Antique Height Chair Refinished and Caned

Height Chair
After

Height Chair
Before

This height chair had belonged to my customer's grandmother, so I estimated it to be at least one hundred years old, if not older. I can imagine the stories this chair could tell if it could speak. I wonder if it had a tray, since there was no evidence of it, or where it could have been attached. As in the other chair I recently completed, this one also strand caning so it needed a spline after the chair's seat was pushed into it. 

The method for doing this type of caning is to soak the material for at least an hour to an hour and a half, longer if necessary, then working it into the seat. It gets tricky because you want the finished seat to stretch across the opening, but it tends to "bunch up" on the edges as you hammer the wedges into the perimeter, so it's necessary to make some adjustments as you go. Usually it's not a problem because once it is in place and dries, it automatically tightens up. 

This chair presented a few unique challenges because the caning was very close to the arm rests which made it difficult to install in that area. Jim did the refinishing work on this one so when he finished his part, I tackled mine. I used to do the restoration for most things, but since Jim retired in 2020, he took over that part of the operation, while I handle the caning and upholstery, exclusively. Needless to say, once this little chair was refinished and the new caning was installed, it looked like brand new again.