Restoring a Sagging Machine-Woven Cane Seat

Chairs produced from cane are exquisite accessories for any interior. You may discover cane seat rockers in the baby’s room or cane woven loveseats in a sunporch decked out with tropical wall art and fish wall hangings.

If you need to mend a hand-caned chair, you should take it to a professional craftsman. Luckily, you can fix machine-woven caning problems including sagging cane or a seat replacement.
But your machine-woven cane seating can effortlessly be fixed at home, whether the trouble is a sagging seat or if you want to exchange the seat entirely. Machine-woven cane is commonly connected with an easy to replace spline. If a chair is floppy, you oftentimes can fix if without even removing the slat or replacing the wickerwork. Here is some info to help you determine what kind of mend your cane chair demands in order to make it as great as new.

Seat is Drooping
A cane chair will droop with recurring use, especially if the chair happens to be wet. But don’t worry; this is a simple fix. Start by turning the chair over. Then you will have to wipe down the wicker of the chair with a damp cloth, taking caution to avoid getting the frame wet. Allow the cane to dry for an entire twenty-four hours; this allows contracting of the material. In order to preclude further slack, spray the chair with a mist of water every month and let it dry before using it once again. This will likewise guard against cracking and drying out of the cane.

Entire Seat Replacement
Similar to window screen, the cane that is found in machine-woven seating is attached to the frame with spline. If need be, this can be replaced. Locate a rut on the chair’s frame that is filled with wood spline. In order to fix the seat, you want to take out the slat and replace it.

Make certain you have plenty of cane to make the fix. You will need enough to cover the seat with an allowance of two or more inches on either side. Cane is sold in major craft stores and comes in sheets that are either one foot or two feet wide. In addition to the cane, you will require caning spline, a hammer, utility knife, wedges, flathead screwdriver, scissors, wood glue, fine-grit sandpaper, and measuring tape. You should also have a sink nearby or a vat of warm water with a big rag or towel.

First, you need to take measurements of the seat of your chair and cut the caning so it will have two inches of surplus on every side. Place the cut cane in the bath of tepid water for approximately forty-five minutes; this makes the cane easy to work with and more pliable. While you are waiting for the new caning, get rid of the old material. Use the flathead screwdriver to jimmy the slat up from its position. The utility knife can also be employed to cut about the edges of the material if it is hard to remove. Be certain that all glue and debris is removed from the grooves of the chair also.

* After making certain that the new caning is malleable, take it out of the water and pat dry with a rag. Position the cane over the seat and use a wedge and hammer to tap it into the rut in the chair. Pull the wicker taut but be careful not to warp the caning. Then tap a wedge into the opposite side. Set more wedges about the circumference of the chair frame.

* After the wedges have been placed around the chair, remove them one at a time. As you remove the wedges glue the new spline in. If you need to, use both the wedge and hammer to put the spline into the rut. After you have taken the wedges out and put in the spline, cut the spline to fit and fit the final section in. Permit the glue to dry before cutting off any surplus material and glue using the knife. Sand the space with the sand paper. Use a vacuum cleaner to get rid of all debris. Then add a coating of spray seal to the fresh wickerwork.

Author Bio: Article contributed by Brenda Walker of WallDecorandHomeAccents.com, your top source for metal wall candle sconces and wine kitchen decor on the net.

Category: Home Management
Keywords: home decor, interior design, home improvement, repair, diy

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