FAQ Contents
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View the Bear Chair Assembly Movie.
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Bear Chair
GoneCoastal is an official Bear Chair dealer!
View the Bear Chair Assembly Movie.
Feel free to contact us with any questions you may have.
GoneCoastal is an official Bear Chair dealer!
It is better to assemble your furniture first, then stain it - especially if you are planning to use the recommended wood glue (staining before assembly doesn't give the glue anything to adhere to).
PINE: If you have purchased the White Pine, you must finish it prior to putting it outside as pine is prone to developing mold if left untreated. We recommend using a wood stain such as Sikken's Cetol 1, several coats of which provides a long lasting finish. Do not use straight Varathane or Urethane, even though they look nice initially, they weather very quickly and will allow moisture to get at chair before you even notice. If you are looking for an environmentally friendly, one coat stain, we also recommend Sansin Enviro Stain. If you prefer to paint your chair, or try something more artistic, you must be sure to use an EXTERIOR paint. You should consult your local paint dealer or hardware store, as they will be able to provide you with more information on which products are suitable for your location. Be sure to tell them that the pine is completely unfinished. You should follow the manufacturer's instructions, which often include a light sanding in between coats.
CEDAR: The Western Red Cedar looks nicest with several coats of a good quality exterior stain, again, we recommend Sikken's Cetol 1 (some of the cedar items pictured on this web site have been treated with Cetol 1 in color 078 natural). You should not paint or use Varathane on cedar as those products might react with the natural oils in the wood. You should consult your local paint dealer or hardware store for more advice on products suitable for your usage and location. Be sure to follow all of the manufacturer's instructions, which often include a light sanding in between coats. One nice thing about cedar is you can leave it unfinished - if you are considering this, you should read our suggestons below.
We accept Discover, Visa and Master Card. Call to place order and submit payment information. Prices are subject to change without notice. Prices will be locked in at time of order. Please allow 4 to 6 weeks for delivery.
If you have missing or damaged pieces in your kit the Bear Chair Co. will send you replacement parts within one year from the date of purchase. All you need to do is contact the Bear Chair Co. (phone: 1 800 421-1406) and let them know which item you have, whether it is pine or cedar, and if it is from the left or right side. With arms, sides, legs and most other parts, we determine the side as you are sitting in the chair except for back slats, which we number from left to right as you are looking at them. If this sounds confusing, just contact us and we can figure it out together.
If you require a replacement part for reasons other than missing/damaged in the box (you'd be surprised how many dogs seem to find our chairs very tasty), or if the one year time limit is up - don't despair, we can still send you out some new parts but we may require you to pay a nominal fee for this service. Again, get in touch and we can let you know how much this will be.
Yes, finishing a chair is a lot of work but the benefits are more than worth it. If you have a pine chair, you must finish it. Pine will eventually turn black from mold if left natural, or crack from the lack of UV protection and from moisture levels. Please see the answer above for more details on finishing pine.
You can leave your cedar chair to weather naturally - it will fade in color to a silver-grey color. You should be aware that this color change is not always uniform and that sometimes if you've scratched the screw heads during assembly, they will dis-color the wood. If you want to leave your cedar chair unfinished, we recommend that you use stainless steel screws and water resistant wood glue. Contact GoneCoastal for a stainless steel upgrade.
We like to recommend using wood glue as, over time, wooden chairs have a tendency to loosen up and get a little creaky. A dab of wood glue, wherever two boards join together will help keep your furniture nice and solid. A few things about glue you should know:
Any good quality carpenter's or wood glue will do, if you are finishing your chair - if it is a cedar chair that you are leaving natural, then you should use a water resistant glue.
You need only use a small amount, you don't want it leaking out and getting on the outside boards (it interferes with the stain).
Some glue sets very quickly (sometimes as quick as 5 minutes) - if you are unsure about a step in the instructions, its probably better to leave the glue out, then go back afterward, back off the screws a little and squirt the glue in.
Call the Bear Chair help line at 1 800 421-1406.
The first thing to remember when assembling our chairs is that when we refer to left and right, we mean the chair's left and right - not yours. We have a short mini movie available, showing the very basic steps of assembling the BC201 but many of the steps apply to our other chairs as well.
You get printed assembly instructions with every Bear Chair kit. The instructions are also available in Adobe Acrobat format (pdf). If you don't already have it you can download the free Adobe Reader. On each Bear Chair Furniture page you will find links to the corresponding instructions. They are also provided below for your convenience.
Cover Page for all Bear Chair products.
BC01: page 1.
BC02: page 1.
BC201: page 1, page 2, page 3, page 4.
BC150: page 1, page 2, page 3, page 4.
BC300: page 1, page 2, page 3, page 4.
BC405: page 1.
BC700: page 1, page 2, page 3, page 4.
BC800: page 1, page 2, page 3, page 4.
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