Keith,
The Barber's chair reminded me of an incident at my shop. One of my customers
had a dental supply business, took in trade-ins on new items, etc. Somewhere
in my readings about unrelated subjects and trivia, I learned that a Dentist
chair was supposedly the first chair to be designed "ergonomically."
Obviously the dentist wanted the patient to be relaxed and comfortable. Dave
said he had some oold style chairs with the hand pump, etc. I acquired them
at a very VERY reasonable price. At first I thought of making welding jig
platforms out of them so you could adjust the height to suit the work being
done. Also thought one would be nice beside the milling machine with the very
heavy rotary table on it. The height could be adjusted to match the table and
the rotary could be transferred without having to lift the dang thing.
That left three chairs "at leisure" and that's exactly what I did with them.
Restored two as lounge chairs for on the lanai, and the third one got a nice
marble top to serve as a place for libations, snacks, etc., between the two
chairs. A very prominent interior decorator here in town saw them under
construction and used every derogatory word he could think of to tell me what
a stupid idea that was. Over the next two years, I bought and refurbished
quite a few of the chairs. They sold for very rewarding prices and the
original decorator sold six of them, of course claiming that the whole thing
was HIS idea. Later the early electrical ones sold very well and one became a
locomotive repair bench for me -- until a customer offered me more for it
than I could afford the pass up.
Keep your steam up!
Mr. Lunk's Asst.
