its patina will continue to develop over time.
Secret compartments: Did you know that many of Stickley desks have secret compartments crafted into them? Their locations are not published publicly. To find out where the secret compartment is in your Stickley desk, ask your sales person, or look for a special tag, which will tell you how to find and operate its secret compartment.
Most Stickley desks come with dark copper pulls, center or corner keyboard drawer units. Pencil drawers include pencil trays, but the drawer fronts don’t pull down (keyboard drawers do fold down.) Stickley desks can also be fitted with a variety of other components, based on your needs, such as cork boards, lights, letter or legal size file drawers and more. Stickley desks come in your choice of oak or cherry.
Look no further than Manderley Manor in Toronto to find a wide selection of office furniture and your choice of Stickley desks.
