Preserving old “canvas”?

[Woody Volland]

I just picked up an old rolltop desk, and the rolling slats are strung together with what appears to be an old canvas type material. As I refinish the desk, anybody got any ideas as to how I can treat those?

[Tom M King]

Does it still roll okay? We have my Grandfather's, that was probably from right around the turn of the 20th Century. It still operates fine, and we've never done anything to it.

[Lee Schierer]

If any of the canvas is ripped it is best to replace all of the fabric. I did this over 50 years ago on a roll top and it is still in one piece. Once you remove the fabric from all the slats and clean off the old glue it is pretty simple to glue them on new canvas. You simply apply a generous bead of glue to each slat and stick it on the cloth one at a time. Once I had 5-6 freshly glued, I weighed them down overnight.