What the heck is this stuff??

about the

paper. It

with this sort

redone? A

sisal ?

In news:4abc28a5$0$11294$ snipped-for-privacy@news.pa.net, C & E spewed forth:

That is called a rush seat. Depending where you are located you might find an old timer that does it or you can try The Lighthouse for the Blind, if you have one in your area. Usually anyone that does caning can do them. It's a lost art

Sisal looks much like manila rope. It just does not have the strength of manila, and it does not absorb as much water as manila. We used to use it for downlines in commercial diving, and for other things, as if you toss a bunch of manila in the water, it swells up and coils up terribly. The rolled paper does not match the description of sisal, which are tan fibers. I was going to say hemp, but that does not have the appearance of rolled paper, either.

I guess my answer is that I don't know, but I don't think it's sisal.

Steve

Is this what you have ?

It's called "fibre rush", as opposed to real rush that is a plant. Not difficult to do, other than requiring muscle. Supplies are not expensive, and leftover can be untwisted and used for Christmas tree garland :o) You need to stuff paper into the portion that is woven as you go to add support to the fiber. When I redid an old chair, I didn't use enough stuffing - I use the chair all the time (at the computer), so the rush has "molded" to the seat frame. Got the chair for $10 at second hand store and could tell by the shape of the ugly gold velvet covering that it needed a rush seat. Nice walnut? hoop-back chair.

Instructions:

Rush seat? Check out this popular mechanics article on how it is done:

FWW a few issues ago had detailed article on caning using various materials demonstrating most of the traditional methods/weaves.

While relatively uncommon, it's hardly a "lost" art...

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That's it. The place I used to get mine closed up years ago. A real shop doing that kind of work will have it and likely will sell you some. Do you know how to use it?