Caning Two of My Antique Chairs
Before holiday gatherings, it’s always a good idea to take stock of any furniture that may need repairing.
A few weeks prior to Thanksgiving, I decided two of my antique dining chairs needed to be re-caned. Caning is a method of weaving furniture seats using the shiny, glossy skin or inner bark from the vine of the rattan palm, Calamus Rotang. Rattan is native to Indonesia, the Philippines and Malaysia. I sent the chairs to Yorkville Caning Furniture Repair Inc. in New York City - a 132-year old business that specializes in traditional hand caning, French hand caning, machine caning, rush, splint, and wicker repair. I first brought my chairs to Yorkville more than 20-years ago, and featured them on my television show, “Living”. The owners, Nelly Taveras and Oscar Velez, along with craftsman, Danny Rivera, took great care of my chairs and completed the job just in time for Thanksgiving.
Enjoy these photos.
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- Here is one of two antique dining chairs that needed repair. Chair seat weaving, and especially chair caning was popular in South East Asia, Portugal, France, and England in the mid-1600s and extensively practiced through the 1700s,1800s and on into the early 1900s.
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- Look closely to see some of the caning that was broken mostly from age and use. The weakened strands caused the seat to sag slightly.
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- The first step is to remove the old caning. This is done very carefully with a scraper and rasp. The techniques and materials have not changed much over the years and only a few common tools are necessary to repair chair seats.
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- The old seat is removed one corner at a time. Danny is very careful not to mar any part of the old frame.
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- After a few minutes, the old chair seat is removed in one piece.
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- This piece is saved until the chair is complete, so the stain can be matched identically.
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- Remnants of the cane strands at the edges of the frame are then scraped off.
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- This process doesn’t take long, but it must be done gently.
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- Some of the side binding strands are removed with an awl.
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- Danny checks every hole of the chair from the top and from the bottom to be sure all the old cane is removed.
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- Here is the frame completely free of the old cane seat. The chair is secured to a clamp and then wiped with a damp cloth.
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- The size of the cane needed for any chair is determined by the holes in the chair made by the cabinet maker.
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- This is very fine cane – 2.5 millimeters wide.
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- Caning material comes in bunches of long strands and is extremely flexible and uniform in thickness. Dany removes a few strands and soaks them in warm water for about five-minutes.
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- The artisans at Yorkville hang different sizes of rattan chair cane on hooks inside the shop.
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- There are six main steps to hand-caning a chair. Danny uses hole-to-hole traditional hand caning, which is weaving individual strips through a series of holes around the perimeter of the chair frame. Danny marks the center holes and draws two horizontal strands of cane as his guide.
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- The first step is to draw the first vertical lines across the chair seat. Wooden pegs are used to find the center of both the back and front of the seat. The pegs are also used to hold the strands in place.
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- The second step is to draw horizontal strands from side to side, weaving them under and over the first set of strands, making sure they are kept perfectly parallel.
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- Danny does this with such precision, keeping the strands moist as he works.
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- Rattan is a tropical plant that loves moisture. Every few minutes, Danny runs the strand through a damp towel. This moistening will keep the strands flexible.
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- Here is a closer look at the holes under the chair frame – each strand is pulled through the holes one at a time.
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- The entire caning part of the process takes a full day to complete.
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- Here are the horizontal strands almost half way through the chair seat.
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- Next, Danny begins weaving the strands diagonally. First in one direction.
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- Then in the other direction. This takes even more time as the space between the strands gets smaller. The seat now begins to take some form – it gets stronger and tighter as the weaving progresses.
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- Here is the seat with more than half of the diagonal strands complete.
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- As Danny works, he sometimes stops to also run the cane strands along a piece of wax – this keeps it smooth, so nothing catches during the weaving process. Any damage to the cane weakens the strand and ultimately, the seat itself.
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- Danny uses the awl to help him maneuver the cane through snug areas.
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- The corners are especially hard, where the holes are very tight. Danny continues to use the pegs to hold the strands in place. The fifth step involves drawing another vertical strand and then another horizontal strand.
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- Look how beautiful this seat is. The final weaving course is to apply the wider binding cane, covering the holes and giving a nice finished look to the woven cane chair seat.
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- Danny stops for a quick photo next to one of the chairs – there’s still more to do, but it looks terrific.
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- Once all the caning is done, the next day, the chair is stained in the same color as the old seat.
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- Here are the two chairs all repaired.
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- They’re carefully picked up and returned to the farm just days before Thanksgiving. When transporting any furniture, be sure to secure them well so they don’t get damaged during the ride. These chairs were tied down with cords so they did not move or hit each other.
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- And look – they are perfect.
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- They look identical to the rest of the chairs around the table. Please visit the Yorkville Caning Furniture Repair Inc. web site to learn more about this special art. Do you have any caned chairs? Share your comments below.
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