Gear Review: Camp Chair

When looking around reenactments camp furniture is abundant both in military and civilian areas.   Often times much of what is used at events is not correct to the period.  This is an area where even in some of the best fixed camp impressions compromises are made.  Part of the reason for this is our modern bodies want to sit in a comfortable chair and accurate camp chair reproductions are not readily available.  Some resort to restoring and reupholstering  original frames. I recently acquires a frame to do this myself however, using originals may not always be the best solution but thats a debate for another post.  I have been disappointed in everything I have seen and purchased.  Either the chairs are so far from correct its sad, they sit to low, fabric is wrong, construction is wrong or hardware looks modern. Until recently.  Searching one night I found camp chairs on Etsy that I fell for and starred at many times over a couple of months.  I finally took the chance and placed an order for two of PaWoods chairs.  Why did I fall in love with these chairs?  Well lets take a look at the details.

Both chairs are made of one inch oak stock assembled using mortise and tenon joints.  They are both finished with a top coat of hand rubbed tung oil over a rosewood oil stain.  Most importantly they are both copied from original camp chairs.

The above folding chair is a beauty with lots of great details.  Taken from PaWoods listing in the description this chairs "design and dimensions were taken directly from an original antique manufactured by the E. W. Vaill company."  The hardware for the hinged joints are riveted and the back slats are shaped nicely by steam bending. What really sets this reproduction chair apart is the details such as the brass buttons across the top slat and finials.  I found an image of an original online and they are a vary close match.

The second chair style from PaWoods that I ordered is a folding arm chair.  This might be my favorite as this style is in a famous photo of Ulysses S. Grant during the war.

Just like the other chair this one features correct looking hardware for the assembly where needed.  To match the original chair the arms and back slats are steam bent which gives this chair perfect curves.

When I contacted PaWoods to place my order the communication and response time was outstanding.  Emails were quickly replied to and most importantly the chairs shipped fast.  Five days after I paid the chairs were on my doorstep packaged very well to ensure they showed up in great shape.  They sat in my living room for two days while I admired them.  The first event for them was last weekend at the log cabin that another blog post is about.  They looked and functioned with distinction in the cabin.  I found the armless version to be quite comfortable with the fabric back.  With Grant being one of my hero's the "Grant" arm chair remains my favorite. I highly recommend either of these chairs and likely any camp chair PaWoods is selling if they hold to this level of craftsmanship which is worth the investment.