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Chair Recaning

One of the most common problems among old chairs is that the original cane seat deteriorates over time. I price pre-woven cane by the running inch on the longest rail. Hand woven cane is priced per hole depending on the method (traditional, blind, complicated weaves). Contact me to get a quote for your cane replacement.

There are two basic methods for recaning a chair. Machine-woven sheet cane is more common in newer chairs and involves a sheet of pre-woven cane that sits in a groove around the seat, held in by a binder. Hand-woven cane involves the actual weaving of the rattan through holes in the seat perimeter.
   
Machine-woven Cane

Hand-woven cane


I provide services to replace either type of cane.
 

Machine-woven Cane

Pre-woven (or machine-woven) cane is much more common in contemporary chairs and therefore faster and more economical to replace.

I stock a number of different sizes and can custom dye the cane to your specifications.

   

 

Like so many others I see, it looks like someone tried to use this chair as a ladder. Once their foot went through, the chair was on its way to me. The customer wanted the cane to be finished to match the original cane.
Machine-woven cane: Before & After
Machine-woven cane
Finished Dyed Cane:
Finished Cane Seat
   
More examples of pre-woven cane replacement
 

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Hand-woven Cane
Hand Woven recaned chair
An example of hand-woven cane replacement. This cane was dyed to match others in a set.

Mahogany Dining Room Chairs
with hand woven cane seats
 

This loveseat had extensive damage. It was double caned - a layer both in front and behind the chair back and arms and a double layer across the seat. Damaged areas were repaired and the damaged area re-woven by hand.

 
These antique bed foot boards had badly damaged cane. One of them had damage that could be repaired while the other was completely rewoven by hand - all 240 holes around the permiter!
 

More examples of hand woven cane:


 
Some shops offer to convert hand caned seats to the machine caned variety to save money, but I highly advise against that as it greatly decreases the value of the chair. Machine caned seats also tend to have a shorter life than hand-caned seats. I do not convert seats from hand weave to machine weave cane.
 
This chair seat was converted to machine cane years ago, but the back was left hand caned. Once the back was damaged, the owner decided it was best to have the chair restored to its original condition with a hand woven seat. All the old cane came out, new wood replaced what was removed, and holes drilled through to hand cane the seat.
Chair converted to machine cane Machine Cane Seat - Before All Cane Removed New Hand Caned Seat Back and Seat Recaned
 
 
SPECIAL WEAVES
In addition to the traditional patterns, I also weave more complicated patterns such as herringbone, spider weave, etc. If you have a pattern I haven't seen, I'm up for the challenge!
This chair had a damaged herringbone seat woven from wide binder cane. It was rewoven and dyed to match the original.
 
Herringbone Weave Herringbone Weave
 
This is a Mies Van der rohe cantilever chair. The front section was damaged, so it was replaced and dyed to match the original.
Mies Van der Rohe Cane Cantilever Chair
 

Rush Seat Weaving

Rush Seat Weaving

Rush seats are either natural cattail leaf rush, bulrush or man-made paper fibre rush. Most older chairs or fine pieces are woven with bulrush or cattail leaves for authenticity. Natural rush weaving is time-consuming and the materials are expensive, but worth it if the chair is valuable. Paper rush is more reasonable and is used in many newer chairs.

I provide services to replace either variety of rush material. To obtain an estimate for your chair, send me a picture (if possible) with the seat measurements.

Natural Rush
Rush Weave Before and After

Fiber Rush
Fiber Rush

This chair was restored prior to replacing the rush seat.
Fiber Rush Seat Replacement

Fiber Rush Seat Replacement

More examples of rush seats:
Fiber Rush Seat Replacement  Fiber Rush Seat ReplacementFiber Rush Seat Replacement Fiber Rush Seat Replacement Fiber Rush Seat Replacement