Hand Woven Caning

The pictures above are the most common caning patterns.
The pictures below are also hand cane but not as common.

Machine or Pressed Cane

Machine or pressed cane is a pre-woven product. It comes off of a roll like fabric. It is held to your frame, glued into a groove. The grove that the cane is glued into will run the perimeter of the caned area. The Cane is secure into the seat or back by a spline that is glued to fill the groove tightly.

Pressed Cane or Pre-woven Cane comes off of a roll like fabric and is pressed into the chair seat using a spline. Much the same way a screen is held in a screen window. Below are some samples of machine cane.

Binder and Plank Cane...Binder or plank caning is hand woven in a variety of patterns. Plank caning is not woven through the frame by a series of holes that perforate the perimeter of the frame. Plank cane is woven around the four seat rails. Chair seats that are designed for plank caning look very similar to the design for a rush woven seat.

French (Pegged) or Blind Cane...This style of hand caning is extra time consuming and tedious. All the steps are the same in blind cane as they are in hand cane. The only difference is in stead of the holes in the frame that the cane is woven through do not pierce the frame. The hand woven cane strand is woven in to each hole then a (peg) is installed to keep it in place while the rest of the panel is being woven. The end result of a French Pegged hand cane panel is the strands do not show from the back side of the wood frame thus the name blind caning applies. Usually pegged or blind caning is woven with a finer strand of caning fiber.

Double Blind Hand Cane...This is the next level of difficulty after blind caning. That is because both the inside and the outside panel are blind caned.

Fiber or Craft Paper Rush...This type of woven rush is the most common. The rush material is a pre-twisted craft paper.

Real Cattail and Natural Rush...This type of woven rush is cattail fiber twisted by hand then woven in to a seat.

Sea Grass Is the equivalent to natural fiber rush and is made form a natural flowering sea plant used for chair seat and stool rush. It is much easier to use than other rushes because it is installed dry, it is clean and very hard wearing.

Danish Rope or Danish Cord During the 1940’s famous furniture designer Hans Wegner "(pronounced)" Wagner came up with many beautiful designs in furniture pioneering the “Danish Modern Era.” Much of his incredible work was made from exotic Teak, and some times Rosewood. These very Classic Danish or Scandinavian chairs very often had seats woven out of a 3 ply twisted paper cord about 4/32” commonly called “Danish Cord.” Another popular maker of these famous Danish Scandinavian chairs was Moller or Mollar.

Wicker furniture has been documented as far back as ancient Egypt. It has been proposed that the extensive use of wicker objects in the Iron age. In recent times, its aesthetic was influenced heavily by the Arts and Crafts movement at the turn of the 20th century.

Bent Willow Furniture is also known as "twig furniture", and it has been made in the United States for the past two hundred years. Furniture made out of willow is strong and long-lasting, and it lends a beautiful rustic, outdoor look to any room, porch or patio.

Shaker Tape or Flat Fabric In all the Shaker communities, fabric tape was preferred over rush, wood splint, or cane because it is so functional. It does not dry out and break, nor does it pinch or snag clothing. It is stronger and longer lasting, and it is simple and quick to weave. In addition, it is more comfortable and colorful. A popular traditional technique was to weave two contrasting colors (maroon and beige, for example) to achieve a checkerboard pattern.

Splint is made from the woods native ash or hickory, and from the rattan palm trees.  Wood splint is cut from selected second-year growth timber having very straight grain.  Ash splints are then machine cut to a uniform width and wear very well.  Hickory splints vary slightly in width, giving a pleasing more rustic hand made effect.