Al21
13-01-2012, 04:24 PM
Hi folks,
I did this a while ago, but as I'm fairly new here and don't plan to do this again soon I thought you'd forgive me for posting an old repair project.
This is my replacing the cane on the stern seat of my canoe. They don't last forever as they do get a bit of a tough life with me. Now to look at them you might think that to replace the cane might involve some complicated knitting type activity with strands of cane. I can assure you though that it's much simpler that that. A good thing too for I'm a card carrying member of the 'feet for hands gang'!
First of all you need to remove the cane beading which holds the woven cane in place. While it can have a few years of varnish it shouldn't be too difficult to get an end started and then pulled from the slot in which it sits.
The cane should come away readily and then allow you to clean the wood of the seat framework. I tend to treat all the woodwork on my canoe with oil these days so I wait until the new cane is in place before applying fresh oil, but you intend to varnish a couple of coats might be in order before the cane goes on to ensure you don't leave bare wood exposed. Be careful to avoid getting varnish in the slot as this will be glued soon and the glue needs to contact bare wood to stick properly.
Okay, so now for the cheaty bit! The cane comes in sheets. I buy mine from a local Pine & Cane specialist, though I'm sure a craft shop would be able to supply this too. I use 4mm beading cane to hold the sheet in place, this fits into the 6mm slot nicely when the cane sheet is fitted.
I cut the sheet of cane roughly 25-35mm larger than the finished seat size and then put it in a bucket to soak for a few hours. This allows the cane to be a little more flexible so it will press into the slot without breaking. When the cane is suitably soaked dry it off with towel to remove excess moisture and prepare your glue. I use Cascamite so this will need mixing, I'm sure other glues will give good results too.
The next part is quite tricky as you need to hold the sheet of cane in place, but allow it to be pressed into the slot without it ending up all over the place. I've tried making up four pegs to hold the cane, but found that simple spring clamps as good as anything.
Apply a good bead of glue to the bottom of the slot, any excess can be wiped clean with a damp cloth. Starting at the centre of a long side start pressing the beading cane into the slot forcing the sheet of cane into the slot with it, work your way around the seat trying to maintain reasonable tension on the cane sheet while keeping things square within the frame. Using 4mm beading cane will allow you to easily push the cane sheet and beading cane right to the bottom of the slot. this allows you to add a second piece of beading cane for a better final finish. The cane sheet will shrink as it dries giving a better tension when fully dry. When you get back to the starting point trim off the excess beading cane and allow the whole lot to dry, it should now look like this:
http://i594.photobucket.com/albums/tt23/acgirling/canoeing/seat_repair/P8241556.jpg
When all is dry you can trim off the excess cane sheet, get the glue out again and add the second piece of beading cane to make it look like this:
http://i594.photobucket.com/albums/tt23/acgirling/canoeing/seat_repair/P8241557.jpg
Once again, any blobs of glue were cleaned off with a damp cloth, but cascamite dries clear, so any excess within the cane sheet won't be too obvious. More coats of oil or varnish to taste and refit you finished seat for years more comfort and the satisfaction of a job well done. If all has gone well then things should look like this:
http://i594.photobucket.com/albums/tt23/acgirling/canoeing/seat_repair/P8291563.jpg
I'm sorry I didn't take more pictures in the early part of the process, but I hope you are able to follow my instructions. If anybody wishes to do this this themselves I'm happy to help in anyway I can.
Al
I did this a while ago, but as I'm fairly new here and don't plan to do this again soon I thought you'd forgive me for posting an old repair project.
This is my replacing the cane on the stern seat of my canoe. They don't last forever as they do get a bit of a tough life with me. Now to look at them you might think that to replace the cane might involve some complicated knitting type activity with strands of cane. I can assure you though that it's much simpler that that. A good thing too for I'm a card carrying member of the 'feet for hands gang'!
First of all you need to remove the cane beading which holds the woven cane in place. While it can have a few years of varnish it shouldn't be too difficult to get an end started and then pulled from the slot in which it sits.
The cane should come away readily and then allow you to clean the wood of the seat framework. I tend to treat all the woodwork on my canoe with oil these days so I wait until the new cane is in place before applying fresh oil, but you intend to varnish a couple of coats might be in order before the cane goes on to ensure you don't leave bare wood exposed. Be careful to avoid getting varnish in the slot as this will be glued soon and the glue needs to contact bare wood to stick properly.
Okay, so now for the cheaty bit! The cane comes in sheets. I buy mine from a local Pine & Cane specialist, though I'm sure a craft shop would be able to supply this too. I use 4mm beading cane to hold the sheet in place, this fits into the 6mm slot nicely when the cane sheet is fitted.
I cut the sheet of cane roughly 25-35mm larger than the finished seat size and then put it in a bucket to soak for a few hours. This allows the cane to be a little more flexible so it will press into the slot without breaking. When the cane is suitably soaked dry it off with towel to remove excess moisture and prepare your glue. I use Cascamite so this will need mixing, I'm sure other glues will give good results too.
The next part is quite tricky as you need to hold the sheet of cane in place, but allow it to be pressed into the slot without it ending up all over the place. I've tried making up four pegs to hold the cane, but found that simple spring clamps as good as anything.
Apply a good bead of glue to the bottom of the slot, any excess can be wiped clean with a damp cloth. Starting at the centre of a long side start pressing the beading cane into the slot forcing the sheet of cane into the slot with it, work your way around the seat trying to maintain reasonable tension on the cane sheet while keeping things square within the frame. Using 4mm beading cane will allow you to easily push the cane sheet and beading cane right to the bottom of the slot. this allows you to add a second piece of beading cane for a better final finish. The cane sheet will shrink as it dries giving a better tension when fully dry. When you get back to the starting point trim off the excess beading cane and allow the whole lot to dry, it should now look like this:
http://i594.photobucket.com/albums/tt23/acgirling/canoeing/seat_repair/P8241556.jpg
When all is dry you can trim off the excess cane sheet, get the glue out again and add the second piece of beading cane to make it look like this:
http://i594.photobucket.com/albums/tt23/acgirling/canoeing/seat_repair/P8241557.jpg
Once again, any blobs of glue were cleaned off with a damp cloth, but cascamite dries clear, so any excess within the cane sheet won't be too obvious. More coats of oil or varnish to taste and refit you finished seat for years more comfort and the satisfaction of a job well done. If all has gone well then things should look like this:
http://i594.photobucket.com/albums/tt23/acgirling/canoeing/seat_repair/P8291563.jpg
I'm sorry I didn't take more pictures in the early part of the process, but I hope you are able to follow my instructions. If anybody wishes to do this this themselves I'm happy to help in anyway I can.
Al