"You know, this chair sits very well!"

Sam Maloof, when he sat in my chair in Atlanta in 2002.

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In early 2002 (or thereabout) I made myself an English walnut rocking chair and when it came time to put the inscription on the underside of the seat, for the life of me, I could not think of anything to write. So I took the chair in the house, sans inscription. Then about six months later I got a call from a friend of mine, Michael Grady sho lives near Atlanta Georgia. Michael mentioned that Sam Maloof was going to present a seminar at Highland Hardware and asked if I would I like to attend with him. I immediately knew that I would give my chair to Sam. I gratefully accepted Michael's offer and immediately took "Sam's chair" back out to the shop to write the inscription. It came to me very quickly and shortly after that, I loaded up Sam's chair and headed to Atlanta.

Knowing Maloof would be surrounded by the participants, I wrote a letter that I could slip to him between the bodies of admiring fans. When Sam came into the room, surprisingly everyone seemed reluctant to approach him, thus providing me an opportunity. I went up, introduced myself, and handed him my letter. Then, because we were alone at the front of the room, I explained to him that "I knew it was like bringing coals to Newcastle"; nevertheless, I wanted to give him a rocking chair. He smiled his huge Sam Maloof smile and asked me if I had the chair with me. "It's in my van" I told him. "Bring it up!" Sam insisted. So I brought Sam's new rocking chair in and he directed me to sit it down in the front of the class.

"I'll critique it later" Sam said. I thought "I didn't bring it here for a critique, I brought it as a gift!" But who was I to complain? At the end of the class Sam walked over to the chair and said. "Now, lets go over this chair."

Sam started at the top, noting the vertical grain in the headrest. He asked if I doweled the headrest boards, to which I replied no. Then he went on to the arms. I thought he would not like the arms much because, at that time, they were not as graceful as Sam's but they were quite functional. Sam, surprisingly, loved the arms. He was surprised that the back braces moved as much as they did and thought they were too thin. I explained that they were laminated from four strips and then he said "Well, that would be fine then."

At that point Sam turned to the class and said "You know, the proof of a rocking chair is in the sitting." So, Sam had a seat in my (his) rocking chair. He smiled, then shifted around a little and said to the class, "You know, this chair sits very well!"

 I talked to Sam several times by phone after the chair arrived at his home but I never felt it appropriate to ask what he had done with his new rocking chair.

Click here to see my letter to Sam