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Thread: A Quick Review of Hancock and Moore Items - 6-10 months after pick-up !

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Nov 2020
    Posts
    20

    Default A Quick Review of Hancock and Moore Items - 6-10 months after pick-up !

    I stumbled upon My Furniture Forum a few years ago by happenstance - looking to see if quality, USA made leather furniture still existed. Was intrigued by the forum and wealth of information as well as the knowledge and candid comments from Duane...6 months later, began making purchases through The Keeping Room. We have purchased chairs with ottomans, a sofa and a tilt-back with ottoman and waiting patiently on Steele Farm bar stools. I went and picked up all items either in North Carolina or at Duane's store. I wanted to give a brief post to possibly help any new folks to the forum (like I was a few years ago) who have yet to place an order on Hancock and Moore. Do it !! You will not regret it. We absolutely enjoy all of our items everyday. Duane is very helpful in the process with help suggesting different models and leathers, based on your needs, physical size and budget.

    I was brought up to buy the best you could afford, take care of it, and know it will last longer and give you more enjoyment. The great thing about leather is if you follow Duane's recommendations on how often and how to condition the leather, the casings and furniture will last a very long time and become even more comfortable. With the eventual need for replacement cushions being available at same quality from Hancock and Moore, this stuff should last many, many years - unlike great fabric furniture I have owned in the past that required reupholstering -- you are at the mercy of the upholsterer, their ability, the quality of their replacement cushions, their timeframe to get it back to you -- all at a cost that sometimes was as much as 50-70 percent of the original purchase price of the piece.

    My wife is 5'8" and in better shape than me at 6'2", 265. She loves the Author chair and Ottoman. Great ladies chair for curling up with a book. Duane nailed that on a recommendation. Most comfortable chair I have ever sat in is the Kodiak chair and Ottoman....I am 61 and have sat in many a chair, this one wins, hands down, and the smell, feel and noise that great burnished leather makes when you sit down or move in the chair is one of the great, simple pleasures of owning fine leather furniture. Awesome! The Westwood Tilt Back with Ottoman is a VERY close second to the Kodiak.....I would tell you about the Kodiak Sofa but I cannot get the 100 lb dog off of it long enough to give you a review.....he strategically plops down in the middle of the sofa to keep folks off of the end cushions....

    Point of all this, life is short....great furniture in wonderful leathers are a joy that never ceases.....if you are looking for more than a place to park your keister, you came to the right manufacturer and forum....talk to Duane, get some great advise and assistance, enjoy the process, you have worked hard and earned the opportunity to buy great stuff !!

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jul 2008
    Location
    Alexandria VA
    Posts
    15,890

    Default Re: A Quick Review of Hancock and Moore Items - 6-10 months after pick-up !

    That's a pretty nice review, thank you.

    Those Steele Farm barstools - sorry - what a disaster those have been. The frames are done in the Philippines and the factory is located right where that major hurricane (typhoon) hit late Fall, closing it down for several months for repairs I am told. Add to that the container ship woes we all read about and the fact its the top selling barstool at Hancock and Moore! The cherry on top is early in 2020 a golf course in South Carolina ordered 250 of them for their new clubhouse renovation and that took most of the 2020 production as Hancock & Moore is not all that large. They will eventually get them done, I have a quite a few on order for clients and they are the most backed up of any H&M item right now.

    I wish more folks would take to heart the cleaning/conditioning regimen, it's the # 1 cause of failure of the hide (second is UV Sun Exposure) and recovering a piece in leather is VERY costly. What's that saying "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure?"

    Again, thanks for the review, Savheagle!
    Duane Collie
    Straight answers from thirty-six years in the business.
    My Private Messages are Disabled - Please ask questions here in the forum.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Mar 2019
    Posts
    76

    Default Re: A Quick Review of Hancock and Moore Items - 6-10 months after pick-up !

    You will like the Steele Farm bar stools. I sit in ours at least once every other day and they sure are comfy. Just get good sliders on the feet because they oof... are heavy.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jul 2008
    Location
    Alexandria VA
    Posts
    15,890

    Default Re: A Quick Review of Hancock and Moore Items - 6-10 months after pick-up !

    Yes, they are heavy due to the very solid frame construction. You won't pick these up one-handed to move them around.
    Duane Collie
    Straight answers from thirty-six years in the business.
    My Private Messages are Disabled - Please ask questions here in the forum.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Aug 2021
    Posts
    9

    Default Re: A Quick Review of Hancock and Moore Items - 6-10 months after pick-up !

    Duane,

    Is Hancock and Moore no longer an all-USA line? I’m surprised to be reading a H&M product is Made in The Phillipines. Also, I’m quite disappointed. I would echo what the OP said about Duane. I too have bought furniture from him and he’s top-notch. H&M is too although I’m stunned to read about apparent outsourcing.

    I absolutely hate when a company proclaims to be USA made but then sneaks in foreign products too but refuses to disclose where each individual piece comes from leaving consumers who want to be loyal to the USA lost and mislead. I have been duped by companies like Baker Furniture that engage in this practice.

    Quote Originally Posted by drcollie View Post
    That's a pretty nice review, thank you.

    Those Steele Farm barstools - sorry - what a disaster those have been. The frames are done in the Philippines and the factory is located right where that major hurricane (typhoon) hit late Fall, closing it down for several months for repairs I am told. Add to that the container ship woes we all read about and the fact its the top selling barstool at Hancock and Moore! The cherry on top is early in 2020 a golf course in South Carolina ordered 250 of them for their new clubhouse renovation and that took most of the 2020 production as Hancock & Moore is not all that large. They will eventually get them done, I have a quite a few on order for clients and they are the most backed up of any H&M item right now.

    I wish more folks would take to heart the cleaning/conditioning regimen, it's the # 1 cause of failure of the hide (second is UV Sun Exposure) and recovering a piece in leather is VERY costly. What's that saying "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure?"

    Again, thanks for the review, Savheagle!

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Jul 2008
    Location
    Alexandria VA
    Posts
    15,890

    Default Re: A Quick Review of Hancock and Moore Items - 6-10 months after pick-up !

    Hancock and Moore closed their Taylorsville Frame Plant last year and bought a second massive CNC machine to produce frames to go alongside the one they installed about 4 years ago. These CNC machines cut out the majority of frames now out of 22mm Birch Plywood. The Frame Plant closed because of two reasons 1) Lack of a work force and many left or retired with the coming of Covid (the average age of the frame plant workers was 57 years old), 2) less orders for exposed wood and carved product as consumers move to move modern pieces. They moved some production of solid wood items to the basement of Plant 1, and then lined up import of frames from the Philippines which was already producing for sister companies Maitland-Smith and Century.

    The CNC machines and 7-layer plywood are actually proving superior to solid wood frames as they are stronger and much more accurate in cuts and joinery. They also bought and operate an automated cutter/scanner for finished leathers and semi-anilines which is making sewing much more accurate. Things change for the better, but sometimes perceptions do not.

    I buy New Balance 990 shoes, which are the only MADE IN USA ones that company makes and they are used by the US Military for running/training and are $ 199 a pair. If you read closely on them they are USA made with 70% domestic product, which means 30% of the parts used in the shoe are imported, probably from China. H&M Barstools are similar to that, the frames are now imported, the chair is produced in the USA and the hide will be either imported from either Europe or Asia or South America, depending on what you might select. Technically, no H&M or any other leather upholstery company is 100% USA made as the domestic leather industry vanished nearly 20 years ago due to OSHA and EPA regulations, 98 % of all hides have been imported for some time, the best ones from Europe, the least expensive ones from China or South America. The irony there is China has no cattle industry and gets the raw leather crusts from USA cattle processing plants that are salted and shipped over in containers. There are a handful of USA tanning operations in play, because they are so small they fall under the regs, but they typically are doing Bison hides or hair-on-hides, that sort of thing.

    I don't think H&M or any other company is trying to scam anyone, they will happily tell you where things are sourced if you ask, and so will I. Things are fast moving and there have been tons of changes in the industry the past 5 years first with Trump's tariffs on China which made them all get out of there and move to other countries - and then with Covid which has hammered the workforce. It's more they make changes and move to the next crisis they have, and putting out fires never seems to subside.
    Duane Collie
    Straight answers from thirty-six years in the business.
    My Private Messages are Disabled - Please ask questions here in the forum.

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