Summer is moving right along and I sure hope it’s been a good one for you! I see where some areas of the country sorely need rain and I know what it’s like to look up at that bright blue sky only to see the odd little cotton ball cloud. Keep your hopes up because I can tell you, things will get better but like the old folks around here liked to say, “Well, it could be worse!” Let’s just trust in nature and let her do what she does best which often times just keeps us humans confused!

Speaking of nature. Have you ever given any thought to just how envirnmentally friendly your stamped metal lawn furniture really is? Take for example, it’s completely recyclable. You can take an old lawn chair, melt it down and make it over again, practically without loosing anything. Very few things are 100% recyclable but steel is right up there.

But what about the finish you ask? Is’t it harmful to the environment with all the toxins and stuff that’s in it? Since the early 1970′s, nearly all metal lawn furniture has been made using powder coat as the finish material. This is without a doubt our best finishing choice then as well as today. The powder has very few toxic solvents, it’s overspray if kept clean or cleaned can be reused and when fully cured poses no more of threat to the environment than cured latex house paint. It stays hard, resists the sun’s rays, is highly chemical resistant and protects the metal better than any other spray type applications.

Steel can be easily repaired. There are several types of welding procedures available to make an old lawn chair if not new, nearly new. Rusted metal can be cut away and new scabbed in. Holes can be filled, rust blasted away and new parts fitted from raw stock. However, this type work is a little costly if hired out but it is well within the scope of most DIY guys and gals that work on bikes, cars and motorcycles. Most of these folks will be pleased to barter their evening or weekend services if you ask nicely. A case of beer, bottle or two of nice wine or around here a platter of fried chicken will get you a couple of hours work in someones home shop. So if you choose to fix your dilapidated chairs and gliders, you’re saving the poor things from the scrap yard, keeping them in the family and slowing the use of resources. Now all you have to do is keep them clean and safe from falling branches and the like and they’ll serve you several more years.

But when the day comes and your old metal lawn furniture is too far gone even for the best of repair efforts then taking them to the metal scrapper is the best choice. Here, they’ll weigh your stuff and calulate the scrap price value based on current rates. You’ll get a weight ticket and the office clerk will pay you in cash or with a check. Then, they get lumped in with other metals of the same type and go off to the steel mill where they’ll get cut up and melted in a furnace to make new steel for all sorts of things. Who knows? Maybe your old chairs will be the fender on a new car or the cabinet for a washing machine or dryer or maybe even a new piece of furniture. Then the whole process begins anew!

So remember what the vintage car guys say “Save’m, don’t cruch’m!”

Have a save and happy rest of the summer!

Thanks!

Louis Torrans

I hope everyone had a safe and very happy 4th! We’re looking forward to the rest of summer and sure hope it isn’t too fast trying to get here!

Since we all love the old chairs, you may have noticed they tend to be called by all sorts of names. For example, you may have the custom of referring to a stamped metal motel retro 50′s porch clamshell lawn chair as a “Tulip” chair. Or, maybe your mamma called them “Shell Backs” or even “Yard” chairs. All of which are correct becasue this is one piece of American furniture that does not have any singular name.

Think about that for a moment. All our furniture in the home has an official name. Either the designer or people selling them named the design or style and that’s what we call them. Easy as that! But why didn’t our beloved ….chair made of metal used outside mostly in the lawn but also on porches get named? Well I have some answers for y’all I hope you’ll like.

First off, the chair design actually does have sort of an official name which is “Cantilever”. You see the frame of a metal lawn chair is not supported in the normal way but instead is shaped like the letter “C”. If the base of the “C” were too short, then the chair would flip over backwards which might be fun at parties if there was a pool involved but not much more than that. So if you’ll notice, your typical pipe framed lawn chair has a base slightly longer than the total length of the whole chair. This is to distribute the total weight of you and the chair to the ground and keep you sitting pretty. The forces of the load placed on the chair frame travel down the arms, to the ground and then all along the bottom of the frame where it sits on the ground. But it just doesn’t sound too cool to fill you mouth with “Cantilevered metal lawn chair” so we don’t observe this too often unless were giving a dissertation on the subject….such as…well…now.

The other more colorful names are pretty easy to define. Motel chair comes from the fact that so many of these chairs were used in the front of roadside motels and tourist courts. That’s pretty understandable. Then what about, say, Tulip then? There are very unique designs from the late 40s and very early 50s that actually mimics the shape of an opened tulip flower. These are super cool but I’ve not seen too many. I suspect they were a locally distributed product and only made for a few seasons.

So what about this new word “Bouncer”? I happen to know this answer rather clearly. In the early 2000s, we had a very good customer in Austin, Texas named Charles Gandy. Charlie was an exTexas State congressman that had for reasons I don’t exactly recall turned his attention to metal lawn chairs. He was buying some lessor made stuff and doing fair selling them around the Austin area. He ran across us and we exchanged information on what little each of us knew but he had heard somewhere the “Bouncer” name being mentioned. This had come from the rocking or bouncing moition one gets when the frame is flexed and the chair sort of “bounces” up and down. So, he named his chairs Gandy Bouncers. You know these politicions, always wanting top billing!

Charlie loved the Colorado mountains and vactioned up yonder every chance he had. Naturally, he decided he needed to move so he bought some kind of a lodge or other and bid farewell to Austin. He had a young man working with him and Charlie sold out to him. However, Charlie didn’t want his name kept on the product so with a little thought, the name was simply and quickly changed to “Candy Bouncer”. Now we have another name in the already long list.

Then there was this guy back in the 40s named Alvin Shott making metal lawn chairs that used “Porch Chair” and “Steel Chair” or “All Steel Chair” then later in the 40s and 50s it became the “Shott Chair”. But it was a very early design from the late 1930s that “Clam Shell” came to be. This chair actually very closely approximates the shape of your standard garden variety clam shell.

Now if you’re shopping for all steel 50′s retro lawn chairs and want to do a search, try just plain ole’ ordinary “Metal Lawn Chair” and you should get plenty of hits. You’ll want to try some of these others because not everybody uses the same call sign and depending on where you were raised it could make a big difference!

Happy watermelon time y’all!

Louis Torrans

I see today the weather folks all have just one thing to talk about. HEAT! Yeah, well, its summer and we all knew it was bound to happen. A heat wave has settled in on most of our Nation and Lordy me it is hot but here in Texas its just another day to us. If you’re in an area of the country that’s not used to this I surely hope it doesn’t last long before getting back to y’all’s normal. When folks ask me about Texas summers, I tell them it’s not for the uninitiated! You need to either be born here or get used to it by gradual degrees.

I had a call from very nice lady just this week and she was in the process of redoing her family’s old steel chairs. She had read my blog on finishing and they had chosen the powder coat route but needed a couple of questions answered about age. Before long, she had described for me chairs that were without question first generation Ed Warmack. They contained all the ingrediants I look for in dating a vintage chair. So the thought occured to me to give a slight lesson on how to date old stamped metal lawn chairs.

One of the first things to look for is in the frame. Almost all early lawn chairs utilized a one piece frame. This means the tube frame was made from a single length of pipe with no joints. This made a very strong frame and rust was not an issue for many years IF the tube frame did not receive too much water inside. However, once water entered the frame, it had no way to escape and corrosion began in earnest. A well kept vintage one piece frame chair used undercover should have a very solid frame but you still need to be cautious.

The next thing I look for in dating is the seat. If the seat has drain holes then you’ve surely got an early model. Again, most all early lawn chairs had certain tells and factory installed drain holes is one you can hang your hat on. Ed Warmack used holes in his early chair seats because he was just following behind the others. But, he soon learned those small holes designed to allow rain water to drain out with the idea of slowing down rust did exactly the opposite. You see, a hole by its very nature has a very sharp edge and these little guys just don’t hold paint worth a darn. So when you go to sit in your chair you’re wearing the paint off the holes from the very first. The paint just rubs off right at the hole and before long rust has gotten a foothold right where we don’t want it!

Ed designed what we call the “Tractor” seat about 1947. This is a seat with a slight dish molded to fit the sit’n area of a person. Then he formed in a little channel or canal which directs the water to the back of the chair and it just sort of seeps out between the back and the seat. This is why its so important to keep your lawn chairs washed out and free of leaves, pine straw and dirt. If allowed to accumulate, moisture can linger and rust moves in to help itself to our furniture.

Ed Warmack also changed the way we packaged lawn chairs in about 1949 when he developed the slip together three piece frame. Now he could put a whole chair in a box not much larger than a good sized briefcase and that meant more chairs in a rail car. Other chair makers used multi piece frames as well. Ed’s nemesis, Alvin Shott who at one time billed himself as the world’s largest manufacture of steel lawn furniture went to a three piece design but it had to be bolted together. Bolted style frames were inherently prone to rust and not as solid feeling when you were sitting in them.

So now you can look at a vintage chair and judge for yourself if its’s a true oldy or not. Drain hole chairs were made by various manufacterers up into the late 50′s but the numbers were gettin’ small. And the one piece frame didn’t last much past about 1955 from anybody.

Everyone have a happy and safe 4th!

Louis Torrans

I don’t think anyone needs to be told this but y’all do know June 20th was the offical start of summer. Of course summer weather has been in place for a while now in most locals of our great Nation but the clock is now running so make the most of it!

In getting ready for our yard sitting and outdoor enjoyment season we often times look upon our scraggily and sometimes neglected vintage lawn chairs and gliders only to discover they need some extra attention in the paint deparment. That old finish you put on a few seasons ago is looking a bit worn and starting to flake off. Now you’re wondering what to do to maybe make the new finish last longer and go a few more seasons between tasks.

To begin, the lowest cost method is to simply take a wire brush and a healthy amount of good ole’ elbow grease and worry off the old finish as much as possible. Then the tried and true method of attack is to prime and paint either with spray on or brush applied finishes from the hardware store or maybe just whatever is on the shelf out in the garage. This is how it’s been done for years and years so if you choose this method you’re in good company.

The next method is basically the same except it involves a bit more work but we do have another option to make it a little easier. In this case we take the whole afair apart which sometimes presents its own challenges. Rusty bolts being the number one trouble spot. Old bolts just don’t like coming loose without a struggle. Try some light oil, WD-40, “Rust Buster” or the equivalent on the nuts and threads and let time do the work for you. After a few hours or an over night soak, most old hardware will come off easier and you just might get to recylce it. Now you can sand the old finsih off by hand but I like random orbit electric sanders for this. Once the old finish is off your at the prime and paint stage once again.

Now for the bullet proof treatment. We’re talking powder coat! This is by far the easiest refinish method at our disposal. However, it is also the one that costs the most. BUT! It is also the one that will last the longest so if you are one of those folks that likes to review your cost vs. payback then this will be your best option. This is not you typical DIY project so you’ll need to source a company near you that specializes in powder coating.Powder coat goes on by a special method using electrostatic paint guns and then is rushed into a curing oven to bake on the finish. With proper care, this finish will easily far out last conventional spray or brush on paints. The powder coat company will advise you on care and tips to increase the life of the finish. If you follow their recommendations, you can expect powder coat finishes to last many, many years. The process is very popular in the motorcycle and car world so you shouldn’t have any problem running a shop down.

The powder coating shop will accept your furniture fully assembled and will perform a complete disassembly job as part of their service. Once fully taken apart, they next sand blast the parts down to the base metal. From here it goes into special bathes which further clean the metal and prepare it for coating. After baking and cooling off, the shop will reassemble your chair or glider with all new hardware. Here’s a little tip for you. You’re paying about $100 to $150 to powder coat a regular lawn chair. Why not opt to buy better protection and spring for stainless steel hardware instead of standard grade stuff. Yes it costs a bit more but you’ll thank yourself in the long run with rust free bolts and nuts.

Now that you’ve choosen your method of refinish, we need to deside on colors! The selection is endless so you can either match your present decor or go the way I prefer which is retro don’t-ca know! Red and white is about the most popular old-fashioned color ever. Yellows, limes, greens and turquoise also rank high on the retro scale so have some fun and be sure to mix and match. That way everyone can have their favorite color to sit in!

Now that we’re all spruced up and fresh looking, it’s time for a backyard party! I think I hear a blender running and I’m pretty sure I smell fresh cut watermelon and charcoal just starting to get hot!

Party on Y’all!

Louis Torrans

Goodness gracious its nearly summer already! Where has the time gone? But, summer is all about being outside and that’s kinda our deal don’t-ca-know! So, grab your favorite lawn chair, wipe out the bird droppings and tree sap and let me tell y’all a tale.

Back in about 1946 when WW II was coming to a close a gentleman by the name of Ed Warmack was thinking about what to do with his factory tucked back in the woods of Arkansas. He had been making all sorts of things for the Government to help with the war and now that it was peace time again he needed to return to domestic work. Mr. Ed knew about stamped porch chairs and how to make molds and tooling so he decided one of the first things he’d turn his attention to would include making his version of our beloved metal lawn chairs.

Ed made several contributions to the metal lawn chair industry. He designed the three piece frame with the slip in cross member. This let him pack more chairs into the rail cars he was shipping in from his plant there in Fort Smith, Arkansas. He also designed what we call the “tractor seat” which is the chair seat with the little channel in the back to allow rain water to drain away. Ed first used a flat seat with holes drilled in the middle to let the water drain but soon discoverd these holes didn’t hold paint too well and rust began quickly forming around them. The tractor seat designed solved his problem.

I meet Ed Warmack several years ago when he and his wife had made a gracious gift to a hospital in Little Rock doing research in extending ones life time by eating right. He didn’t know everything about lawn chairs I was wanting to learn but he knew everything about what he had done. He was a great source of period information and he had plenty of tales to allow about his time as one of the leading metal lawn chair manufacures in the US. Now this next part has been a little difficult for me to wrap my arms around but I’ve come to accpet it. Ed told me his daily production during building season for steel lawn chairs was up to 500 chairs PER HOUR! That is flat out turning and burning chair fans!

So, when you see an old metal chair like the ones we make in our Bellaire style, know that there was a fellow back in the hils of Arkansas in the late 1940s making them as fast as a donut shop makes donut holes! Ed sold his company in 1955 to two cousins that produced until 1970 when again the factory traded hands, selling to Flanders Industries which later became Lloyd Flanders. Flanders made steel lawn chairs until 1996, ending a 50 year run from the same factory with only 3 owners.

This and more tales and history is covered in my new book “The History of the Metal Lawn Chair….Here’s what we know now!”. Publishing is planned for later this summer so please check back for the announcement. If you have any history questions, please drop me a line.

Bye for now,

Louis Torrans

We’ve got a great announcement! For the past several years we’ve been exploring the details of making a line of our chairs both in the USA and here in Texas. Well, I’m very happy to say we’re just about ready to begin production on a truely old and vintage chair not seen since the early 1940s and it’s just dripping with Art Deco style.

We’ve been working closely with a pair of shops just a little ways from us in Tyler, Texas and they will be forming our frames and appling a dynamite powder coat finish to all the parts. We’ll perform all the final packing in our Jefferson, Texas facility.

This will be a somewhat limited run and available in three wet hot colors. Red, Blue and Black. The frames will be finished in the same color so these first run pieces are what is known as “mono” colors. Later, after our customers give feedback we’ll make additions and maybe begin a line of gliders and love seats in more color options.

Please keep a lookout for the coming annoucment and availablity of the US products!

Thanks!

Louis Torrans

Some of you will notice this blog – sort of – kinda – went – you know – away! We live in the digital age and thus we have digital isues which thankfully only occur on rare occations like Mondays. But, I’m very happy to report the difficulties have been repaired and we’re back to talking about my favorite topic which is metal lawn chairs!

Like you, I have so many fond memories of just sitting in the old metal chairs and listening to the grown folks discuss their important matters of the day. My Grandmother shelling peas hoping for just the breath of a breeze to take off the heat of the afternoon. And after Church, we’d all sit outside in the chairs and everyone would enumerate all the things they were “fix’n” to go do for the afternoon with no particular hurry being evident.

When I decided to venture off on my own and make our version of these wonderful old chairs, I did it with these thoughts still fresh in my mind but many years old. Then as now, I am committed to all our chairs and gliders having the same feel, proportions, strength and value as those from “back in the day”. We feel like we owe this to these simple products that have touched so many hearts over these many years.

I have studied the history of these chairs and gliders for years now and visited with some of the old manufactures and those that were there. If you share the same sort of interest in these way cool stamped metal chairs as I do then I invite you to come sit a bit and tell us your story or ask a question. I love talking about lawn chairs and gliders!

Thanks!

Louis Torrans