I inherited my Father's antique rolltop desk and it needed some dust removed from the rolltop to make it open smoothly. I vacuumned the rolltop while closed along every movable part and moved the rolltop up and vacuumed the channels it moved in as much as possible. I also used furniture lemon oil on the channels and rolltop too. It worked for me. I have also used candle wax on sticky drawers before. Maybe that would help too. Good luck.
By
04/21/2009
Just what I was going to say; soap or wax or WD40.
By
04/20/2009
Rub a bar of soap or a candle inside the grove that the slats roll up & down in then open & shut the desk 5 or 10 times.