How to Replace the Back of a Cane Chair

Purchase cane supplies at specialty stores and online.

Cane chair backs subjected to stress, use and age can break. Cane chair backs come in two different types, hand woven and commercially made machine woven. Repairers using prewoven cane have more success than those attempting to weave cane by hand. Hand weaving cane is an intricate and time-consuming undertaking that yields basically the same results as using prewoven cane. Since the finished project shows little to no difference in skill when using prewoven cane, leave weaving cane by hand to a professional restoration specialist.

Things You'll Need

• Flat-blade screwdriver
• Small putty knife
• Prewoven cane
• Cane wedges
• Rubber mallet
• Spline
• White glue
• Scissors or craft knife

Instructions

1. Remove existing broken cane with a flat-blade screwdriver. Free the bond of glue between the groove on the chair back and the cane.

2. Clean old, hardened glue off the chair with a small putty knife.

3. Soak the prewoven cane in warm water for 30 to 40 minutes.

4. Turn the chair on its back, and center the new cane over the chair back.

5. Place a cane wedge over the cane and into the groove. Use a rubber mallet to set the wedge in place.

6. Draw the prewoven cane taut, and then tap a wedge in parallel to the first wedge. Continue around the edge of the chair back in the same manner.

7. Leave the cane wedges in place for approximately two hours while the cane dries.

8. Soak spline, also referred to as edging, in warm water for 10 minutes.

9. Remove the cane wedges carefully so as not to disturb the cane.

10. Run a bead of glue around the indentation in which the wedges were held in place.

11. Press the spline forcefully into the glue bead. Allow the glue to dry overnight.

12. Trim the overhanging cane with scissors or a craft knife. Cut it as close to the spline as possible.

Tips & Warnings

• Purchase cane supplies at specialty stores and online.

• Children should employ the help of an adult when repairing a cane chair back.

References

• "Reader's Digest Complete Do-It-Yourself Manual"; Family Handyman Magazine Editors; 2005