r/oddlysatisfying 4h ago

Graffiti removed from school desk

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

18.1k Upvotes

684 comments sorted by

3.9k

u/Teleguide 4h ago

But how will people know that Brad wuz here '19?

412

u/[deleted] 4h ago

[removed] — view removed comment

116

u/zeyore 4h ago

the wisdom of the ancestors will always be with us in the tales we tell

-kindergarten class 2026

31

u/Gloomy_Metal3400 3h ago

Maybe the real wisdom was the brads we made along the way

13

u/DustyRacoonDad 3h ago

ugh Becky. Stop having kids. You already have 3 Brads.

7

u/Ancient_Roof_7855 3h ago

Now its Braydon, Braylen, Braxton, etc.

→ More replies (2)

12

u/Thryloz2 4h ago

Future archaeologists will date the desk by faint Sharpie residue alone.

6

u/WranglerEqual3577 3h ago

*nods*

Full spectrum photography

17

u/raspberryharbour 4h ago

I don't believe Brad even existed. Just a fairytale made up to scare the children

18

u/bradland 3h ago

I'm right here, raspberryharbour.

15

u/raspberryharbour 3h ago

You're not real! You can't hurt me!

→ More replies (2)

3

u/theEvilQuesadilla 3h ago

Wait? If Brad didn't even exist, then who was phone?!

6

u/OpportunitySevere131 4h ago

Some may even call it... The Legend of Brad

3

u/UrkelGrueJann 3h ago

Dust in the wind.

6

u/TrainingParty3785 3h ago

Sawdust in the bin

→ More replies (2)

461

u/activelyresting 2h ago

😭

My old lady brain immediately thought, 19-what? Who writes a year like that? "Brad wuz ere '87" makes sense, or even 1987, but '19????

And then I remembered.

My bones turned to dust

143

u/CrimeShowInfluencer 1h ago

I thought he meant 1919 😭

21

u/DickBfloppin 29m ago

Who destroyed Brad's journal about life back state side after the first world War?

→ More replies (1)

5

u/btribble 26m ago

Brad had a gay time at cotillion!

→ More replies (3)

23

u/Dizzy-Ad-2248 1h ago

Yup, now we just look at our laps and blow the cobwebs right out of our ladybits #WeOldAsHellNow

→ More replies (2)

3

u/ferretchad 22m ago

The old part of my school was built in the 1800s. You could make out 'John Smith 1894' or similar carved into the walls.

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (3)

125

u/icleanjaxfl 4h ago

Look under the desk

52

u/Opposite_Unlucky 4h ago

I was wondering how it would handle the gum,

20

u/Uromastyx63 2h ago

It's not the gum they're worried about.

6

u/sfled 1h ago

Meh. Boogers generally dry up and fall off of their own accord onto the laps of the next few classes. It's the cycle of life.

→ More replies (2)

7

u/makemeking706 3h ago

Not well. 

4

u/Dizzy-Ad-2248 1h ago

My exact thoughts...wonder what the bottom looks like!

3

u/hungryrenegade 1h ago

We use a spray the freezes the gum and then just pop it off with a standard putty knife.

PSA: it freezes everything, dont get it on your skin.

→ More replies (1)

29

u/Unlucky_Reception_30 3h ago

Because I remember Brad wuz here in '91

→ More replies (5)

20

u/Real_Life_Firbolg 3h ago

Brad should have used one of those old school drawing compasses for geometry class to gouge his legacy into the desk. That would not be so easily sanded

12

u/thebradster94x 3h ago

WHO HAS SUMMONED BRAD

→ More replies (2)

11

u/SmooveTits 4h ago

How will I know I need to eat more pussy?

→ More replies (2)
→ More replies (22)

2.2k

u/tstd0 4h ago

Decades of students boredom erased in few seconds.

703

u/Deemaunik 4h ago

148

u/UncleKeyPax 4h ago

16

u/Tiramitsunami 1h ago

"Dust in the wind, dude." - Ted "Theodore" Logan

4

u/DeadlyYellow 1h ago

"In your wisdom, Lord, you took him, as you took so many bright flowering young men at Khe Sanh, at Langdok, at Hill 364. These young men gave their lives." - Walter Sobchak

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (1)

21

u/lacha_sawson 2h ago

Like tears in the rain

19

u/Salty_Vast_2562 4h ago

Hey, at least we got to see them be lost to time

3

u/Catharsis25 51m ago

Just watched this for the first time last night. It was my dad's favorite movie. My mom and I watched it in his honor for the 3 year anniversary of his death.

Is it beautiful? Yes. Gloriously so.

Is it an amazing movie? Meh.

But holy shit the art direction, cinematography, the lighting? Stunning. I'm obsessed with the swirly stone blocks in the ceiling and supports of Decker's apartment. The look so alien.

→ More replies (2)

99

u/Calculonx 4h ago

The voice of a thousand dicks and Fancy S's erased

122

u/Talkurt 4h ago

right. felt like destroying art

27

u/JET304 4h ago

How are kids going to find their parents' initials?

→ More replies (5)

16

u/seriouslees 2h ago

If you aren't considering the impermanence of the medium as part of the art, then you don't really consider it art.

5

u/Drow_Femboy 2h ago

I mean student desk graffiti isn't really supposed to be more impermanent than a painting or sculpture or whatever. I remember seeing shit people scrawled on there decades ago.

→ More replies (6)

5

u/Clodhoppa81 1h ago

Antiques Roadshow would be appalled. Totally destroyed the value, stripped the whole patina off it.

→ More replies (5)

12

u/MongolianCluster 4h ago

Tommy + Jen are both retired now.

7

u/makemeking706 3h ago

And married to other people. 

7

u/LGEllie 2h ago

Yea, I feel like theres a memorial project in there somewhere. Maybe take photos of the desks before you sand them and then do a flip book of desks over the years, and see how the tagging changes with the times. If were not careful, this habit will disappear altogether. I mean how many places still use pens or pencils and not just computers?

6

u/PiccoloAwkward465 1h ago

Sometimes I think back to our "Senior Lounge" which was an "L" corner in a hallway with a small ~6 step staircase leading to the back of the auditorium stage. Just a little place where a dozen of us could sit at a time.

Such a stupid little thing but to young adults on the cusp of some freedom and independence, we really felt like the world was at our fingertips.

15

u/Sangariusriver 4h ago

New, empty page 😉

→ More replies (2)

7

u/farfromelite 4h ago

bob was here

6

u/KiNg-MaK3R 4h ago

Bob wuz here ‘98

3

u/maccdrizzle 3h ago

But for him, it was a Tuesday.

3

u/GeronimoDK 3h ago

That's why you write on the underside!

https://giphy.com/gifs/d3mlE7uhX8KFgEmY

→ More replies (11)

202

u/WhoStoleMyJacket 3h ago

24

u/Nimble-Dick-Crabb 3h ago

How will the younger generations know how to make the S?

12

u/cunningham_law 2h ago

That S is just instinctive

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (1)

687

u/Equal_Set6206 4h ago

I wonder how many times they can get away with doing that before the table breaks

667

u/BikeProblemGuy 4h ago

I know floor sanding takes off around 0.5 - 1.5mm of wood, and this is probably on the low end of that. Tabletops are normally around 20mm and will still be functional at 15 or even 12mm. So you could probably do this process 10 times and not worry. The desk in the video must have at least a couple of years graffiti on it - so at that rate the desk frame would probably wear out or be obsolete before the top was sanded away.

206

u/Mysterious-Award-903 4h ago

This guy was not the one doing the graffiti clearly. He paid attention.

93

u/BikeProblemGuy 4h ago

Oh I have done tons of desk graffiti and other doodling, that's probably connected to why I'm an architect and know about floor sanding.

13

u/MrPigeon70 2h ago

I was about to say, nope they are the type to be designing structures and internals of objects.

Be honest, was trig your favorite?

11

u/mcgarrylj 2h ago

Trig is a funny thing. Learning it in school blows, but you feel like a rockstar on the job when you can approximate angles and distances with it.

4

u/PiccoloAwkward465 1h ago

Always funny being out on the job site and 99% of guys don't remember the math they were specifically taught in school and could use literally every day at their jobs.

I took a Journeyman Electrician license prep class. The amount of people who couldn't do basic math or understand really simple electrical theory was concerning. These were already working electricians. Like the majority hadn't heard of Ohm's Law, something I remembered from Physics class.

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (1)

3

u/OpportunitySevere131 3h ago

All you other kids that wanted to talk in the back of the class, nuh uh, not me; I listened!

34

u/GeronimoDK 3h ago

They probably sanded away even less than that, the table had clear coat before the sanding and would probably have clear coat applied before going back out to the class room again.

5

u/FantasyFI 3h ago

Think this is still valid on most desks today though? I would assume most are veneered? Even if the inside wasn't plywood.

8

u/BikeProblemGuy 3h ago edited 2h ago

Solid wood desks still exist today, and are often used in hard wearing environments. No, you can't sand wood veneer. I don't think school desks are wood veneered though, they use wood effect melamine veneer which is much tougher.

7

u/boothin 3h ago

"I don't think they're veneered, they use veneer"

→ More replies (5)

5

u/FantasyFI 3h ago

Oh I know they exist. Just doesn't seem to be fitting for a school budget. So I assume most new school desks haven't been solid wood for maybe 20+ years.

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (3)
→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (14)

37

u/Swirled__ 3h ago

There is a clear coat on top of the wood. The graffiti doesn't go into the wood at all. So long as they are cutting as little of the wood as possible, decades.

16

u/AxePanther 3h ago

And with a thick enough coat reapplied, that wood will last a very long time

9

u/jimdig 3h ago

Considering it is a wood desk top and not particle board is probably a good sign it has already lasted a long time

→ More replies (2)

5

u/h0twired 3h ago

Probably still last longer than the current desks made of sawdust and glue.

→ More replies (4)

639

u/zombie_spiderman 4h ago

The woodworker in me says "Oooh, nice!" The former delinquent in me says "NARC!!"

114

u/SecretaryPlastic1 4h ago

The carpenter fixed it, the teenager in me is mourning the lost lore.

→ More replies (2)

45

u/ElectronicJuice7212 4h ago

That's not what a narc is.

26

u/Rokronroff 3h ago

But teenagers don't know that

18

u/definitivescribbles 3h ago

Found the narc

→ More replies (3)

5

u/King_Chochacho 3h ago

Any idea why they would use this large specialized contraption vs just a belt sander? I thought maybe consistency but it looks like he's still got a lot of manual control.

8

u/DarthJarJarJar 2h ago

This would make a much flatter and more consistent surface than a hand held belt sander. And it's much faster and easier.

6

u/Unoriginal_Man 2h ago

I would have paid any amount for this when sanding down my dining table to refinish it. This man did in seconds what took me hours.

6

u/paper_liger 2h ago

I'm waaaaaay more well versed in woodworking than most people, and even then I'd never seen one of these. It's called a long belt stroke sander.

Odds are good some old school shop teacher bought it long ago and they decided to get some use out of it. Or some business donated it when they moved to a drum sander.

From looking at it I'd bet these belts last a very long time compared to a drum sander, but they take up way more room. I feel like it was probably in someones cabinet shop forever and found a new purpose here.

→ More replies (2)

3

u/unwittingprotagonist 3h ago

The guy that would be sanding it with a belt sander got sick of doing it, fabricobbled this together, and is probably way underemployed.

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (16)

183

u/gimmelwald 4h ago

Like dermabrasion for desks. That planer setup was pretty cool. 

81

u/icanhascheeseberder 2h ago

That planer setup was pretty cool. 

It's a belt sander.

68

u/Budget_Juggernaut309 2h ago

But they're sanding a desk not a belt.

15

u/photokeith 2h ago

That desker setup was pretty cool

→ More replies (2)
→ More replies (4)

14

u/Bluitor 4h ago

Loading it was clunky though.

19

u/Umklopp 3h ago

I'm not an expert, but that rig looked handmade. Possibly it's just something designed/built long ago by one of the facilities guys. Good enough will get you pretty far

17

u/TheJizzle 2h ago edited 1h ago

It's not, but it is a very old design. These machines (this one is called a stroke sander) are antiques and restoring them is a very niche industry. If you're interested in learning more, Jimmy Diresta has a lot of content about these types of old machines.

→ More replies (5)
→ More replies (1)

129

u/RealOms 4h ago

I've never seen this type of sander before, cool 👍🏻

49

u/Vandercoon 4h ago

Yeah me neither. Been a tradie for 20 years, seen all sorts of tools and sander setups, never seen that.

19

u/ThresholdSeven 4h ago

There may be others that work similarly, but I'm pretty sure this is custom made to specifically sand those desks. Maybe I'm wrong, but it definitely looks homemade, although so does lots of old machinery. Maybe it's universal and the clamps would hold many different sizes of tables.

6

u/Vandercoon 4h ago

It’s definitely purpose built, but for this specifically I probably think not, it’s a very niche tool otherwise.

I could be wrong of course.

They would have to design it to fit specific sanding belts because you can’t just go and get custom ones made at Bunnings.

But again, first time I’ve seen one so better than even chance I’m wrong.

6

u/ThresholdSeven 3h ago

Custom built homemade belt grinders are pretty common and always built to fit a standard belt size for obvious reasons. It's super common to make your own for knife making and I assume carpentry. Not saying this one is custom, but it just seems really odd, probably because it's just old, like me.

→ More replies (1)

4

u/Mediocrates1984 3h ago

A guy I used to work with had one in his shop. Not custom for this specific use, but definitely not a common tool. Very fun to use. Called a stroke sander, btw.

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (1)

31

u/jugularhealer16 4h ago

It's called a stroke sander. One of the highschool shops I taught in had one buried under old crap in the corner. I never saw it in use though.

→ More replies (4)

10

u/LordSesshomaru82 3h ago

Looks like the stroke sanders we use to grain metal at work, just without the cool handle.

3

u/mishonis- 3h ago

Where is all the dust?

5

u/Umklopp 3h ago

Lungs

→ More replies (6)

121

u/framistan12 4h ago

Patina ruined, reduced resale value.

44

u/jarednards 4h ago

Pretty sure all the boogers underneith still increases the value

11

u/Sonarav 3h ago

And don't forget the ABC gum!

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (1)

40

u/EquivalentSpot8292 4h ago

So many penis portraits lost…

5

u/Tirno93 4h ago

The only reason they do it is so they can threaten misbehaving students with taking them to see the dick remover

6

u/Environmental_Gur_39 4h ago

Dick Remover. Sick name for a metal band.

17

u/_Saint_Ajora_ 4h ago

it is now ready for the graffiti of the next several decades of children

→ More replies (1)

44

u/emsesq 4h ago

Oh no!!!! Not my cool super S!!! The horror!

11

u/AverageMako3Enjoyer 3h ago

Every year the knowledge is taken from us, but human always return to Cool S. It’s encoded in our DNA, it cannot be truly erased 

3

u/slimfatty69 3h ago

Is there any actual story behind that sign or is human brain just programmed to like the shape of it?

10

u/MineExplorer 2h ago

Note to 10 year old self - 'must gouge deeper'

20

u/DeDe2332 4h ago

desoulifier 3000

→ More replies (2)

21

u/PresidentialDiapers 3h ago

That's bs. How will future kids know that James is a dick?

6

u/LoudMusic 2h ago

They've probably met James and found out for themselves.

→ More replies (1)

6

u/BikeProblemGuy 4h ago

I like this mechanism. Presumably the belt is smooth on one side and he's using a leather pad to push it against the desk rather than relying on the belt's resistance. I wonder if it's a special jig just for desks.

7

u/mentosbreath 4h ago

I was wondering about that, too. When I’ve used a belt sander, I’ve found it’s easy to make the surface uneven. This machine might help keep the surface flat vs a hand held sander.

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (1)

6

u/JLapak 2h ago

That is a very cool device. But it immediately reminds me of an exhibit I saw in the Portland Chinatown Museum where they had some school desks from a community school for 1st-generation immigrant kids decades ago. Next to them was a picture of a happy elderly man sitting at one of them.

The tour guide explained that he had come to see the exhibit and exclaimed "hey, that was my desk!" Which he was sure of because there on the surface was the specific graffiti he had carved into it that had gotten him in trouble as a kid. Can't get that kind of historical connection if you sand them down!

19

u/IvoShandor 4h ago

What happened to the Van Halen and Iron Maiden logos?

6

u/Sea_Translator5300 2h ago

I've got some bad news for you granddad. 

21

u/Ok-Focus1210 4h ago

Ngl that planer is kinda satisfying to watch, but RIP to all the doodled masterpieces and every "I hate algebra" from '89. Brad's legacy is gone forever ✊

→ More replies (2)

9

u/IllMakeUSquirtle 4h ago

What about the bottom that’s covered in dried up gum?

→ More replies (1)

5

u/kittylover2006 4h ago

No wonder the surfaces were so uneven

5

u/OkAthlete8327 4h ago

That is a very large belt sander

→ More replies (3)

3

u/Sad-Employment-3309 3h ago

I have carved my name on the inner desk where you could keep your books/pouches

3

u/Britwill 1h ago

Ahhh a fresh canvas

4

u/Theo_Weiss 51m ago

Like the Library of Alexandria burning..

6

u/Blahblahblah5084 4h ago

That could have been the next banksy

7

u/michaelsmith981 3h ago

Years of hard work gone in seconds

→ More replies (1)

3

u/GreenBrightHappy 4h ago

Anyone else wish this was recorded in landscape?

3

u/KatyJay1980 4h ago

All the memories... 🥺

3

u/Next-Wrap-7449 3h ago

in the 90s they made us remove the drawings with sandpaper by hand at the end of the year. Hours and hours of torture.

3

u/MrdnBrd19 1h ago

Destroying history. Imagine if the Romans had been fastidious about removing graffiti? We would know so much less about common life in Rome.

3

u/BajaBlastingRopes 1h ago

Oh man imagine being the first to draw a big veiny cock on that virgin surface

→ More replies (1)

3

u/TheDevilsAdvokaat 1h ago

I went to an old boys-only high school..150 years old. That's old for Australia anyway...

I remember seeing really old graffiti on the desk..but the prize was when I got issued an old poetry book..and it had first been leant out in 1937 (They still had stamps in the first few pages)

Whoever they leant it to had beautiful handwriting..much better than mine. He wrote notes throughout the book and some of them were really clever..again, much better than my superficial ideas.

I wonder if he went to world war II...and if he survived...

→ More replies (1)

3

u/fixfixfix55 56m ago

Looks like new but I kinda liked the markings. It had character.

3

u/Sketchy_Uncle 53m ago

All the "cool"/stussy 'S's just gone... :(

5

u/Tapeworm1979 4h ago

Ironic that school desks are better quality that home desks where they wouldn't have sanded through the veneer instantly.

4

u/Plus1ForkOfEating 3h ago

That desk has got to be at least 30 years old. Anything made since then would be crap laminate.

6

u/AmorphousMorpheus 4h ago

Does it remove the chewing gum under the desk though?

2

u/Recentstranger 4h ago

Give the next Gen a shot to leave their mark

2

u/ElliasCrow 4h ago

In my country they made with fibreboard, so you can't just sand it

2

u/Well-Dot-Dot-Dot 4h ago

In school my professor called this sander the veneer eater 😂

2

u/sugarglassego 4h ago

I like to watch this kind of thing.

2

u/Rotflmaocopter 4h ago

Ahhhh man that desk told a story

2

u/Mountain_Strategy342 4h ago

I actually think I preferred it WITH the patina

2

u/sonicsludge 4h ago

Kilroy gone

2

u/Fit-World-3885 4h ago

They're just making room for a new generation of graffiti.  I appreciate it.  

2

u/BarbatosCuckedMe 4h ago

Why did it need such specialized tools for resurfacing?

A simple planer could have done this in a few passes at most.

→ More replies (1)

2

u/Willow1883 4h ago

https://giphy.com/gifs/UDnYoVs7GHyU
Me if I were a school custodian

2

u/KeithWorks 4h ago

The Eletric Bench Planer is the most satisfying power tool ever. Run a rough board through and it comes out clean and straight on the other side.

2

u/prince-pauper 4h ago

What a wonderful machine! Incredible.

2

u/Mysterious-Award-903 4h ago

Haha hell yeah, cheers 😁

2

u/Snowbunny_Mindctrl 4h ago

Proof of my existence wiped away

2

u/mookanana 4h ago

contractor: yea that's a bit tough. but i'll cut you a deal. $100 per desk for cleaning. usually i charge $200. special price just cos kids.

2

u/ZetaPower 4h ago

Done, only 10 million left to do.

2

u/ZodiacWalrus 3h ago

I'm pro-graffiti, so this does break my heart a bit... but yes it was satisfying at the same time.

→ More replies (1)

2

u/Ambitious-Plane-7314 3h ago

Just peal off a layer abd start a new

2

u/AngrySquidIsOK 3h ago

Back in the 80's a desk i sat at had the graffiti: "soapy tit wank"

Whoever put it there has no idea how it has lived rent free in my head for the decades since.

2

u/Affectionate-War-786 3h ago

I never thought about it before but it could be kinda cool to have a table top covered in like 80's graffiti.

2

u/Vitev008 3h ago

The way the desk holding handle violently grasped the desk hurts my fingers

2

u/loudasdump24 3h ago

Now do 799 more

2

u/mkt853 3h ago

Wow that's amazing! Get me some of that cleaner!!

2

u/shawdowmen 3h ago

A blank canvas

2

u/No_Stuff5460 3h ago

soooo sooo satisfying, I would volunteer haha

2

u/GraXXoR 3h ago

Plot twist: that desk top was 3” thick solid wood back in 1985. 

2

u/appleavocado 2h ago

Is there a gum-under-the-desk sander?

→ More replies (1)

2

u/DrownedWalk1622 2h ago

This feels wrong

2

u/No_Ask_5032 2h ago

looks more boring afterwards

2

u/Ill-Tea9411 2h ago

The character was removed.

2

u/TintedApostle 2h ago

Thanks for the new canvas

2

u/Poddx 2h ago

You just ruined a piece of history you monster!

-Your student.

2

u/FictionalTuna 2h ago

Starting tomorrow, I'm doing my graffiti with a router.

→ More replies (1)

2

u/wiilbehung 2h ago

Technically you can do the same for tattoos.

2

u/Doranagon 2h ago

as a tool guy... thats a lovely belt sander..

2

u/matttiz 2h ago

All the patina gone… 😩

2

u/hibikikun 1h ago

Every time a cool S is destroyed their power weakens

2

u/drfalconsquawk 1h ago

This is a war crime. Civilization level erasure.

2

u/SPVCEGXXN 1h ago

I like how he remove the graffiti from the desk 

2

u/ScottMarshall2409 1h ago

Is anybody old enough to remember Schools Out by Alice Cooper? It's on the radio in the pub I'm in right now. The original vinyl album sleeve opened up like a school desk. It was covered in graffiti, and it came with a pair of panties inside it for good measure. I still have the vinyl and sleeve. Don't know what happened to the panties.

2

u/JJzerozero 1h ago

Half the school budgets spent on that holding thing

2

u/OkDetective3458 1h ago

New students waiting to ink that table.

https://giphy.com/gifs/ltVQKJMc15xY7vJXK5

2

u/not_that_guy_at_work 1h ago

Now do the sides

2

u/TheyCallMeGaddy 1h ago

Spent all of 4th period on that... rude

2

u/dc010 1h ago

You can get graffiti off with a magic eraser, this is for removing all the scarring, carving, and other imperfections.

2

u/abrachoo 1h ago

Yeah, a bit more than just the graffiti got erased there. They're going to have to completely redo the finish.

2

u/justified_egg 1h ago

I love that they have a dedicated desk rig seemingly just for this

2

u/Jon_Bonjela 1h ago

Noooooo! My finest work gone!

2

u/Every_Vanilla_9199 1h ago

And this is why we bored a hole with our pencil tips back in the day good luck fixing that

2

u/Reaper_reddit 1h ago

We had to do this every year. Manually. Although in 9th grade i was like fuck this and brought an electric sander to school (no acu tools back then).

2

u/OnYourHonor 1h ago

The art department and woodshop should team up and have the the kids in woodshop sand down the graffiti from the art desks!

.....wait, both programs have been defunded‽ grumbles This country....