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The Modesto chair is the heaviest of all the Amish made chairs I’ve come across. I have one that is made of quarter sawn white oak with a wood seat and it weighs all of 40 to 45 pounds.
The exposed tenons on this chairs are glued on pieces, as are 99.9% of all the exposed tenons on Amish furniture. The joints of this chair are mortise and tenon. The Amish have made a mass decision not to take the time to do true through tenon construction. It’s a shame but it would increase the already long build time (6 to 10 weeks) so I can see their reasoning.
The rustic styling of this chair really make it at home in the more southwestern mission style homes. Needless to say it goes perfectly with all of the modesto style furniture made by the Amish.
The 3 back slats have a lumbar curve for support which really helps in improving it’s comfortability. Each of the slats is about 5/16ths of an inch thick so they are plenty strong.
My only dislike with this chair is that there is no cross bracing for the bottoms of the legs. Unfortunately this can, over time, lead to some of the joints loosening. Mainly at the back leg and seat joint. The only problem with adding the cross bracing is that it would also kill the looks of this chair. So the builder erred on the side of looks here. The cause of this loosening is tipping the chair back on the rear legs only while someone is sitting in it. This causes a lot of uneven stress that the the modesto chair, or any chair for that matter, just isn’t designed for. Eventually the glue in the M/T joints starts to crack and the screws holding it can loosen as well.
A huge plus for this chair is that the front of the arms are supported by a solid post and not screwed into the side of the chair. This really increases the overall strength of the arms so people can actually use them. It makes me very happy to see a builder understands the advantages of that construction.
Most Amish chairs have the front arm support screwed into the side of the skirt under the seat. Personally I hate that configuration. The way the wood is cut makes the grain run vertically and this can lead to a failure where it curves in to the attachment point. This area of the support can break or split if it tips over, someone bounces up and down on it (kids), applies a hard, sudden downward jolt or bounces back and forth between them (kids). So where you can get the post construction under the front of the arm (like the modesto chair) it will be much stronger and last longer
Overall I like this chair. The styling is unique, it’s well built (very heavy) and is part of a style that can be extended in the rest of the home as well.
