Sep 16 2009
Buying A Quality File Cabinet
These days there are so many ways to buy an oak filing cabinet that sometimes it can be confusing. With so many different types of materials that are used to make them there are some that you should buy and some that you shouldn’t buy. File cabinets that are made of cheap, non-durable board like particle board are some that you will want to stay away from. There are some descriptions that you may see on the tag or the outside of the box that may say “made of wood”.
With that said you have to be careful because sometimes when they put “made of wood” they are still making it out of particle board so be careful. The woods that you really want to try and get are oak, cherry, mahogany, or pine. The weight in which the file cabinet can hold will need to be taken into consideration, so you will want to make sure that you use glue, screws, and clamps, not cam locks in particle board. There is an easy trick to make sure that the file cabinet you buy is made of solid wood and not particleboard. It is very important to know the difference between Veneer, solid wood, and printed grain and the best way to find out if yours is made of solid wood is by looking at which way the grain is running. If all the grain is running the same way then you will know that you have a solid piece of wood, however, if the grain is running in the wrong direction which would then be perpendicular to the other grain then you know yours is made with veneer.
When it comes to wood office furniture and file cabinets wood drawers, there are quite a few ways that you can assemble these. Some will enable you to put them together with strength and some will make it so they fall apart. English dovetail joints are the best way to hold a wood drawer together, you can also use glue and staples as long as the staples are only holding it together until the glue dries. There are many things that are important to look at when making sure that you have a solid cabinet. One of the things that you need to make sure that you look at when it comes to your file cabinet is making sure that the hardware that’s used for the drawers is sturdy and will put together. You will want to slide the drawers in and out and make sure that they slide smoothly with no catches. Making sure that your drawers pull out a 100% is important with a file cabinet because if the drawer pulls out 90% you will find yourself reaching into the back to pull out files.
If you are looking for the best glide system out there today, you will want to make sure that it has a full ball bearing- full extension slide system with at least a 100 lb weight rating. Depending on the files that you are going to be storing you will want to make sure that you if you need locks. If you have files that are confidential and only for the viewing eyes of certain people then you will need to put a lock on the drawer.
Now there are different ways that you can lock that cabinet yourself. One of those way is installing separate locks for specific drawers if there is a need for the remaining drawers to be unlocked. The other way you can do it is by simple using the locking mechanism at the top, which when locking will lock all the doors. The best thing to do is to make sure the wood used to make your file cabinet is solid, the glide mechanisms work properly, and the joints are put together well and you will be on your way to a long lasting quality file cabinet and .