Caned Parlor Chair

Caned Chair Before

Caned Chair After

This little parlor chair had broken cane on the seat, but was otherwise in good condition, albeit a bit scratched up. I had never done caning, but I knew that with a little research, the right tools and a bit of determination I could figure it out, so I began reading about caning and found plenty of videos on YouTube and other "how tos" in various sites on the world wide web.

The concept was simple enough. First step is to remove the spline, then pull out the damaged caning. Once that is removed, you chisel away any remaining glue and debris and clean out the spine groove so that the new spline can be installed. Since the spline comes in various sizes, you need to know what size it is before you purchase new spline, otherwise it may not fit. I didn't realize there were so many sizes!

The videos suggested soaking the caning for 20 minutes prior to installing it. Ok, not too hard. But the man at the store told me to soak it an hour minimum or better yet, two hours. I decided to take his advice since he obviously had done this many times. I filled my kitchen sink gently lay the caning into the water until it was covered. While it soaked, I worked on other project. After an hour, I checked it, but it was still pretty stiff, so I let it soak longer. I then knew why the soaking process was so important. If the caning isn't soaked enough, it will crack and make installation difficult, if not impossible. Once I felt the caning was pliable enough, I got to work.

Luckily this chair was in pretty good shape overall, but had seen some wear and had a few surface scratches which needed light sanding and stain touch-up, so I chose a dark walnut stain and a few coats of polyurethane to freshen it up. The dark stain was the right choice with the new caning because it really made it pop. Caning can also be stained, as it is a natural fiber, usually made of bamboo, but we chose to keep it natural, which looked beautiful.

Well, life is all about trial and error, so with this little chair job I learned two valuable lessons. One; don't forget the sample spline at home when you go to the store to buy new spline. Guessing at the size was half luck on my part, the other half was ingenuity and hard work. I should have purchased the larger size, but made it work anyway.
Two; soak the caning longer than an hour! Although the chair turned out fabulous, I sweated bullets until it was finished! All in all, both chairs turned out great and I'm certain that the next caning job I do will be even better. All in a day's work and part of the restoration process.