Seatweaving & Chair Caning Forum™ - Re: Re-Converting Pressed Back to Hand Caned

I've had to do this before and have one here now to do soon. I route out the groove so that it's perfectly uniform in width and depth, then cut a solid wood piece the same width and depth to glue into the groove. Once that has been seated well, glued, and dried, the original holes can be drilled through from the underside. Put a piece of masking tape over the top side or use a sacrificial piece of wood when drilling through to avoid tearout from your drill bits. That keeps the hole clean. I also file the new hole openings so there aren't any sharp edges that could cut the cane. Not fun, but possible!

Re-Converting Pressed Back to Hand Caned stj3000, Mon Jun 18 12:07pm

I recently purchased 4 chairs that were originaly hand caned but have been converted to pressed cane by making a groove between the original holes. Is it possible to convert them back to hand caned?... more
- Converting Pressed Back to Hand Cane rrc_1940, Tue Jun 19 9:18am
  
  I have a friend who is a wood worker that glued a pressed cane spline into the groove then re-drilled the hand cane holes. He also added several 3/8" dowels horizontally (from the inside) into the... more
- - Re: Converting Pressed Back to Hand Cane Mindy King - the chair weaver, Wed Jun 20 12:03am
    
    Putting 3/8" dowels actually did nothing for the strength of the seat and probably weakened it further. The more wood you take away the less strength you have. When you drill a hole you have end... more
  - - Screws v dowels suz handy, Wed Jun 20 2:27am
      
      What an excellent idea. I've never thought of using drywall screws; I mostly use dowels - either cocktail sticks or kebab sticks. Usually glueing and clamping the rail first then adding the dowels.... more
- Re-Converting Pressed Back to Hand Caned stj3000, Tue Jun 19 7:24am
  
  Thanks for your replys. The chairs do have round bottoms. Instead of filling in the groove and redrilling the holes, could I hand cane the existing holes and then put spline into the groove similar... more
- - Re-Converting Pressed Back to Hand Caned cboerman, Wed Jun 20 10:41am
    
    If you try to make this look like a pressed cane seat but hand weave the seat. What could happen is when you put the spline in, it could very well break some of the cane strands. Then you'll have to... more
  - Converting Pressed Back to Hand Cane rrc_1940, Wed Jun 20 8:46am
    
    The groove cut for the spline where the hand cane holes are has significantly weakened the chair seat. I have seen chairs like this that have split and broken off at the groove. I would not re-cane a ... more
- Re: Re-Converting Pressed Back to Hand Caned Mindy King - the chair weaver, Tue Jun 19 12:21am
  
  Re-drilling through the reed spline filler would be just the same as Dan described, Wait until the repair is dry and clamp waste stock to the top, drill from the bottom and a countersink bit can be... more
- Re: Re-Converting Pressed Back to Hand Caned Dan Alleger, Mon Jun 18 11:44pm
- - Re: Re-Converting Pressed Back to Hand Caned Mindy King - the chair weaver, Tue Jun 19 12:14am
    
    I have also seen the groove filled with a tight fitting reed spine (without the pressed cane of course) glued into the groove, trimmed flat and stained to match the wood. Dan's option would work with ... more

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