Services
Although “caning” has come to mean the general term for chair seat weaving, there are actually many types of weaving each involving different types of materials, techniques, and TIME! Hand woven/laced caning can take 15-18 hours. Others, like authentic hickory splint weaves are very costly to replicate becuase of the production of the materials…literally stripping bark from a tree in the springtime! Below you will find a general description of the types of “caning” your seat may have and what it may cost to fix your chair. Check the bottom of the page for additional fees that you may incur. Please keep in mind that Uncle Sam gets 30% of our fees!
Please call with any questions at 828-707-4553 or email gochairrepair@gmail.com.
Common problem with fiber rush after decades of use. Often there is a clean break on an edge or around a nail.
PAPER FIBER RUSH: $5.50/inch (measure across the widest part of the seat, usually the front edge rail). This type of chair takes about 7 hours to complete. Often this measurement is around 17 inches, so 17in. X $5.50 = $93.50.
How do I know if my chair is natural or fiber rush? Turn the chair over and look at the bottom. Is the rush cord of uniform size and the same on the top and bottom? It’s paper rush. Often rush breaks along a hard edge or around a nail in the rail. It usually is a clean cut and does not shed grassy fibers. Cats often like to sharpen their claws on this type of chair! See below for natural rush indicators.
Wider Herringbone Splint Weave
SPLINT/SPLIT WEAVES (1/2 inch wide or larger): $6/inch (measure across the widest part of the seat, usually the front edge rail). Again this measurement is usually around 17 inches, so 17in. X $6 = $102.
SPLINT/SPLIT WEAVE (less than 1/2 inch wide). It’s amazing the difference an 1/8 inch makes both in time and in painful fingertips! It takes about 15 hours to do a seat.
$10/inch across the widest side. $10 x 17 inches = $170
ex. of groove & wooden spline in pressed/machine woven cane chairs
MACHINE WOVEN CANE:
$6/inch across the widest length of cane. $6 x 15 inches = $90 The spline is the key…Imagine your chair seat or back as a picture frame with the cane as the picture. Look at the edge of the cane. If your chair has a groove with a long slender piece of wood it is machine woven cane. Cost above is for regular cane in seat or back with standard groove and spline. Unusual weaves/patterns/shapes will require on-site pricing.
How to tell if your chair is laced or woven cane.
HAND WOVEN OR LACED CANE:
Count the holes drilled around the frame (not in the pattern of the cane!) and multiply by $2.75.
$2.75/hole X 70 holes = $192.50
How to tell if your chair is natural rush
NATURAL RUSH
$7/inch measured across the widest part of the chair (Ex: 17 X $7=$119)
Does your chair shed dry grassy flakes? If you flip the chair over and compare the back of the weave to the front of the weave, and they are different, then you have a natural rush chair. The front of the weave is tight like a cord and the bottom is flatter and wider, often poofing out. This type of weave is labor intensive and the materials more costly than fiber rush. Request shellac for $15/chair…or DIY!
Typical wear and tear of Danish Cord.
DANISH CORD: Weaves are priced according to job. $7/inch…17 inches x $7= $119
Danish cord looks like two small cords twisted together like a rope. Danish cord is a nylon rope-like material. Natural sea grass can also be twisted together in a similar manner to the nylon cord. If your chair’s rope-like cord is shedding like crazy, it is natural seagrass and may take longer to weave than danish cord.
great granddaddy's hickory splint chair
AUTHENTIC HICKORY SPLIT:
Your great-granddaddy probably did one. The materials alone are VERY expensive, well over $100 and it is labor intensive work. Priced according to job. There are less expensive and more expensive options. The less expensive option is the above splint weave. Splint will be uniform in width and depth, obviously from a machine. The next step up is still mechanically produced but uses higher quality more polished maples, hickory, and smoked ash. It’s worth meeting to see all of the options for your chair.
SHAKER TAPE: (photo to come!) Available in two sizes:
1 inch wide straps: 1 0r 2 colors are $6/inch or $102 for a 17 inch chair. Additional colors (3 or more) $15/color (requires a lot of sewing and waste of material) 5/8 inch wide straps: $6.50/inch (requires just a little more material and time) $110.50
Miscellaneousness:
- Please leave the old seat in so that I can see the pattern/style, etc. Prices include removal of old materials, which in the case of machine woven cane can take a couple of hours!
- PLAN AHEAD FOR HOLIDAYS! We often have a backlog of 30 chairs and only two people to work on them. It is hard work and we often have sore backs and hands and cannot possibly cane chairs 8 hours/day, 5 days/week!
- Minimum price for any weave is $60 (which after taxes is actually $40 minus the material cost. Please understand, even if your little stool is only 10 inches across, we will make less than $10/hour!
- Delivery fee: FREE if you live between my house in West Asheville and the studio in the River Arts District, otherwise, priced according to distance, with a $10 minimum.
- Cleaning fee…please take the time to wipe down your chair and reduce allergens in our place of business. We will charge based on time it takes to clean…we have spent 5 hours cleaning one chair!!
- Areas of service include Western North Carolina, East Tennessee, over to Charlotte, and as far south as Charleston, SC!
- I don’t stain cane! I am a weaver…staining is a whole ‘nother ballgame and we are not set up with proper ventillation. Cane is particularly difficult to stain and I recommend taking it to a professional if you want it stained. I know some folks that do good work and will be happy provide you with several options. I do however, put a coat of shellac on natural and fiber rush chairs, and also hickory splint chairs at your request. There is a nominal fee for this to be determined at time of estimate.
- Small extra fee may be added to rush chairs with slots, rush chairs that are frame only (no legs or back), machine woven cane with shared seams, or machine woven cane that is particularly difficult to remove, or chairs with fine/fine cane or several hundred holes. Blind cane and medallion chairs priced according to each chair’s particularities. Hand woven cane seats with recessed holes are more difficult and is $3.25/hole
- Structural work MAY be required before we weave. We can suggest folks for you to go to if your rungs are broken or if your laced cane seat is cracked through the holes. We can re-glue rungs for $15-$25. If you want to refinish the wood, please do so before caning, but PLEASE BRING IN THE CHAIR OR TAKE A PHOTO (both top and bottom of seat) BEFORE YOU REMOVE THE SEAT…you can also save the old seat so we can make sure we replicate your seat as best as possible.
Call Brandy Clements and Dave Klingler at 828-707-4553
Or email gochairrepair@gmail.com
