A flat file is a cabinet of wide, shallow drawers made to keep drawings flat. Steel units, typically five drawers high and built to stack on a base, are still made today by companies like Mayline and Safco, and used ones sell steadily to print shops, artists and framers. Older wooden flat files, many made by the Hamilton Manufacturing Company of Two Rivers, Wisconsin, are a different market: designers buy them as furniture, often for far more than a steel unit of the same size.
Drafting tables split the same way. Modern steel-base tables with a tilting top sell to students and artists as working tables. Older oak tables on cast-iron bases, by makers such as Hamilton and Keuffel & Esser, sell to people who want them as desks or kitchen islands, and their value depends heavily on whether the base adjusts and the top is original.
What buyers check first: the maker's name, which is usually stamped on a drawer front or a plate; whether every drawer runs smoothly and has its hood or dust cover; whether stacked units still have their own base and top; and the drawer's inside size, because that decides what paper size it holds. We record all of it in the listing, measured, so a printmaker can tell whether their largest sheets will fit.
Flat files are heavy, but they are made to come apart. Drawers lift out and stacked units separate, so buyers collect them a piece at a time. Pickups are booked after hours or at weekends if your building requires it, and only after the buyer has paid. Before anything is photographed, every drawer is emptied. Drawings, plans and client documents go back to you unread; old hand-drawn plans of notable North Carolina buildings may be worth offering to a local archive, and we can point you to one.
We work across North Carolina from Charlotte: the Charlotte region, the Triangle, the Triad and Asheville, and the rest of the state by arrangement.
What the family receives.
- ✓A free walkthrough, and an honest split of what is worth selling and what is not
- ✓A written quote before any work starts
- ✓Every drawer emptied first, with drawings and documents returned to you unread
- ✓Each unit photographed and measured, including the inside drawer size, with maker, material and condition recorded
- ✓Stacked flat files listed with their own bases and tops, and sets kept together
- ✓Pickups after hours or at weekends when the building requires it
- ✓Payment confirmed before anything leaves
Why VaultXL.
Wood and steel go to different buyers
A steel Mayline unit is a working cabinet; a Hamilton oak flat file is a piece of furniture. We list each where its buyers look, priced for that market.
Measured for the buyer's paper
Artists buy flat files by the sheet size they hold. Every listing gives the inside drawer dimensions, not just the outside of the cabinet.
Your drawings stay yours
Drawers are emptied before a single photo. Client plans, stamped drawings and project files go back to you, unread and unlisted.
Taken apart, not hauled whole
Drawers come out and stacks separate, so buyers carry units out a piece at a time without freight elevators or a rigging crew.
Where we serve.
Charlotte · Uptown · South End · Raleigh · Durham · Chapel Hill · Greensboro · Winston-Salem · Asheville · Wilmington · architecture, engineering and design offices across North Carolina
Start with a walkthrough.
A free walkthrough in your home, then a written quote before any work starts.
Frequently asked.
It depends on material, maker, size, the number of drawers and how smoothly they run. Old wooden flat files by makers like Hamilton usually sell for considerably more than steel units, because designers buy them as furniture. We price against completed sales of comparable cabinets and tell you at the walkthrough which are worth listing.
Artists, printmakers, photographers, framers and print shops buy flat files for storing work on paper. Designers and homeowners buy wooden flat files and oak drafting tables as furniture, often as desks, kitchen islands or storage for maps and prints.
Every drawer is emptied before anything is photographed. Drawings, plans and client documents go back to you unread and are never listed. If you have old hand-drawn plans of notable buildings, a local or university archive may want them, and we can point you in the right direction.
Not necessarily. Stacked units come apart, and some buyers want a single unit. Where a stack has its own base and top and matching units, we usually list it together first, because a complete stack sells for more.
Yes, when they are worth listing. Vertical plan racks, light tables and older drafting instruments can sell to the same buyers. Modern office furniture, workstations and task chairs are better left to a used office furniture dealer.
Every project is quoted in writing after a free walkthrough: a non-refundable setup fee set in your quote, and 15% of what sells after marketplace fees. You keep 85%.
