I love old stuff, but when it comes to work and efficiency I don’t hesitate to go modern. In fact, as I write this, I’m sitting in a legendary .com era Herman Miller Aeron chair. So, you might be surprised to find that I don’t own a shop stool made after 1950.
Brothers Joe and Clement Uhl founded the Toledo Furniture Metal Company in 1897. One of their first projects was a stool destined to line industrial factories all over the country and world. It became known as the Toledo stool and it’s the high-chair of choice to this day… For me, anyway…
I have three of them – two in my office and one in my shop. And what makes them so great can actually be broken down into three qualities:
1. They are absolutely indestructible. All three of my chairs began life on a Ford factory floor in Detroit, served many decades and employees, and now support my *** and back just fine. You can’t hurt these things.
2. They are incredibly comfortable. The molded plywood seat bottom and the adjustable back rest sit perfectly in relationship to each other and there is plenty of adjustment available. I don’t know if these damned things are comfortable for everyone, but I can sit in them for hours on end.
3. The just look damned cool. The hours of metal work that must have gone into each stool is mind numbing. With a blind eye, I can count over 30 separate pieces of metal in the base alone and each is masterfully connected to the next with beautiful welds or hand punched rivets. They just don’t make stuff like this anymore.
As early as five years ago, you could pick these things up pretty cheap – under $100. But the design crowd has finally caught wind of them and prices have steadily increased. You can find them on eBay for between $200 and $400 each depending on condition. Whether you sit at your work bench for long stretches or just have an appreciation for great design, you should check them out…
