Care of Cane Seats

Follow these helpful hints to prolong the life of your caned seat.
1. Keep cane chairs away from extreme heat situations and areas with low humidity.
These conditions cause the cane to dry out and become brittle and break. Fireplaces forced air heating, and sunny window exposure should be avoided.
2. Distribute weight evenly on the seat.
Never kneel on your seat or use it for a stool or ladder, which will cause the cane to break.
3. Is your seat starting to sag?
Cane has a memory (a natural elasticity) which over the years it will lose. (sound familiar?) If you don't tighten this up - your chair will start to break along the edges. If they aren't too far gone, you can tighten them up. All you need to do is tip the seat upside down, and place damp cloth on the under side overnight. The next day, tip right side up and the cane should tighten right back up. You should not sit on the seat for 24 to 48 hours to give it a good amount of time to dry. You can also mist the underside of the seat and you could even do this periodically to add moisture and prolong the life of the cane.
4. Cane and wicker storage.
Try not to store your furniture in places with high humidity or places where mold and mildew can develop. Keep your cane clean and mold free.
Caring for your cane seat can help them to last anywhere from 5 - 25 years.
Any other suggestions - please share.

To Knot or Not to Knot

To Knot or Not to Knot - that is the question. After using the no knot method for the last few chairs - I am not convinced that it will hold over the long haul. I do see its use for chairs where there is a groove underneath...the David Dick method is good for backs (located on our website). But I am just fine with the old fashioned method of tying. I will keep using the different methods to suit each chair.

Sentimental

Today we had a man here at the shop with a chair that he had rocked his daughter in - we needed to replace the cane seat so he can give it to her for her new baby coming soon! What an awesome idea.