How the work goes
The old material is removed and replaced with new material appropriate to the
chair — cane in various sizes, punch cane, or rush, depending on how the
seat was originally made. Putting rush where cane belongs, or the wrong gauge of
cane in an old frame, shows immediately.
From there it is entirely hand work. A hand-caned seat takes about a week to
weave: each strand is threaded through the perimeter holes individually and the
pattern is built up as it goes.
Punch cane works differently. The woven sheet is installed in a couple of hours,
but the adhesive then needs around 48 hours to dry before the chair can be sat
on. Either way, most jobs run about a week from arrival to collection.
What it costs
Hand caning is priced by the perimeter hole, at about $4 to $5 each — which
sounds unusual until you realise that the number of holes is exactly what
determines how long the seat takes to weave.
Punch cane averages around $95. Rush chair seats run between about $95 and $125.
What moves those figures is the size of the material used and the hours the
pattern demands. Count the holes around your chair seat and send a photograph
through the contact form — that is usually enough
for us to quote.
A job we remember
A hand-caned bench arrived from a waterfront restaurant in Smithfield with its
seat torn out. The bench seat was the equivalent of three chair seats, with
complicated work where the weave met the corners.
Rewoven by hand, it went back looking new.
See more of what has come through the workshop.