TUESDAY CHAIR CANING TIPS–You have seat weaving problems, I’ll try to solve them for you!
THE PROBLEM: Have you ever seen a broken paper rush seat like this before with all the strands cut across the front rail?
Have any idea what happened here? All rails are flat about 3″-4″ wide and are not round dowels.
What happened to this rush chair seat?
The reason this break in the paper rush happened was because the seat was not stuffed with cardboard at all on the top. And the flat rails had sharp 90º angles on the inside of the rails.
So there was no padding support of the front rail strands. And the inside flat, sharp rail edges were not beveled or rounded off, either. So, the sharp wooden edges cut the strands due to the pressure of people sitting on the unsupported seat.
The front rail on the inside edge was so sharp that it actually cut through the paper rush as people sat on the sagging seat over many years. Can you believe it?
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How to fix the broken seat?
THE SOLUTION: You need to bevel the inside rail edges. Take off the really sharp 90º edges on the inside and outsides of the seat rails before beginning to weave the new rush seat.
You don’t want to have your new seat have its rush strands cut across the front rail too, do you?
Use a wood rasp
, plane or Stanley Surform Shaver
to remove and soften the sharp edges so they will not cut the paper rush on the new seat. Then go over the rails with some sandpaper
to smooth down those edges even more.
To alleviate the pressure on the new rush strands, the next step is to stuff the seat gussets or pockets with cardboard triangles on the top and bottom sides, providing additional support to the seat.
Finish your weaving and then end with a final finish coat or two of shellac, polyurethane, or varnish.
And now you’re all set for that seat to last for another 25 years or more with good care and maintenance.
What are your thoughts about this blog post?
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~~Live Well, Laugh Often, Love Much ~~
Happy Weaving, until next time!
When I do rush chairs the diagonal lines are not perfectly straight. Even when I try to be very careful, they don’t look as good as the new chairs.
John, have you tried misting the corners lightly with a spritz of water as you go around and make the corners? I do that and have found it quite helpful to keep things nice and straight.