Sitting pretty

Libby man's handmade hickory rocking chairs are built to last

Roy Yoder knows that the old clich/ is true: Appearances really can be deceiving.

That's why he persuades potential customers to sit in one of his handmade hickory rocking chairs before making a decision.

He remembers meeting a businessman who wasn't interested in buying a chair. Yoder convinced him to sit in one - and the man bought five.

"They don't look comfortable, but they are," Yoder said.

There's certainly nothing soft about the chairs. Each is solid wood with no padding. Yoder, who has made the chairs for nearly two decades, says the secret is in the shape.

"We try to contour them," he said. "If someone's short, we make them a little shorter, or if they're tall, we try to make them to the person."

Yoder had his own furniture-making business in Michigan until a few years ago, when his Amish community dispersed. At that time, he sold the business, and he and his wife, Mary, left to find a new group. They've

lived in Northwest Montana since January 2004.

Until recently, Yoder worked for a cabinet maker in Libby. When the cabinet maker opted to go a different direction, Yoder decided to try his hand at the furniture business again. He has five or six chairs on hand and is ready to begin making more as Mountain View Hickory Rockers.

The chairs Yoder made in Michigan have found homes all over the world. He has sold furniture to people from nearly every state, and some pieces have ended up in Papua New Guinea, Switzerland and Austria.

Each chair is signed, dated and comes with a lifetime guarantee.

In addition to rocking chairs, Yoder makes end tables, coffee tables and footstools. Hickory is his preferred wood for chair and table frames.

"Hickory is real hard and stiff, but once it's steamed, it turns to leather, and you can bend it any way," he said.

Each winter, he travels to Mississippi to cut his own saplings. It's important to cut a tree when it's dormant, he explained; if it's cut during the summer when the sap is up, the bark peels when it's steamed.

He prefers to go himself so he can select his own trees.

"I'm real particular," he explained. "I want certain kinds, certain sizes."

Each year, he cuts about 3,500 saplings, enough for about 225 chairs. He goes to Mississippi because hickory trees are in abundance, and with a state permit, he can cut all he wants.

"They grow like a weed," he said.

Once they're cut, Yoder keeps the saplings in an insulated room. If left outside, they will dry out too much. He can store the trees for up to a year.

Some drying - about two months' worth - is necessary. After that, Yoder steams the hickory for about an hour and a half.

Once the wood is sufficiently supple, he shapes it while it's still hot. It sits in a table jig overnight; when he takes it out, the hickory holds its shape.

He then adds the back, seat and rockers, all of which are usually made from oak or cherry.

"That's the attractive wood people like," he said. "Cherry is the hot demand."

Hardwoods are best, he said, because they're more difficult to dent or damage. If a customer requests a different wood, however, Yoder is willing to accommodate. It just may cost the buyer a little more.

Once the chair is assembled, Mary Yoder covers it with a polyurethane finish. The entire process from steam to finish takes 8 to 10 hours.

The only part of the chair Yoder doesn't make himself are the rockers. He orders those from his father-in-law in Ohio.

"It's real important to have those precise and round," he said.

It was Mary Yoder's father who first introduced him to chair-making. Yoder, a pastor, was working as a builder but wanted to work from home. When Yoder saw that his father-in-law was three years behind in filling orders, he decided it would be a good business to pursue.

He was proved right after starting Yoder's Hickory Rockers in Michigan. Like his father-in-law before him, Yoder couldn't make chairs as fast as they were ordered.

"We never caught up in 17 years," he said. "We always stayed behind."

His focus was always more on the social aspect of his job than the profit, however. In Michigan, school groups, senior groups and Boy Scouts used to visit his workshop all the time.

"People would ask a hundred questions," he said, smiling, "and I like people."

Yoder hopes the same thing will happen at his new workshop at 725 Elijah Drive in Libby. He considers the opportunity to visit with people the best part of the job.

"That's why I enjoy this business," he said. "People come in and want to talk, and I lay my hammer down and we talk."

Yoder can be reached at 293-2442.

Reporter Kristi Albertson may be reached at 758-4438 or by e-mail at kalbertson@dailyinterlake.com.