Sofa recliner

[pstein15]

From the Stickley website. Google 400 series sofas. Small print in right hand corner.

"All component images are to 1/4” scale (1/4” = 1’) All exposed legs are maple.
Due to retrictions of motion upholstery, and the need for compatibility,
400 series components are not 8-way hand knotted.
Multiple piece sectionals will be center-matched"

[drcollie]

<tsk, tsk> I'll have to educate Brenda at Customer Service, I like to give her a hard time anyways (I talk to her about 10x every week). Ya'll have to realize they don't work with the furniture every day in the same manner as a dealer does, so why they can tell you what leather is in stock - things like construction builds are not their strong suit. And most the other dealers are - well - how do I say this nicely....uneducated hacks when it comes to in-depth product knowledge. Lots has been written here already on these topics, so I won't go too much into it as you can read about them in detail in the archives, but here's a quick rundown of your concerns as you have some bad information,

Suspension. No motion furniture from any make can have an 8-way spring deck, its impossible to do. The spring grid MUST move with the mechanism and 8-ways are clamped to the webbing and by their nature MUST be stationary. Same with a 4-way hand-tied spring. Therefore the spring suspension has to be a drop-in grid, tied to the mechanism itself so it can move with it. Here's a photo of a typical recliner mechanism and you can see what it looks like. Furthermore, each mechanism assembly has to bolt to a frame, on two sides, so its in a box on the piece. If doing a recliner sofa, you will have that box built on each end of the sofa. The middle section of the sofa will be a conventional spring so that can be an 8-way as its not in motion.



Protected Leathers: All that means is its a painted leather, nothing more. It's not 'armored' as the term 'protected' would lead you to believe. To paraphrase F.D.R., "You have nothing to Fear from Unprotected leathers than Fear Itself" (Just don't leave them in direct sunlight day after day or they will fade more rapidly)

You can read all about leathers here on the forum:

http://www.myfurnitureforum.com/show...ecting-leather

[Moonbat]

Thank you for your kind advice. I did look through their information, but did not see anything that mentioned reclining sofas were built any differently, which was why I called the company to inquire. I'm going to look through the catalog and H&M website again just in case I went data blind. We haven't placed an order yet as we are still deciding on a style and a leather. Our closest H&M dealer is a family owned and operated business that's been there since 1946. I don't think they load trucks anymore so perhaps they've never thought to look under one of the power sofas and just assumed as the H&M customer service agent, Brenda, did. To recline or not to recline, that is the question (with apologies to Mr.Shakespeare).

Leather and all it's jargon is confusing. There are some leathers that are protected yet are aniline like Capri, Luggage, Kempton and some others. How do those compare to the unprotected? I think what I'm really asking is do they chip like painted leather can? I was very impressed with the comparison between unprotected and the leather solutions treated sample that was shown in another thread. Amazing.

I appreciate the picture you posted of the underside of the recliner. You wouldn't happen to have a power sofa you can turn upside down do you? Just kidding

[drcollie]

All you have to remember is that in order for a piece to be 8-way hand-tied is must be a stationary piece. All motion has drop-in spring grids. The only exception are the tilt back chairs such as the H&M 2038 High Back Tilt Chair, that DOES have an 8-way suspension as only the back moves, the lower part of the chair is stationary.

Leather can be confusing, that's why I have that detailed section on it. Hancock & Moore has 443 leathers last time I counted them up, and that causes people to get get bogged in the choice and overthink it. 94% of all leathers worldwide are the 'Protected' or 'Finished' leathers and only 6% of hides are clean enough to become aniline. So for that reason alone, most leather purchased and seen are in that Finished category. That 6 % is for the leather affectionados that are willing to pay more for a unique or luxury hide. They are for the person who buys a Rolex over a Seiko, or a Porsche over a Ford. For some its worth it, for others not so much. I'm an aniline leather guy, to me its worth it. Jimmy Moore of Hancock and Moore has GR 2 Caress in his house, a painted Chinese leather - and he can choose from anything in the line since he's a primary owner. There's no right or wrong, and one won't outlast the other. Pick what you like and are willing to pay for and remember maintenance is the whole key to keeping it nice, not the kind of leather you buy. You have to "take care of your cow".

[pstein15]

I also went to the HM site and couldn't find anything. The Stickley site was much more informative. HM Seemed to be mostly photos. Only one Stickley site had the info. That was a section where they showed the build specs by series. The other Stickley sites were photos like the HM site. The problem with calling HM is that you are likely to get a competent person who has never had that question. The company boasts their eight hand ties and never mentions the motion series. I'm sure the person you spoke to thought all their products were eight way. My Stickley sales lady, in her sixties and a very experienced furniture sales lady, was very surprised when I told her they were not eight way hand tied. I found out by accident. Just landed on the right page.

[drcollie]

Here's a photo of Legget and Platt's Omega Series 5304 Zerowall Power mechanism that they typically use in Hancock & Moore power sofa recliners. Rather than tell you that I'm right and they're wrong, look at this photo logically and tell me how could they put a 8-way hand-tied spring suspension into this unit? Remember that an 8-way has to go into a non-moving base and the spring have to remain motionless and clamped onto a webbing stretched tight across the bottom, then the string ties on top of the springs isolated to the frame. Now you see why they use drop-in spring grids in all motion furniture...



Here's your typical 8-way spring construction deck:

[elcrox]

Duane--would you still pick a H&M stationary sofa with ottoman over an H&M power reclining sofa? Does H&M offer an option of having all three seats power recline? Thanks!

[drcollie]

Yes, I would absolutely select a stationary sofa and ottoman over a power recliner sofa for many reasons. 1) Strength, 2) Weight 3) Complexity 4) Cost. What most people are looking for is to put their feet up, moreso than the lay out flat in the seat. The sofa/ottoman does that very nicely, just make sure you have appx a 2" drop on the ottoman height from the seat height. I have a dual recliner sofa in our media room and wouldn't buy it again, in fact we stopped using the recliners on it years ago and have a cocktail ottoman we use with it instead, that way someone can actually sit and use the middle on movie night, etc.

I've only seen one sofa that had recliners in all three seats, and that was made by Leathercraft. All require a solid structure member to bolt to, so Leathercraft had to do some fancy frame building to accommodate that.