Camp Chairs

[Zonie]

A hammock is easy to roll up and stow just about anywhere on a pack animal.

I suppose someone who was determined could also roll up a regular chair's legs too and stow it somewhere. :hmm:

They might not like the effects of doing this to the legs when they unroll it though. :rotf:

 

[Black Hand]

Pack mule was not the only way west....

Lewis and Clark took a hammock on their trip.

And the metal frame of a boat they hoped to cover with skins and float to the pacific. There is a reconstruction at the L&C Interpretive center in Great Falls, MT.

I was thinking 18th century moving west from the colonies to the new frontier just over the mountains. Though moving even further west after L&C, boats carried lots of cargo, while those going to the Oregon & California territories had access to wagons and were bringing their worldly possessions to set up settlements far from re-supply.

It's all about context...

 

[coloradoclyde]

I we managed to haul women into the frontier, I have no doubt there were chairs.

 

[tenngun]

And mules ***** horses and oxen weren’t the only way to go. Carts and wagons were common for many families moving west. Only pack animal got to rendezvous for most part, but before the first voo wagons were on the way to Santa Fe.

 

[Black Hand]

If we managed to haul women into the frontier, I have no doubt there were chairs.

...and beds and mattresses and spinning wheels and plates and pots and sheets and looms and butter-churns and chests and blankets and...

Too much modern thinking and the fantasy created by fiction & films of the man alone in the wilderness with only his gun, horn and axe to keep him company...

 

[coloradoclyde]

I'd be willing to bet that somewhere and Indian chief was given a chair.

What did fort commanders sit on?

Trading posts?

What about early artists?....I'll bet one of them sat on a chair.

Jesuit missionaries?

 

[coloradoclyde]

One can easily make a stool in the field in about 30 minutes with 3 simple tools....I've done that myself.

 

[Coot]

Flat boats could and did move lots of cargo - trade goods, household goods, even loads of cattle. And yes - hardly everyone migrating west was poor. In the first hand accounts found in "Running Mad for Kentucky", is one from the wife of a wealthy planter, they were moving the entire plantation - some 60 wagon loads - which doubtless included her favorite/best chairs. At the other extreme was a family whose entire worldly possessions were loaded on one pack horse.

 

[tenngun]

Even sans pack animal there were the Mormon carts, drawings and paintings show such carts in use long befor the Normans and in Europe. Some of the cartoons of the gold rush of 1849 show men with just wheel barrows. That’s could be an exaggeration.
Some times a ”˜silly’ item could be carried as being the thing that made the new house the new home. Lares and penates as it were

 

[Sunkmanitu Tanka]

Folding chairs are a design that is older than many people think ... J. Colignon invented a folding rocking chair in the U.S.A. (I believe during or around the 1849 gold rush ?) Anyway there is a website about these chairs and I bet there are several models of folding chairs - deck chairs that could date back to 18th/19th century ... For those who really want one it can be an interesting search to find a document-able model ...

 

[Artificer]

"Yes, There Were 18th Century Folding Chairs" http://www.livinghistoryshop.com/category/18th-century-furniture/

There is also at least one original of a side folding chair and if I remember correctly, it was used by a British Navy Captain/Admiral and possibly Lord Nelson. That chair dates to just after the turn of the 19th century. Of course I can't find it now when I want to link to it.

Gus

 

[Sunkmanitu Tanka]

There exists a lot of 'fold-able' campaign furniture ... Beds, campaign desks, writing desks, but also chairs in many forms ...One could have some as an continental officer, or one 'looted' from the English army ...

 

[Artificer]

I know this style chair goes back to the early 19th century, but I'm not so sure about the 18th century?
https://www.finewoodworking.com/readerproject/2008/11/10/18th-century-campaign-chair

Gus

 

[Sunkmanitu Tanka]

and then there are the Irish Tuam chairs that peg together - if you are of Irish descent...

 

[Sunkmanitu Tanka]

I read that during great wagon treks west, many women were pregnant. To comfort a crying baby or while nursing they preferred to sit in their rocking chair. Consequently when they went West they demanded to take their rocking chair. Often these chairs where hung outside the wagon, and got battered beyond repair after such a long trip. J. Colignon (a French furniture builder) noticed this while on a gold rush trek. He also saw pliable deck chairs on the ship he took to the America's... He invented the pliable Colignon rocking chair and founded a small town industry...

 

[Billnpatti]

I wish I had some plans for you but I do not. When I lived in Indiana, I made quite a few of these chairs and gave them to friends. Another friend had one and let me borrow it to copy. I had no printed plans, just his chair to copy. My favorite woods to use were ash, oak, and Osage Orange. Of those, I preferred ash.

 

[Black Hand]

Other than the pattern not being historical, these 2-piece slat-back chairs are wasteful of wood since the curved legs need to be cut from wide pieces of lumber. The fact that the grain doesn't run end to end in the legs, which being under the most stress, leaves potential points of failure at the run-out locations.

I do have one of the 2-piece chairs given to me as a gift. It doesn't leave the house - being used as a place to leave my trekking pack between trips or as a step-stool to reach materials stored on the top of the book shelf. While comfortable, it is more difficult to get up due to the angle of the seat/back (if you scoot forward enough to easily stand, the chair is likely to tip over and dump you unceremoniously on the ground) and their proximity to the ground.

 

[Billnpatti]

Historically correct or not, I had quite a few folks who wanted them. I had no complaints about any failures of the wood. Either none occurred or none were reported to me. If a cair had failed, I would have replaced it. The legs on mine were made of 2-inch stock rather than 1 inch. That may have been a factor. The slats were approximately 3/4 inch thick. As for the ergonomics, you do have a well-taken point there.

 

[Rifleman1776]

BH, we do seem to have some interesting disagreements. :wink: That's fine, without them there would be no discussion on this, or any, discussion forum.
Enneyhow, you said"

So why not use an item that is PC/HC?

Because, in my case, the slide together camp chair is the most practical for me. I have an old floppy disc with pictures of a number of hc/pc chairs. I could make some of them in my shop. But they are fairly heavy items and, to me, would look out of place at most ronny events. Plus, the slide together thingy, the way I made it, is very light and handy. I can easily carry to another camp or the big feed. In addition, I have helped score shooting events at ronny, including woods walks, etc. Being able to sit to do this is imperative. If I had to stand for hours I just couldn't do it. I used that chair for many years and still have my topknot. So it couldn't have been too offensive. :grin:

 

[Black Hand]

We are discussing apples and sports-cars....

I find it easier to make a HC/PC item to be used and you prefer an item that isn't because of the comfort and ease of carry. My point was that a HC/PC item can be just as comfortable and easy to carry. All that said, you have stated you don't attend events where HC/PC is a consideration, so using the lack of comments on your non-HC/PC chair isn't an indication of anything...