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Thread: A First: Re-caned an Old Hand-made Rocker

  1. #1
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    A First: Re-caned an Old Hand-made Rocker

    A few months ago I got a call from a wood working friend asking me if I was interested in a "caning" job. I told him I had never made canes but I was willing to give it a shot. Went over to his place to get some details and he loads me up with this old rocking chair that is missing its back and the seat is broken. He says "can you re-cane it" and I says huhhhh!

    This is the chair as I received it.
    IMG_6130.jpg

    Well as you can tell it had nothing to do with canes but I am always looking for a challenge. Took the rocker home and stuck it in my shop for a couple months. Meantime I call the owner and tell her that I have never caned before but I would like to give it a try for the experience and that I would only charger here material plus 25%. She agreed to the price and a delivery date of July 2013(it was sometime in Nov. 2012 when we talked, I had no idea how long it would take) Then I order a copy of "The Caner's Handbook", read it through, found out the kinds of materials and tools I needed, order an ice pick, some cane and a dozen pegs and some nippers.

    While waiting on the material and tools I went to work making some repairs. They are illustrated it this collage.
    1st Row: When I pulled the old caning out of the seat I found that it had originally been caned with per-woven cane, the front and back splines were still there. The sides had split away at some point in the spline slots and were gone. I removed the remaining splines and cut the seat opening in the front and back to match the sides, that is I cut the opening back to the splines.
    2nd Row: The seat to back joints were all loose so I pulled them apart far enough to re-glue every thing including the bottom rail of the back. The last picture in this and the last row shows some staining being done to match the newly cleaned caning areas to the rest of the chair. The lady did not want the chair refinished because most of the "finish" was the result of the her grandfathers natural secretions.
    3rd Row: Shows some detail of the caning process and staining of the cane to "antique" it a little.
    4th Row: The arms had apparently been broken(screws) off several times because I found 3 broken screw tips inside the screw holes in the arm mount areas of the back verticals. I dug them out then drill out the area with a Forstner bit and plugged the holes a couple turnings made from the wood I had cut out of the seat. The other side had only one broken screw per hole resulting in a smaller plug.
    Image1.jpg

    By the time I got the chair repaired the caning and tools had come in so I went to work following the directions in the book. This is the result.
    IMG_6129.jpg

    Thoughts:
    I caned the seat first which was probably a mistake. The back looked much better then the seat when done, it was easier and would have given me experience for the seat.
    Something the book doesn't mention is how much tension to put on the strands to start with.
    It was a lot of fun and fairly easy to do and was a great as a new experience and I would probably do it again as a repair but I will not be considering taking it up as an occupation. However, I did buy a hot plate to keep the water warm on the next job(if) that is used to soften the caning.
    If I had charged the customer at my current shop rate the price tag would have been in the hundreds if not thousands of $$$. The 25% over the cost of material(including any tools I needed) didn't even come close to the time spent. But I learned another skill right!!

    C&C (especially from any caners out there) is appreciated.
    Last edited by James Combs; 02-28-2013 at 9:44 PM.
    ____________________________________________
    JD at J&J WoodSmithing
    Owingsville, Kentucky

    "The best things in life are not things."

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Apr 2007
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    SE Indiana
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    Very nice! Not a caner yet but you never know. Good information.

  3. #3
    Join Date
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    Mebane NC
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    James, the repair and caning look good. I recaned a bentwood rocker, just the seat, about a month ago. It was one I picked up at a garage sale 2 summers ago. I agree with you, it's not something I'd want to do for a living.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jul 2010
    Location
    Northern Kentucky
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    nice job
    James, did you visit any of the chair caning in Berea or other towns in eastern KY

  5. #5
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    Williamsburg,Va.
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    Great that you actually wove the cane!!

  6. #6
    Admirably intrepid! Since you had to learn how to do it before you could start ...it's a NO 'hurry cane'.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Dec 2007
    Location
    Fishers, Indiana
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    Very nice work.
    I have read a book on caning, but have yet to jump in. Your post has renewed my interest.

    Thanks,
    -Jeff

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jim Stewart View Post
    Very nice! Not a caner yet but you never know. Good information.
    No claim here to be one either but thanks Jim.

    Quote Originally Posted by Paul Saffold View Post
    James, the repair and caning look good. I recaned a bentwood rocker, just the seat, about a month ago. It was one I picked up at a garage sale 2 summers ago. I agree with you, it's not something I'd want to do for a living.
    Thanks James, glad I don't need a new vocation.

    Quote Originally Posted by ray hampton View Post
    nice job
    James, did you visit any of the chair caning in Berea or other towns in eastern KY
    Sorry no but I did use to live in Berea in the 80's would that count. In seriousness, I would love to have visited a caning before I did this one but I never considered it.

    Quote Originally Posted by george wilson View Post
    Great that you actually wove the cane!!
    Thanks George.

    Quote Originally Posted by Mel Fulks View Post
    Admirably intrepid! Since you had to learn how to do it before you could start ...it's a NO 'hurry cane'.
    Agreed on the NO hurry cane point. The one chair took me about 3 weeks.

    Quote Originally Posted by Jeff Wittrock View Post
    Very nice work.
    I have read a book on caning, but have yet to jump in. Your post has renewed my interest.
    Thanks,
    -Jeff
    Thanks Jeff, It is interesting and good for a change up from flat work or turning.
    ____________________________________________
    JD at J&J WoodSmithing
    Owingsville, Kentucky

    "The best things in life are not things."

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Oct 2008
    Location
    Indianapolis, Indiana
    Posts
    296
    Quote Originally Posted by Jeff Wittrock View Post
    Very nice work.
    I have read a book on caning, but have yet to jump in. Your post has renewed my interest.

    Thanks,
    -Jeff
    Jeff,

    I have a half finished rocker just waiting from someone to finish it! Just let me know when you are ready, I'm right down the road! :-)

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Mar 2007
    Location
    Walkersville, Maryland
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    I have done a couple of chairs through the years. The first one I tried was after looking a one my father in law had done. I admired his work and his willing to try something new that looked so complex. He said something like, hell if they can teach the blind folks to do it, I figured I could do do it even with my two left hands. It really is not all that complex so long as you do all the steps in order and keep the cane wet. It can get a little difficult if you have curves involved and I have not had the time to do one of the fancy ones with a medellion or something like that. You never know when you might want to add some caning to a design.

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Jul 2010
    Location
    Northern Kentucky
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    Sorry no but I did use to live in Berea in the 80's would that count. In seriousness, I would love to have visited a caning before I did this one but I never considered it.


    Thanks George.


    I not sure if Berea College teach you how to cane a chair but they will be able to give you a name of someone if you want to watch

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