Caned Rocking Chair

Caned Rocking
Chair After

Caned Rocking
Chair Before

Another antique rocking chair that had a broken seat. This rocker had belonged to my customer's grandmother, so I estimated it to be at least one hundred years old. The chair itself was in pretty good condition, needing no refinishing, but of course the seat had seen plenty of use so needed to be replaced. This was a strand caned rocker, so it needed a spline instead of being woven. 

Despite the faster method of doing spline/strand caning, I actually prefer the woven method. It definitely takes longer, sometimes three to four days compared to an hour for strand caning, but it is more enjoyable.

Of course once the old, torn seat has been removed and the new seat is installed, the chair looks pretty good. This year I seemed to get more spline caning than woven. Either way, both types of caning greatly improve the overall look of the chair once it's been finished.

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!