October 21, 2005
Rubs
We have a King George III chair, an elegant piece of furniture that when one is seated thereon makes one feel as royal and maybe a touch as daffy as was he for whom it was named. Trouble is, in recent years, it’s got downholstered.
After a week or so of CP’s looking at swatches from the upholsterer, “we” finally picked a fabric that will go with just about everything in the house, most importantly, the throw and not-so-throw rugs. The names of the fabric patterns are almost as exotic as those of lipsticks, fingernail polish, and cars. But the really intriguing little bit on the backs of their labels is the so-called “double rub” number. With the different fabrics, they range from 3,000 to 90,000, but without any suggestion whatsoever as to what they might mean.
“How do you know how well a fabric will hold up?” Google asks. I don’t, I thought, except maybe my jeans. “There is no scientific method of finding out,” it assured, “for every household will use or abuse furniture differently. But there is a standardized test… which involves rubbing a wire mesh screen back and forth over a sample fabric. A double rub is one motion back and forth. It is estimated that 3,000 double rubs equals one year’s worth of use.”
We were impressed that the fabric we chose will endure 90,000 double rubs. And we are comforted that our combined weight, height, and age — except maybe if we sat on each other’s laps too often — will surely not prevail. And we are further relieved that so many double rubs should spare God keeping track of our down-sittings and up-risings so that she can tend to the other, less measurable and demonstrable of our increasingly geriatrophied foibles (Psalm 139.1).
[Visit Episcopal Relief and Development at http://www.er-d.org/ to make a donation to Katrina or Rita Relief or Episcopal Migration Ministries at emm@episcopalchurch.org to volunteer to assist displaced people with housing.]