Introduction to Chair Caning

Pressed Cane

• The most common type of cane installation is pressed cane. Cane fabric is woven and sold by the sheet or roll and then soaked to make it pliable. The chair design that receives this type of caning can be identified by a prominent groove that follows the edge of the seat opening. This groove is used to secure the cane in this type of installation. The old cane is removed, the groove is cleaned and the new cane is pressed into place and deep into the groove. The excess cane is trimmed off, and glue is applied to the groove. A spline is inserted into the groove and pounded in to hold the cane in place.

Woven Chairs

• A woven chair is any chair that has an open area and some configuration adjacent to the open area to attach material. When you are looking in junk stores for possible chairs you can rescue and return to good condition, you will often find woven chairs without any weaving, which can make the type of weaving more difficult to identify. If the chair has rails at the back and sides, the chair is an over/under weave type that is more typical for rush and cloth tape. Often you can be more precise by observing the chair design. Shaker-style upright chairs are usually cloth tape weave. Rush-style chairs are more colonial or traditional in style. Many people use the term caning to indicate any woven chair and even wicker and rattan style outdoor furniture.

Woven Cane Chairs

• To identify a woven cane chair, look for a chair with an open area that is surrounded by holes. The holes are used to weave the cane back and forth. Often this style of chair is refinished before it is recaned, and sometimes the person who is refinishing the chair will abandon the chair without replacing the cane. This type of recaning is more difficult than the pressed cane, but a good caner can create a wide variety of patterns including octagon, spiderweb, Star of David, daisy and snowflake. Each creates a different finished chair appearance.

Cane Weaving Difficulties

• Most chairs are wider in the front than in the back, which provides challenges for all types of woven chairs since the chair weaver must account for the extra triangular-shaped areas near the front legs of the chair. Weaving is an orderly and measured process where the weave is at right angles to itself, which conflicts with triangular areas. To overcome these problems the cane or weavings along the front end areas are expanded by placing additional weft strands partially along each side. For caned chairs these extra weft strands are often held by pegs during the weft weaving process. Pegs in the holes are also used to hold the tails of canes when a new cane is introduced. Once you practice with your first chair, you will develop a better understanding of caning challenges and you can learn the techniques to overcome these issues to weave a nice seat.