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Recaning a Vintage Chair

June 27, 2016 by Patti 15 Comments

Morning on the Porch - Rocker“I guess we should just throw it away.”

Hard words to utter, especially coming from a fixer upper kinda gal like me, but the cost of moving cross country was enormous and we were trying to lighten the load.

IRocking Chair Before 008

“Absolutely NOT!”, Mr. OTN stated emphatically.  “This is a family treasure and we can fix it.”

Rocking Chair Before 007

This?  A treasure?

Rocking Chair Before 012

A big hole in the seat, water damage from being left out on the porch, joints coming apart where the screws had rusted through.  But he was right, it is a treasure to me.  As I shared in a previous POST, this was the chair where I spent many hours as a young girl, rocking and dreaming about places far away.  The rocker was in the old lake cabin my parents purchased over a half century ago, and it was old even then.

So at hubby’s insistence, along she came with us on our journey to the South.

Rocking chair, 074

These are Mr. OTN’s step-by-step instructions for Recaning a Vintage Chair.  Though I had my doubts  (the hubby has never showed much interest in being involved in my furniture hobby) he ended up having a lot of fun bringing this old girl back to life.

Materials used with links to purchase are shown at the end of this post.  I receive a small amount of compensation when you purchase through my links.

Step 1:  Remove old caning

Mr. OTN began by cutting away as much of the old caning as possible, followed by tucking hot water soaked rags down into the crevices to soften the old glue and allow for easier removal of the rest of the caning and the old wooden stays.

Rocking Chair Makeover 001

  In this picture you can see that Mr. OTN used clothespins to tuck the rags down into the channels.

Once the glue was very soft he used a caning chisel to scrape away remaining glue, caning, and stray bits of wood.  This required persistence and continued hot water soaks. To speed up the process we found my portable garment steamer to be quite helpful!

Rocking chair, 063

 After allowing the chair to dry Mr. OTN cleaned up the remaining glue with his Dremel tool.  Using the correct attachment for the Dremel is critical if you as you do not want to change the width of the grooves.

Step 2:  Repairing the chair

Rocking chair,070

This chair was coming apart at the seams due to heavy water damage . . .

Rocking Chair 005

. . . and we quickly realized that the screws that held the arms in place were rusted through completely.

Rocking Chair 003a

Mr. OTN decided to use a wooden dowel instead of another screw for the repair.  First he drilled a hole large enough for the dowel, drilling from the back of the chair all the way through into the arm.

Rocking Chair 012

Then he painted some wood glue on the end of the arm where it would attach to the back and also inside the hole.

Rocking Chair 014

Wood glue is your best friend on any woodworking project!

Rocking Chair 018

He inserted the dowel from the back of the chair through into the arm, trimmed the dowel flush to the back of the chair, added a little wood putty and sanded it smooth once it dried.

Rocking Chair 029

I stepped in here and cleaned things up a bit, using bleach on the black stained areas before painting the chair with two layers of paint.  I used a Behr (Home Depot) clearance paint that we found in the garage of our new home (a no name paint) followed by a Behr knock-off of Annie Sloan’s Provence mixed according to my recipe for Home Made Chalk Paint.

Step 3: Caning

Rocking Chair 003

Mr. OTN began by cutting the caning to size plus 2-3″ of overlap.   He then soaked the piece in hot water for approximately 30 minutes.

Caning rocker 006

The tools he used for this part were clothes pins (a substitute for caning wedges) and a rubber mallet.

Caning rocker 012

He pounded the halved clothes pins into the grooves in the chair, being careful to keep the cane as straight as possible.

Caning rocker 010

Just like stretching a tapestry he put a couple of clothes pins on one side (back), stretched the cane taught, and put a couple of clothes pins on the other side (front).  He did the two sides in the same manner.

Caning rocker 015

Strips of wood spline are used to hold the cane in place.  Mr. OTN cut four lengths to size, angling the cuts so they would match at the corners.  Then he soaked the strips in hot water for 15 minutes to make them easier to work with.

Caning rocker 013

He applied a generous amount of wood glue in the channel and laid the first piece of spline in place.

Caning rocker 017

Next he pounded it down with a rubber mallet.  Once the strip was firmly in place he removed the clothes pins.  Make sure and remove the wedges before the glue dries.

Caning rocker 018

Here is the second strip in place.  Notice the nicely mitred corners 🙂

Caning a rocker 001

After adding spline to all four sides, Mr. OTN trimmed off the excess caning as closely as he could with sharp scissors . . .

Caning a rocker 002

. . . followed up with a box knife to trim off stragglers, and a sand paper block to smooth off rough edges.

And now, here are a few pictures of the final reveal!

Rocking Chair After

Rocking Chair After

Rocking Chair AfterEdges distressed to reveal the first color of paint.

Rocking Chair After

Rocking Chair 016

Thank you Mr. OTN Cutie, for the wonderful job you did on restoring this family treasure.  YOU are my treasure 😉

Blessings y’all,

My Signature

Links to caning supplies (not linked are common supplies such as scissors, rags, small paintbrush, rubber mallet, drill, sandpaper, etc.):

Step-by-Step-Chair-Recaning-Tutorial

Don’t forget to PIN me!

I’ve been known to link up to the following great parties!!!
Sunday:

 TheDIYShowoff, LifeOnLakeshoreDrive, SilverPenniesSundays, SundaysAtHome, RusticAndRefined, Spiritual Sundays, GiveMeGrace

Monday:
 IShouldBeMoppingTheFloor, TheDedicatedHouse, Dwellings, ProjectInspired,  InspireMeMonday, BetweenNapsOnThePorch, CelebrateYourStory
Making Your Home Sing Mondays, The Beauty in His Grip What Joy is Mine/Monday Musings, Darling Downs Diaries, The Art of Homemaking
Tuesday:
TalkOfTheTown, HomeStoriesAtoZ, AStrollThruLife, Elizabeth&Co, CoastalCharm, CozyLittleHouse,  NaptimeCreations, CedarHillFarmhouse, KatheWithAnE,
VMG206, TuesdaysAtOurHome, TheWinthropChronicles, Dream.Create.Inspire.Link, Rich Faith Rising Unite Linky,Time Warp Wife, Testimony Tuesday,Cheerleaders of Faith,Tell His Story
Wednesday:
SavvySouthernStyle, TheBlissfulBee, Posed Perfection, A Wise Woman Builds Her Home, Woman to Woman Word Filled Wednesdays, A Little R & R, Whole Hearted Home, Mom’s Morning Coffee, Women with Intention, Coffee for Your Heart
Thursday:
ShareYourStyle, ImpartingGrace, EmbracingChange, HaveADailyCupOfMrsOlson, MyRepurposedLife, FromMyFrontPorchToYours, ADelightsomeLife, AKAWeekendRetreat, ThoughtsOfHomeOnThursday, MakingBrokenBeautiful
KatherinesCorner, PrettyPreppyParty, YourTurnToShine, Serving Joyfully/Thriving Thursdays, The Deliberate Mom/Shine Blog Hop, I Choose Joy,  Live Free Thursday, Thought Provoking Thursday
Friday:
FrenchCountryCottage, TheCharmOfHome, RootedInThyme,  TheDedicatedHouseAnythingBlueFriday,
  ShabbyliciousFriday, Sweet Inspiration,
  Blessing Counters,Missional Women Faith Filled Fridays, Grace & Truth Linkup, Grace&TruthSharingRedemption’sStories, Dance With Jesus
Saturday:
FunkyJunkInteriors, OneMoreTimeEvents,  SaturdaySparks, TheInspirationGallery, Make My Saturday Sweet

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Filed Under: Antiques and Collectibles, chalk paint, Chalk painted furniture, Coastal Style, DIY, furniture restoration, Homemade chalk paint recipe, My Husband, Old Junk Transformations, Screened porch, Southern Living Tagged With: Antiques and Collectibles, Chalk Paint, Chalk Painted Furniture, Coastal Style, DIY, Furniture restoration, Homemade Chalk Paint Recipe, My Husband, old junk transformations, southern living

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Comments

  1. Sharon H says

    June 27, 2016 at 11:48 am

    Oh, Patti….I knew he was a KEEPER! LOL And he is a cutie, as you said. It’s so wonderful he wanted to do all that to preserve the treasure in that chair, something you will be proud to hand down to your kids. Love this one….good job!
    And it goes so nicely with your rogue front door!
    Great Day of Blessings to you, my friend

    Reply
  2. Jane says

    June 27, 2016 at 1:00 pm

    Ingenious! You have a treasure there for sure, and that includes Mr. Cane Man!

    Reply
  3. Joanie says

    June 27, 2016 at 5:13 pm

    Thank you for posting the picture of your husband and for the sweet sentiment you stated about him. It’s sad that men are dissed so much in our society. It’s nice to see one being praised!

    Reply
  4. Debbie says

    June 27, 2016 at 11:09 pm

    Years ago my father used do caning by hand and by scratch. I would help him. It was very time consuming but very rewarding. Your chair turned out really nice.

    Reply
  5. Kymberly Ryan says

    June 28, 2016 at 9:13 am

    WOW- Talk about a labor of love! It’s beautiful! How did you distress the chair to show the darker paint underneath-sandpaper?

    Reply
  6. Carol Cook says

    June 28, 2016 at 12:05 pm

    What a fabulous revival of a treasured piece. And, I love the color you chose to paint it.

    Reply
  7. Becky Mullowney says

    June 29, 2016 at 10:42 pm

    Awesome job! You two make a great team…(guess you already knew that!)

    Reply
  8. Pat says

    July 2, 2016 at 4:50 pm

    Patti,
    Amazing transformation, dear friend!
    Atta’ boy, Mr. OTN!
    Love the color on the finished product!
    Fondly,
    Pat

    Reply
  9. Cindy says

    July 10, 2016 at 3:32 pm

    Wow! Such an amazing job!
    Thanks so much for sharing at AMAZE ME MONDAY!
    Blessings,
    Cindy

    Reply
  10. Jann Olson says

    July 10, 2016 at 11:01 pm

    Wow, it turned out beautifully! No matter what the family connections my hubby would have said to trash it in that shape. Glad there are people out there like your hubby to save these heirlooms!
    hugs,
    Jann

    Reply
  11. Jacek says

    August 11, 2016 at 8:40 am

    The chair is rescued from being thrown away. Just look at it before and after the project, totally different. The old treasure chair can’t be used anymore but the fixed one looks like brand new and full of vitality. How amazing work you just did. You must be a talented and professional one in this field. Yeah sometimes a thing remind us of our memories that we consider it as our treasure, our best memories are worthier than the transportation cost.

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Make it Pretty Monday - Week 183 - The Dedicated House says:
    July 11, 2016 at 9:02 pm

    […] Old Things New shares a wonderful tutorial on Recaning a Vintage Chair.  This is an amazing transformation!! […]

    Reply
  2. Old Things New – DIY Mini Garden Conservatory says:
    July 14, 2016 at 4:48 pm

    […] OTN jumped right into the project (I think he enjoyed the fame of being written about in my Recaning a Vintage Chair post) and used a drill and screwdriver to attach L-brackets to three corners of the […]

    Reply
  3. Talk of the Town #62 - Knick of Time says:
    March 7, 2017 at 7:56 pm

    […] Recaning a Vintage Caned Chair | Greenery Inspired Living Room | Mini Garden Conservatory […]

    Reply
  4. Talk of the Town #62 - My Repurposed Life™ says:
    March 7, 2017 at 8:00 pm

    […] Repairing a Vintage Caned Chair | Greenery Inspired Living Room | Mini Garden Conservatory […]

    Reply

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OldThingsNew

I am Perfectly Imperfect Patti, daughter of the King, wife to the amazing Mr. OTN, mom to two grown daughters, a great son-in-law, and companion to two spoiled dogs. At Old Things New I share DIY’s, budget friendly home transformations, as well as posts about how God transforms our souls. I myself have been made new and I love to share what I’ve learned through WRITING and SPEAKING. To view a short Vimeo of “Our Story” (Mr. OTN and I) please follow the link at the top of the page.

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