Mid-Century Stendig Chairs Refinished and Re-Caned

Stendig Chair Before

Stendig Chair After

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then these photos are worth many thousands if time were a contributing factor. These are designer “Stendig” chair, made in Czechoslovakia, mid-century modern made with Beechwood, with several unique features; curved arm rests, a compound-curved back, matching curved seats and overall difficult to work on design. The customer wanted them refinished, with new caning to replace the broken cane areas (which are not easy to detect in the photo).

As of this writing, I can truthfully say that these chairs have been the most difficult caning project to date. Jim took them apart and worked on the refinishing. Once that was done, I started the tedious process of caning each of the eight sections (two per chair) of these unique mid-century pieces.

Photo 1 - Channels that
hide back of cane

Photo 2
Top front of chair before
cane removal

Each chair’s back had a channel that covered up the caning that is normally visible on caned chairs. Since these chairs’ original cane had been “hidden" beneath the channels, they had to be removed first before I could remove the cane from the holes and install the new caning. This proved to be an unexpected twist in the process because I simply had no idea how to accomplish this and no point of reference online or anywhere else, even in a caning forum.

I had done many caned chairs prior to these, but never had I expected the challenge this style of chair would present, not only in the refinishing, which required them to be taken apart, but removing the channels (see photo 1) that covered up the caning on the back of the chair and were glued in place. How do I remove them to access the caning without damaging the chair?? I researched it, but could find no information of how to achieve the removal of these channels, which meant there was only one solution. I had to figure it out myself, so that’s exactly what I did. I snipped off the sheets of caning from all backs, (see photo 2) leaving only the front edging (see photo 3) before I devised a way to remove the channel. For the seats, this was much easier because there was no channel to cover them, so I was able to remove the cane in its entirety, as I had done with many previous cane chairs in the past.

I realized that since the channels were glued in place, I would have to find a way to dissolve the glue so I could gently pry them apart from the chair’s curved border in order to remove it, which would expose the original cane beneath. But how to do that...carefully. Well, a bit if creative thinking and the right tools solved the problem. I figured if I could get to the inside of the holes and gently tap them, I could loosen the channel enough to remove it. The only problem was, since the channel was glued, this would likely break the channel as well as the chair in that area, so there had to be an additional step.

Photo 3
Top  of chair border
only remaining

Photo 4
Using eyedropper filled with
lacquer thinner to loosen
glue on front side of channel

After I had cut the body of the cane off the chair, the only thing left was the edge that filled the holes (which were not visible due to the channel). I carefully snipped them all away and removed as much cane from each hole as I could, using an awl to poke away at the hole to create an opening. This was a long and tedious process in itself. Once all the holes were exposed, I used an eyedropper (see photo 4) and filled it with lacquer thinner, allowing the liquid to fill each hole, which would eventually flow to the underside of the hole and into the glue that held the channel in place.

Once I was assured that I had enough lacquer thinner in each hole, I gently tapped each hole with another, duller awl (see photo 5) so as not to damage the exterior of the curve or the channel. After a lot of dropping, tapping and more lacquer thinner, eventually the channel loosened enough for me to remove it, exposing the caning beneath (see photo 6). Then, finally, I used a drill to clean out the remaining bits of old cane so that the holes would be free of debris to better accept the new cane (see photo 7).

         

Photo 5
Using a dull awl to gently
pound thru holes
that pried channel away

 

Photo 6
Channel removed, exposing
original cane tie-off
on back top of chair

Photo 7
Drilling holes to clean out old cane

Photo 9 First Weave

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Photo 8
Steps 1-3 tied together

The first one was the “learning” chair, where I used thread to tie the loose strands together to keep them in a somewhat orderly alignment so that when I started weaving, I could work with the strands easily, though the process was anything but easy (see photo 8). The first horizontal weave was very time-consuming, taking one to two days. That was also the hardest part because I had to make sure the chair was tightening exactly enough for the diagonal weaves to look good (see photo 9).

I soon learned that it was impossible to keep the rows straight in a curved chair back, so I “went with the flow” and allowed the chair to evolve as it was woven, and indeed, it wasn’t half bad. Each chair back that followed I go a little bit more confident and found a few more tricks to keep the vertical and horizontal rows aligned so that they were easier to work with. This also made the 5th and 6th steps, the diagonal weaves, flow much better. Photo 10 shows the last diagonal weave going to the upper left corner. The last and final step was binding the cane with a border binding cane that finishes off the top. Then the tie-off finishes the bottom. Many steps with a lot of work and time involved in these chairs, so I enlisted my granddaughter’s help by teaching her a new skill which she learned very quickly.

Photo 10 Last Diagonal Weave

My helper

My cat, Chelsea keeps
me company

Chairs in customer’s home