Update Cane Seats With Webbing and Nail Head Trim

by Chairished Furnishings

2 Materials

$25

4 Hours

Medium

The cane in these little chairs was cracked and falling through. Replacing the cane with truck cargo strap gives them a fresh, yet still vintage look.

BEFORE & AFTER

There were only two of these chairs available but I loved their form and beautiful wood tone. Since the cane was broken, I wanted to replace the seats with something faster than re-caning. I got this idea from another post (don’t know when or where I saw it) and decided to use truck cargo strap for my webbing. It’s 100% cotton and very durable. Available at Walmart in 50yd rolls

Removing the Old Cane

This is tedious work but if you start from the underside of the chair, it speeds the process up a bit. Start by cutting every ‘stitch’ with a small utility knife.

When you’ve finished cutting through all the stitches under the chair, flip the chair over and begin pulling the cane away from the top of the seat. I used needle nose pliers to make it easier to tug at the cane.

Mark for nail placement

Fold the edge of your strap under about 1/2-inch. Decide how close together you want your tacks to be spaced and mark with a ruler and pencil

Placing the Straps

I wanted a tight weave on the seat so measured out my placement before nailing the strap down. I lightly marked the wood in pencil from the bottom edge of the seat frame to guide the front and side strap placements.

Marking the guide line

Folding under the edge of the strap and marking guideline for strap edge placement

Front and one side straps in place

Repeat the process of strap placement from one side of your chair. Note that I have not secured the second end of the straps yet. The weave has been loosely assembled and the ends will be pulled taut with a web stretcher to assure a sturdy platform

Stretching the ends in place

Using a web stretcher, pull your webbing taut against the chair frame and tap in a small carpet tack to hold in place. Trim web about 1/2-inch longer than your pencil guide line (discussed in previous steps).

Ends tacked in place

All the ends have been stretched and tacked into place

Trimming the ends

Trim the web so you have about 1/2-inch to turn under above pencil guide line

Applying brass tacks

Follow your spacing marks made with ruler and pencil and tack hammer brass nails in place.

Finished Chair

I’m very happy with how these turned out. Hope you can use the information on a project of your own.

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2 comments

Dfm on May 05, 2019

umm ...you do know that cane sheets are available, you don't need to weave it. soak over night in water to make it more pliable, the spline also. the spline is to keep the canning in place, kina like the gasket in a screen window.

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- Chairished Furnishings on May 17, 2019
  
  Yes - I do know about buying the sheets. This is an alternative to replacing the cane. I believe it would have been much more costly, even with pre-made cane seats vs. the method I used. Plus, this gives them a very different look, which is what I was going for. Thanks for the tip, however :)
  
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