2020 - Volume #44, Issue #1, Page #30
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The Perfect Man Cave Chair
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“It’s not a Lazy Boy, but it’s very smooth rocking,” says the self-taught Kansas welder.
After seeing another chair welded together from metal parts, Galloway decided to make one for his brother-in-law, Kris Guetterman, who owns an excavation company. He planned it for a couple of years before he was able to find parts with the help of his nephew. The 27-in. wide trackhoe track forms the seat, mounted on 27-in. dia. excavator sprockets and a segment of a sprocket that stops the chair from going too far back. The arms are skid steer chain drives, flexible on top and welded at the bottom; and the footrest is the cutting edge off a dozer, fitted with teeth off an excavator bucket.
Galloway MIG-welded the chair and tacked pieces first to make sure the fit was right before the final weld.
He used race car springs to make it rock. But he struggled with getting the balance right. After 3 hrs. of trial and error to get the right placement, he called in his friend, Todd Boyd, who helped him find the sweet spot to weld the springs and bar on to the chair bottom. For fun, he added a cup holder made out of a gear and a removable table secured with a bench vise.
After power washing the chair, Galloway sprayed it with clear lacquer to enrich the metal’s color. With the help of his in-laws’ forklift, the chair was moved to Guetterman’s walk-in basement and set on dollies to move it in place.
“The biggest challenge of it was its sheer weight,” Galloway says. He couldn’t have done the job without the chain hoist in his shop.
Since posting photos on his personal Facebook page and the Welding Guide Tips and Tricks Group site, he has been overwhelmed by favorable responses and requests to build more. He’s been “dumpster diving” and putting out feelers for parts. Each chair is different depending on parts he can find. Anyone interested in a chair should call for pricing, he says, noting the chairs start at $3,500, plus shipping.
Galloway, a natural gas company worker, never anticipated his chair would lead to a creative sideline business. “I’m fortunate to have a shop to move big things around, a supportive family that has equipment, and friends in the industry. I’m just in the right place with the right timing,” he says.
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, TJ Galloway, Bucyrus, Kan. (ph 913 406-2324; tjgalloway@ymail.com; Facebook: TJ Galloway).
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