COLD!!!

Did a little caning in the garage last night. Boy! Were my hands cold! Managed to get the 1st vertical and horizontal row done and more than half of the first diagonal.
It's taken me 2 days to prepare this little open weave seat (because of gluing time.) First the back hole row had split and needed to be glued and clamped together. Then the left front holes over the left leg were blocked by the leg. Getting the frame over the leg tenon split the front rail of the frame so that had to be removed and re-glued. After re-assembly the holes were still blocked so I had to re-drill them. Then it was ready for cane. The re-drilled holes are going to be tricky as I didn't want to damage the leg that was blocking them, so they are a little undersized. They may end up as blind holes. Pictures to follow.

Aerosmith

In the immortal words of Steven Tyler "I'm back in the saddle again!"

This weekend I was able to finish a press seat and a small open weave seat in medium cane. Just a small rush seat to finish and all my guilt work will be out of the way. I think the extra wide press is a tad unattractive, but beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Gooseneck

I can't believe it! I just finished 3 really great chairs and I forgot to photograph any of them.
Bummer!
On another note: I'm working on a Gooseneck Rocker (known outside of the South as a Lincoln Rocker... I guess he's not that popular here!) The owner had the cane sprayed with a dark tinted polyurethane. The cane dried out and the owner's son in law busted out the seat while rocking his daughter. Now she wants it stained again. I won't void my own warranty, so she'l have to do it herself or pay someone else to do it.

Finally!

Here are my latest 2 chairs. They took a long time as I'm moving house and don't have a lot of time to work on my caning. They're pretty but not in great shape.

My new best friend

Yesterday I tried out my adapted grout steamer. I got my idea from Mindy King who is in the Seatweavers' Guild. I saw her YouTube video on using a steamer to loosen spline on a pressed cane chair. Oh My! 45 minutes and I cleaned out 3 chairs. It can take me over an hour to clean out one with a spline chisel and a mallet. The steam was wonderful, softened the glue right away. My fingers got very sticky, but that was the only unpleasantness in the process. That might be the best $30.00 I've spent on a caning tool. Now it will take longer to put in the cane that it takes to clean out the groove. Now That's progress!

Christmas (and other times) decoration

My Carolina Snowflakes are quite popular, especially at Christmas. Shown is one made of 1/2 inch Flat Reed with 13 inch strands.

Sewing rocker

This is a little sewing rocker I rebuilt and re-caned for a co-worker. It has no nails, only wooden pegs. Again it's Binder Cane in a 4 count herringbone.
1/30/2013 One of the students broke one of the rockers so I repaired it and advised my co-worker to take it home.

Stool

Here's a little stool I did in Binder Cane using a herringbone pattern of 4

Project

I'm currently working on a miniature Cracker Barrel rocker. My friend Bill brought it by and he's in no hurry to get it back as he has no grandkids yet. I'll finish the seat on Saturday and hopefully the back too. I scaled down the fiber rush for it as the full sized ones come in 7/32" rush and that looked too blocky on the little chair. Pictures to come.

Much later: I did finish this rocker but I forgot to photograph it. The grandchild was born before I finished the doggone chair!

Genesis

Well, I'm finally doing it. I have been a caner for over 25 years. I'm sure I have caned over a thousand chairs (mostly fiber rush ladder-backs) and I will now start to chronicle my work.