By Harvin C. Moore
There really is nothing like a great rocking chair. No matter whether you are nine years old or ninety, you know what I mean. A great rocker cradles you – it pitches you back to that angle where the pressure leaves your back, the weight is off your feet, your arms are relaxed – and, well, it’s just a great feeling. A rocker turns your porch or patio into an outdoor room – it’s like adding a room to your house for a few hundred dollars. A rocker creates an atmosphere that slows down time – loosens you up, and your guests too – to enjoy the precious time you have at the end of the day to reflect and relax. My grandmother had some really great rocking chairs on her porch – she was a true rocking chair connoisseur – and being in a great rocker takes me back to those happy evenings sipping iced tea and visiting with friends and family. Even today, sometimes I’ll find myself in a hotel that has a truly great rocking chair in a truly great spot for reading, or chatting, or just sitting still and thinking for a while.
But, you know, most outdoor rocking chairs aren’t quite perfect. Now, I think you know what I mean. They’re all pretty great – but when you’ve been in a perfect rocking chair, then there really is something missing when you sit in a chair that’s not quite right. Maybe the seat is too high – or the back doesn’t pitch back at the right angle. Sometimes the arms don’t fit you, or your head or shoulders hit the back slats in the wrong place. Some seats are perfectly contoured, others make you shift around looking for the right spot to sit on. Some squeak like a trapped mouse. Others are flimsy or lightweight, and feel out of balance when you try to rock – while others almost won’t rock at all.
And so this article is about what makes an outdoor rocking chair truly perfect. What are the characteristics of a truly great rocking chair that will totally satisfy, and never leave you with that nagging feeling that you aren’t quite fully relaxed?
And how on earth would I know anyway? What makes me such an expert? A fair question. I’ve already said that my grandmother, Elizabeth Poorman Moore, was a rocker expert. And she was. She was born in Katy, Texas, in 1917 to rice farmers, and they knew the meaning of hard work, hot days, and how to relax that sore back when the day was done. They didn’t have air conditioning, so the porch was where they went to relax. She grew up knowing what a rocking chair was for – why it was invented. After marrying an architect who shared her appreciation of quality design, she opened a small store for fine antiques, including furniture and rocking chairs. She also purchased an original 1800s-era Stagecoach Inn and operated it for more than twenty years as an upscale bed and breakfast. Thousands of discerning people came and rocked.
I got to know great design and great furniture from my grandparents, but, after a career in banking and investment banking in the 1980s and 90s, I set off on my own to design and build rocking chairs – not antiques, like my grandmother – but brand new rockers, which I could make to any perfecting standard I could think of. I opened up a store in 1992 in Houston and sold the rockers we made in a little factory in rural Texas. My idea was to design the perfect rocking chair, and then make lots of them, and sell them at a reasonable price. The more I got to know my competition, the less afraid of them I became. It seemed that everyone that made rocking chairs did so because there was a market for them – but nobody seemed to be listening to the customer – it seemed like no one was taking the time to get everything just right; the way you would if you really had passion, and were committed to making a chair for yourself or for someone very special to you. So that’s what I did.
Since that time I have sold tens of thousands of outdoor rocking chairs – not just made in that factory, but later made in other factories under contract to me, with a few improvements made to the design every few years. My rockers were purchased by young couples, old folks and new moms. As word got around, my rockers cradled sports stars, news anchors, mayors, governors and even a U. S. President. They were bought by designers, architects, bed & breakfasts, restaurants and hotels. At last count, my rockers are in 41 countries around the globe, adding just a little special spot in each place they occupy.
So what makes the perfect outdoor rocker chair? I would say the key factors are comfort and strength. Comfort is what we’re seeking, but of course strength is about assuring that the comfort will last.
Comfort
Comfort means a lot of things to a lot of people, but I can tell you after 16 years of selling rockers to thousands of discerning customers, there are some key aspects of comfort almost everyone can agree on, and which will help you find the perfect chair:
Strength
Teak is currently the most popular weatherproof wood, although it is very expensive because true teak comes only from very far-away places where the trees take over 60 years to reach maturity. By the way, don’t be fooled by lesser woods from eastern Asia marketed as "teak" but made from totally different, and inferior, woods. An increasingly popular material for weatherproof furniture is Robinia, which matures in only 30 years and is actually harder and more stable than teak and has the added benefit that it can be painted, which teak cannot.
Heaviness alone is no guarantee of quality – but many of the factors that create a great rocker also create weight – like a dense quality hardwood, thick posts and slats, full adult size, and the other things we’ve talked about. Perhaps it’s more accurate to say that you should beware a lightweight rocker. Most rockers available in the superstores weight about 20-25 pounds, and you just can’t make a quality chair at that weight. I’ve tried it and learned that lesson very early on. The rockers we make now are between 37 and 50 pounds.
Summary
Well, we’ve talked a lot about what makes a great outdoor rocking chair. Like most things in life, the answer is not simple, but there is a great reward from knowing your way as you compare rockers in order to become confident that you will have the best there is. As you shop, observe the characteristics I mention above, and sit in every chair with those characteristics in mind as you narrow down your choices.
After twenty years in my quest to create the perfect rocker, I made what I believe is my magnum opus, The World's Finest Rocker. After five years, I still have not found even one thing I would change to improve it – and that has never happened before - it’s a great feeling. People who buy it tell me they’ve never been in a better rocker. They buy one or two and then come back for more, and start giving them to friends and family for special occasions. Hotels are choosing this chair above the others we offer.
I partnered with a strong, family owned furniture factory using highly precise machinery for consistent quality. I chose Robinia so that it is weatherproof and can be painted - it is available in natural oil, three painted colors, three more weathered paint finishes, and two indoor/outdoor luxury stains. I made the proportions large – a wide seat and back, wide arms, a tall back and long runners. I incorporated contours everywhere they should be provided – in both axes of the seat and in the back. I utilized a cut-angle back to increase the back angle, and gave the back a slight left to right contour as well. I included a seat slat guard in the front of the seat, and an extra structural piece on the side of the seat that adds strength and improves the look as well. And I made a matching footstool for that incomparable zero-G effect.
All those considerations made it significantly more expensive to build, but I compensated by buying in large quantities and not being greedy in our profit margins. Freight costs are a large portion of the cost of furniture, and we slashed those costs by creating a "partially assembled" chair that comes in a relatively flat box but can be assembled by most people in about 20 minutes. We perfected packing techniques to protect parts from damage inside the box, and we used top-quality thick corrugated boxes that protect the furniture inside. It’s amazing how much money you save when you make furniture that never breaks in shipping or gets returned - those costs are a large part of most furniture you buy. This rocker is available from Frontera with free shipping and a satisfaction guarantee. Whether you buy this chair or another one, I know you will be glad you learned a bit more about what makes the perfect rocker before investing in the last rocker you’ll ever buy.
When you sit in the perfect rocker, you will get that feeling of bliss that comes from knowing "it doesn’t get any better than this." And your guests will notice – I have watched the faces of thousands of people light up as they sat in a great rocker and felt that feeling – and that feeling is a great way to start a memorable evening with family or friends on your porch.
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