Historical Guide to Stays

Every woodworker will from time to time have call for a stay of some kind. Stays of one sort or another are used to hold chest and box lids from falling backward and sometimes forwards. They can be used to support desk writing surfaces, to hold drafting tables at a suitable working angle and then allow them to fold flat for storage. Windows can held open with a variety of types depending on application. Countless other situations will crop up. Choosing the right stay and figuring out how to install it properly is not as easy as it first appears. We stock all kinds of stays in brass and iron including casement window stays which can find application both architecturally and on cabinetwork.

As often as not the stay that seems the obvious choice will resist your most determined efforts to have it do the task you have in mind. Either it won't open far enough or won't close without encroaching where it does not belong. Sometimes the best stay is nothing more than a length of rope or chain.

Our stays fall into four categories; Folding, sliding, telescoping and casement. In the case of a blanket chest it might be possible to use either of these alternatives but some quite serious safety considerations will come into play and depending on your particular situation you will probably want to dismiss one or more alternative. The same is true in making an appropriate selection for a desk though the consequences are of less impact.

We will start with a description of each type of stay and its more common application. Having decided on the type of stay you need you can proceed to the related installation instruction page that should answer your technical questions.

Folding Stays

Typical folding stay Folding stays look a little like old-fashioned wooden folding rulers, in fact they use that same joint to allow the stay to open to twice its closed length. At each end is a swiveling "foot", if installed on a blanket chest one foot is attached to the underside of the lid and the other to the inside face of the side. Because of the offset design of the joint, once these stays fold out to their full length they cannot then return without first being released. This characteristic suits them to applications like blanket chests and boxes so long as there is no risk of small children, who might be unaware of their use, accidentally releasing them and causing a lid to fall with possibly injurious results.

An advantage of the folding stay is its compact space requirement. Unlike sliding stays that need substantial clearance for operation, a correctly installed folding stay needs no more space than it uses in its closed position. This attribute makes the folding stay a particularly good choice for fall front desk applications where as often as not small drawers and cubby holes limit available internal space.

Aside from the aforementioned safety considerations it is worth noting a couple of other drawbacks to the use of the folding stay. In any application it is a two handed job to release these stays, if you use one on each side of a lid or desk it becomes a three handed job or at least two hands and chin or knee. Installation must be precise in order to prevent the stay performing some peculiar and probably unacceptable contortions.

See How To Install Folding Lid Stays for more information.