Thos. Moser Continuous Arm Chair

41 H x 24 W x 25 D

Product Tear Sheet

​​Your Thos. Moser furniture is made from premium hardwood provided by nature. The unique characteristics and the subtle variations in grain and color are important elements in our designs. Great care is taken to skillfully match the individual boards that make up every piece of our furniture.

Our furniture is finished with oil and lacquer. After each piece of furniture is carefully hand-sanded, it receives a coat of our proprietary oil blend. A day’s drying time is allowed, and the piece is lightly sanded, ready for the final finish.

After oiling, our pieces are finished with catalyzed lacquer. This finish is water, solvent, and household chemical resistant and does not require routine maintenance.

To clean, dust regularly with a soft dry cloth. When necessary, furniture can be wiped with a slightly damp, soft cloth. Re-wipe any remaining moisture immediately with a dry cloth.

The Continuous Arm Chair is a Windsor chair, a design originating in England in the 1700s as garden furniture. The chairs were large, heavy, and remarkably comfortable. In the early 1970s, Tom Moser set out to create a new generation of Continuous Arm Chair. He began an effort that spanned many years – and many attempts – using copper pipe to bend and shape the initial prototypes. Once the form just right, he created a wooden prototype and began experimenting with lamination and bending techniques.

The continuous arm in our signature chair is created using flitch-cut cherry or walnut. The process involves quartering and steaming sections of logs, then slicing them into tenth-inch thick strips. The knife cuts produce no sawdust – and thus no waste – and the board's full strength is preserved. When the pieces are shaped and glued back together, the arm is comprised of eleven different layers, while retaining the strength and appearance of solid wood. The shape of the continuous arm – oval at the top, round in the middle, and U-shaped where it meets the arms – requires intensive handwork. Each arm is trimmed, then filed by hand using a coarse file called a horse rasp, then a finer rasp, and finished with a hand sander.

The Continuous Arm Chair also includes a highlight (raised section) that runs around the back of the chair, where the ash spindles join the seat. The spindles extend all the way through the seat and are wedged top and bottom, making them not only aesthetically pleasing but easy to repair, should the need ever arise. The spindles are so finely tuned, you can pluck them the way you would with a string on a harp and they should resonate at the same frequency.

The legs represent the chair's final distinction. Tom Moser replaced traditional stretchers with curved braces called a ship's knees. Supportive and strong, the ship's knee is created from 1/32" laminated wood that is bent to shape, and then set into a slot that is cut and shaped into the leg, so it is flush with the surface.

With more than 40 years since we first introduced the Continuous Arm Chair, it is largely crafted exactly as it was by Tom Moser when he conceived and perfected the design. Our ongoing commitment to carefully crafting each chair one at a time ensures that each piece can become a family heirloom, remain part of that family's legacy.