Best brands for church chairs, banquet chairs, etc. (1 Viewer)

[tigon]

I'm looking to pick up some nice used chairs in the future for both dining and poker tables.

I know Gasser is a well respected brand of chairs in the US, but I haven't seen a listing for used Gassers in Canada. Searching for church, banquet, stacking chairs etc. on Kijiji/Craigslist you can find some nice looking ones but usually in bulk lots. Some of the sellers have been amenable to splitting the chairs up but I haven't had the chance to go check some out. Are there any brands like Gasser making chairs in Canada to keep an eye out for?

I guess a better question might be what are the things you're looking for in a chair? I guess a big padded back surface area, some give in the back, and sturdy. Anything else?

 

[Mr Tree]

Sturdy is big for me. I had a tom of my first round of chairs break. I also like comfortable yet somewhat firm.

Chairs suck. Expensive and hard to find good ones.

I bought mine from seatingexpert.com. It's supposed to only be a b2b site though so I had to lie and say I was a business[emoji33]. Also no small orders. I think only 10+ chairs.

 

[Junior24xx]

Lets not forget that Mr Tree and the hitching post set the bar for all of us. From table, to bar to chairs, its all freaking awesome. For the rest of us, all three of the regular games I play in have padded folding chairs from costco. At around 20 bucks a pop taxes in, they are a pretty good chair. Comfortable enough and sturdy for all of us bigger gentleman.

 

[Mental Nomad]

Sturdy is big for me. I had a tom of my first round of chairs break. I also like comfortable yet somewhat firm.

Chairs suck. Expensive and hard to find good ones.

I bought mine from seatingexpert.com. It's supposed to only be a b2b site though so I had to lie and say I was a business[emoji33]. Also no small orders. I think only 10+ chairs.

How are these holding up? Sturdy/durable?

 

[Mr Tree]

How are these holding up? Sturdy/durable?

So far so good. No casualties and they seem plenty sturdy

 

[tigon]

Those look so good. My budget is more along the lines of $20 a chair though.

I picked up a set of 6 folding padded seat chairs for like $10 from Walmart on clearance. Good deal but you definitely get what you pay for.

 

[Mesnik44]

I got very lucky and got Gasser-like chairs from a hotel that was upgrading. Each chair was $15. Keep with craigslist. It will pan out.

 

[Mental Nomad]

I'm thinking $20-ish folding chairs while I wait to strike gold on Craigslist.

Alternately, may go for one these at $59 + tax each locally, but it requires checking overstock and picking them up in dribs and drabs:

They are NOT as high quality as those from seatingexpert.com.

Also considering these: http://www.amazon.com/Collection-Le...196_img_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=14N4VDYX00RP250MB46J
$135 a pair shipped, so about $68 each. The stuff from Coaster isn't the worst quality I've seen.

These are only $103 a pair, shipped... so $52 a chair: http://www.amazon.com/Roundhill-Urb..._UL160_SR160,160_&refRID=0V1DNEC1Q0B7Y7YZ5MP0

Anybody have strong opinions on the durability of cheap folders from Cosco versus Flash Furniture versus Hercules versus National Public Seating?

Looking a the basic padded (vinyl) folder, Coso and Flash are the cheapest. Hercules and NPS are a little more, but appear to be higher quality, and are available with better padding.

 

[Mr Tree]

Mental Nomad, those chairs look exactly like the construction of my old Parsons chairs I used to use. I will they'll you they look great but are really not durable at all. Each leg has bolts you Allen wrench to the frame. If people lean in them or push back the wood plate that holds the bolt cracks VERY easily. I lost a chair every couple of sessions.

If you look along the wall to the left you can see some of the chairs I used to have in question

 

[Mental Nomad]

Each leg has bolts you Allen wrench to the frame. If people lean in them or push back the wood plate that holds the bolt cracks VERY easily. I lost a chair every couple of sessions.

Thanks... I wasn't expecting top-end construction, and this is really useful info for me. I've done a lot of chair repair, and was actually planning to reinforce them against the problems I'm usually fixing.

It was just the head-side wood cracking? But the nuts seated in the legs, themselves, were holding strong?

If so, I can probably get a lot of mileage out of either up-sizing the washers to wider ones (spreading the force) and/or replacing the washers with mending plates.

I'll also be adding good wood glue during assembly and letting it set well before they're used - if they come assembled, I'll actually take them apart to glue them up properly. I have many clamps.

Between a good glue-up and a $4 worth of hardware per chair, I might be able to make $60 chairs last quite a long time...

 

[Mr Tree]

I'm no carpenter so I might be describing it incorrectly. It's the cross beam that the leg slots into and the bolt threads through. They tend to crack. When people lean or push back the legs move within them and eventually crack the piece. The nuts don't seem to break I don't think and the threads aren't stripping (I don't think.)

 

[Strike1st]

I'd check out IKEA...seem solid for the money...several people we know use them. I'm a big round marshmallow and they hold me...no Creek no break.