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Unraveling the Science: How and Why Our Feet Stay Attached for Longer

Flexxform legs = T-Nut bolt.


Competitors' legs = T-Nut bolt.


Why are you having issues with legs falling out, but not ours?


There are a few reasons, which I’ll explain if you have a minute or so to read!


Honestly, the issue with legs falling out of the chairs isn’t about whether it is bolted onto the chair through a metal plate or a T-Nut bolt. If it were, every single chair you have would have this issue.


Instead…this issue is mainly a result of the type of wood used for the base of the chair.


Most soft-seating manufacturers like the fact that nobody can see the frame, so they use an OSB or particleboard for the base, where the feet are fastened into the wood. And this is the source of their foot problem!


Take a T-nut bolt for example. There is a simple metal connector inside the actual base of the chair. When this is first inserted the wood holds it, so the leg is fine. But over time OSB or particleboard loosens up around that metal connector. Because it is a very low-quality wood (as displayed in our Construction Blog, check it you if you have a minute 😉) the wood actually loosens up over time, so the hole where the metal connector sits gets bigger and bigger until the leg just slips right out and there you have it. Leg problems.


So how do we combat this? If you’ve read our construction blog (seriously if you haven’t, you should…Click Here), you’ll know that we construct the base of our chair out of solid oak wood.


Why’s that?


For this very reason!


Solid wood itself is the strongest type of wood, but then you get a hardwood like Oak, and you have endless strength. So putting a metal connector into this base will far exceed the lifetime of putting a foot into OSB or particleboard.


But not just that.


Oak also compresses over time. Not compressing in the way that suddenly in 10 years your 14” seat heigh child’s chair will be a 12” seat height. But more like compressing in and around holes.


For example, once we put that metal connector into the chair, over time that oak base with compress in around the metal and hold is so firm there is no way, without proper tools, that connector is coming out. Then you screw in the T-nut and it too gets compressed with the weight of the oak squeezing around it, and that foot is good to hold for the lifetime of the chair.


To learn more about other parts of our constructions, check out the blog: (yup I’m plugging that particular blog again…!) Read Now

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