Chair Caning | Rush Reed & Cane

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Rush, Reed & Cane

Chair Caning by Smallbones

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Serving Northumberland County...and beyond to south & central Ontario

Saving chairs, one at a time...

Do you have a cane, rush or splint-seated chair or other piece of furniture that is languishing because its seat is broken? Perhaps it's time to have it restored. Give me a call at 905-342-3743 or e-mail with information and a small picture about your piece. Pick-up and delivery are available within approximately 30 miles of Gore's Landing for a small fee to cover the gas used.

See below for before & after pictures of a hand-woven caned seat, a natural rush seat, a fibre rush seat, a splint seat, and on Page 2, many other examples, including a canoe seat.

New England Porch Rocker: before & after

Hand-woven Cane

Using natural materials to create a comfortable, attractive seat is a time-honoured, traditional craft that was fast disappearing. There seems to be a resurgence, however, as people again appreciate the value of handcrafting with natural materials over machines and artificial materials.

"Thank you for the beautiful work you did to repair my mother's chair. She was absolutely thrilled and she sat in it immediately when I brought it into her home. The chair belonged to my grandmother who is long gone and my mother said that Grandma would be pleased that the chair could be sat in once again. Thank you for restoring the chair to its original beauty. You are very skilled at what you do and I wanted to tell you that you have made my mother extremely happy. If I come across anyone who needs a chair repaired in the future I will highly recommend you."
Barbara Walsh, Toronto

This chair and its mate had been repaired and refinished, but rather than restore the woven cane seat, a plywood/foam/fabric seat had been added. This took away from both its value and its appearance. Now it looks like it did 100 years ago!

Hand-weaving cane seats is a time-consuming process. The cost for the traditional seven-step design on these two chairs is $1.90 per hole in the seat's perimeter. Chairs with grooves rather than holes call for machine-woven cane with a spline around the perimeter to hold it in place. Because less labour is involved, the cost is less. Estimates are given after evaluating the piece, which can be a chair seat and/or back, canoe seat, stool...whatever!

Three Chairs with History

Before & After of three chairs from a Muskoka cottage.
The 1820 Nova Scotia Rocker is woven with natural rush, the Indiana Hickory Rocker with 1/2" smoked splint, and the Mottville chair (late 1800s-early 1900s) with a new seat in the traditional Finger Lakes Fan Weave pattern.

Splint Seat

An old rocker that had been repaired with string is now restored with natural 3/4" splint.

Rush Seat

The seat on this old rocking chair is woven with fibre rush, a paper product introduced after WWI. It's actually a little stronger than natural rush, but fine antiques that originally had natural rush seats should be restored with the same material. Cost for this small seat would be approximately $100. Each piece is evaluated individually.

Other Materials

Shaker tape, Danish cord seat, seagrass – I'm happy to work on any woven chair seat.
Please contact me with your requirements.

Go to Page 2 for more pictures

Question or Comments?
Please phone 905-342-3743 or e-mail Smallbones .
Postal Address: Box 203, Gore's Landing, ON K0K 2E0
(located beside the General Store in Gore's Landing)