Asking for advice: refinishing cain bottom chair

I was recently given an antique cane bottom chair and am attempting to refinish it.

Having stripped the ugly green paint from it (man that methyl chloride does burn) I find the wood (oak, I think) has a lot of "character" and am not interested in painting it. While I could stain it I am wondering what you experienced folks have to say about boiled linseed oil (with about 5% japan drier as suggested in FWW's Methods of Work) as a finish for this chair.

In addition the cane has disintegrated and I have ordered some as replacement along with the spline (after careful measurement of the groove.) Do I replace the seat and then apply the linseed oil or apply the finish first and then replace the seat?

Too, the directions for replacing the seat look fairly straightforward, on paper at least, but I've never done it before and my past experience has demonstrated that things are rarely as simple as they look. I believe I can do it but an old pro here in Atlanta told me very brusquely not to bother trying as it wasn't worth the effort. Of course he would do it... for a price.

Any comments or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Regards, Snidely

Reply to
Snidely F Whiplash
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I prefer to refinish the furniture first then apply the cane.

Web cane, which is what you are describing, is the easiest caning to do, but, as with everything else, the devil is in the details.

You should go to the library and hunt up a book titled "The Caners Handbook." That has complete, step-by-step instructions for all important caning methods. The full retail cost of the book is less than 20 bucks so it might not be a bad idea to buy your own copy.

-- Don Drew WoodCraft Designs

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snipped-for-privacy@dondrew.com

603-895-2600
Reply to
Donald Drew, Jr

I'm no cane expert nor in the business, but I did recently take a cane bottom chair apart to reglue the joints. I studied the cane weaving carefully as I removed it and I can believe a cane man earns every penney he gets. Glenn

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Reply to
Glenn or Carolyn ELLIOTT

I have replaced several machine woven seat bottoms and backs with excellent results. BUT, you must soak the cane in water before gluing the machine woven cane to the chair. As the cane dries it shrinks and tightens up. Seems to me finishing it before attaching to the chair would impede the process of soaking and drying properly, IMHO. I have always applied the finish after attaching to the chair.

Reply to
Leon

Agreed, OTOH, machine woven cane with which a spline is used to hold everything into place is really quite easy. I was highly successful the first time I took on the process. I replaced a chair bottom in about 1 hour including removing the old one.

Reply to
Leon

I am talking about applying a finish to the cane it self. If you are talking about the chair finish, I would finish before replacing the cane.

Reply to
Leon

Can't help you on your prob - but would like to note that I had no idea that was his middle initial.

Reply to
patrick conroy

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