Antique Rocking Chair w/caning

Rocking Chair After

Rocking Chair Before

This antique rocking chair was quite wobbly and needed the caning replaced. This chair had been made using "strand" caning, a different style than the push in caning which is held in place by using a spline. Unlike spline caning, this chair's construction was designed for using strand caning because of the holes surrounding the border of the back and seat.

First things first. After I removed the original, damaged caning, Jim took care of the broken and loose joints by taking the chair apart, then gluing it back together so it would be strong enough to endure the caning process, which required a lot of pulling and pushing through the strengthened holes. Then I sanded the old finish and stained it with walnut stain. Once the stain had dried, I sprayed the first coat of semi-gloss polyurethane so it would have some protection for caning. Then came the "fun" part.

I had done spline caning before, but this was the first time I had done "strand" caning and I have to tell you, it was extremely time-consuming work as you have to draw each strand of cane through the holes, secure the cane with pegs and work your way throughout the entire chair, first going front to back, then side to side, then the weaving starts. There are six (or seven) steps involved in this type of caning, the last steps are the diagonal weave, which creates the "holes" that define the design. It is tedious work, but if you follow the steps in the instruction booklet, you can do this yourself. I also watched a YouTube video put out by the manufacturer that we had purchased the chair kit from and found it extremely useful and referred to the video as well as the booklet many times during the process. The finished product was a lovely antique chair that will look elegant as it graces the parlor of a sitting room, hopefully for another century.

Bloodwood Rocking Chair

Bloodwood Rocking Chair Before

This chair was the rocking chair version of a chair I had done previouslyhttp://finalefurniture.blogspot.com/2018/10/sturdy-cherry-chair.html This chair was identical to the first one, except for it being a rocking chair. I made an interesting discovery while stripping this chair. I  thought the first chair was made of cherry, thus the extreme reddish tones and variations of color throughout the chair.

Bloodwood Rocking Chair After

for the same person. You can read about that chair by clicking on this link:

This rocking chair had even more differential color tones in red, yellow and gold, so after some research, I was able to identify the true wood as bloodwood, an exotic hardwood grown in Brazil and Australia. I had never actually worked with bloodwood, but was familiar with it just by working with various woods over the last seven years. As you can see by the “before” and “after” photos, the old stain was hiding the glorious colors and tones of this unique wood.

The stripping process was tedious and very time consuming for this rocking chair, but necessary to expose the beauty beneath. Once stripped and thoroughly sanded, I chose red mahogany stain, as I did for the first chair which brought out the natural beauty. It seemed like the best choice as it worked well before. As with the first chair, I applied two coats of semi-gloss polyurethane for a smooth, even finish.