How to Remove a Hole Cane Seat

How to Remove Strand Chair Caning

There’s been some discussion over on my Chair Caning Forum in the past on how to remove a hole cane seat, easily. So I thought that might make a good topic here on the Weavin’ Wicker Woman blog.

Hole-to-hole chair cane seat before removal

Traditional strand cane seat before removal

Hole Cane Chair Seat Before Seat is Removed

The first thing I do is to turn the chair upside-down and cut the individual cane loops on the bottom of the chair seat. Be careful you don’t scratch or damage the wood when you use your sharp basketry scissors or utility knife/box cutter to do this.

To remove cane strands, cut loops on bottom of chair frame, pull out from top

Lots of knots on the underside? Then cut them off, too. Otherwise, it will make taking the strands out from the top side more difficult.

Then I turn the chair right-side up again and using either a pair of basketry scissors or a box cutter/utility knife, cut out the woven cane from the center of the seat.

Remove all woven cane from center

Next step is to cut the binder cord and loops over it. Then with your hand, you can pull on the binder cord and most of it will come up easily. Pick out all the remaining cane sections and binder cord from the holes using your hands and/or a pair of pliers, don’t forget to remove the cane from the bottom side also.

If you still have some stubborn cane in the holes, you can use a caning awl, tin punch or even a drillif you have stubborn or glue filled holes, to force the cane out from the top side, down.

Pull on binder cord and then pick out remaining strands in holes from the bottom

Hole-to-hole Cane Seat with Woven Cane Removed

Hole-to-hole cane seat after cane removal

But before you begin weaving your chair caning project, there’s one more step to complete. Remember to always bevel or round off the inside frame edge using a wood rasp, file or Stanley Sureform Shaver tool.