Celebrating National Adirondack chair day? Why not? It's all American!

Heavy Metal loves companies with a sense of humor. Like Adams Manufacturing Corp., the dominant maker of injection molded outdoor furniture. Let's go to Portersville, Pa., a teeny borough in northwestern Pennsylvania where the furniture-kahuna Adams holds forth.

It's like if General Motors was based in Mayberry. But with resin furniture.

Adams Manufacturing has declared June 21 as National Adirondack Day. Now a quick Google search turns up other goofy national holidays. Just in the month of January, we have things like National Hangover Day, Cuddle Up Day and Thesaurus Day. (Actually, those last two sound pretty good. … Full confession: Heavy Metal loves to cuddle. And did you really think Metal has a naturally great vocabulary?)

The point is, National Adirondack Day sounds pretty normal. Daniel Stainer, Adams director of marketing, got the idea when he heard news reports about National Doughnut Day. Dan explains:

"If doughnuts can have their own day, so can the iconic Adirondack chair. The first Adirondack chair was designed by Thomas Lee while vacationing in the Adirondack Mountains in 1903. To help usher in the beginning of summer and a season of relaxing and entertaining, we're pleased to be taking the lead in getting the much-loved Adirondack the attention it deserves. Although it's tough to compete against a tasty Boston Cream or glazed doughnut, Adams' flagship Adirondack does come in 15 exciting colors to match any outdoor decor."

Does this guy have a great job or what? Plus, Adams Manufacturing, founded by the iconic resin furniture guy Bill Adams, knows how to have fun. This is the company that, at the 2013 Hardware Show, used people dressed as Abe Lincoln and Uncle Sam to lounge on plastics chairs at its booth. The company built a mock Lincoln Memorial featuring one its Adirondack chairs on a raised platform, with a banner declaring "Not All Resin Furniture is Created Equal."

The message, delivered with a dose of humor: Adams produces U.S.-made outdoor furniture with innovative designs.

When it comes to Adirondack chairs, the company is known for its RealComfort Adirondack and the newer, oversized big Easy Adirondack, for sale at mass merchants and hardware retailers nationwide. What makes them different is that Adams Manufacturing molds the chairs with a gently curving lumbar support and neck support. The Big Easy has a retractable cup holder.

Heavy Metal — aka Plastics News senior reporter Bill Bregar — got to visit Adams Manufacturing in 2014. Bill Adams explained why Adirondack chairs have always been made with straight boards — up to now of course. The reason was the invention of the band saw, he said.

"What that saw allowed people to do was to produce thin, straight boards at a more rapid rate than they ever could before. So the original Adirondacks all look alike. They had straight backs and a straight seat," said Adams, who is a history buff.

So originally, Adams Manufacturing's injection molded Adirondacks also used that straight-board design. Then Adams realized that his chairs are not made of wood!

"We don't have to have things straight. This is plastic! We can put curves in it! The chair is supposed to fit the person. The person is not supposed to fit the chair," he said, adding "Duhhh."

Talk about design freedom!

Summer is here. The miracle of sunshine. Flowers. Comfortable resin furniture.

Adams Manufacturing also makes a fantastic, injection molded rocking chair. Heavy Metal highly endorses this award-winning chair, which gets constant use on Metal's outdoor deck. Yes, it's kind of clunky looking. But this is the most comfortable outdoor rocking chair ever. It's solid. It's stackable. You don't need cushions. It will last forever; you can pass this one down to your heirs. (No evil single-use plastic here.)

It's so wonderfully fine, Heavy Metal wouldn't hesitate to use it inside the house. Look into my eyes, metalheads and let me tell you: Buy this rocking chair.

And if does sit outside and somebody steals it, hey no big deal. This is a mass-produced plastic chair, reasonably priced. So you go just buy another one!