Seat Caning Done
I worked on finishing the seat today. The first thing to do was finish the diagonal.
Now the design looks good. Next job is to cover all the holes around the edge. The cane used for this is called binder cane. I think I mentioned earlier that I got the cane from H. H. Perkins. If I remember correctly they give you some binder when you order the medium cane. I guess some companies do not, so you have to order it separately. This cane is fairly easy to put on and really dresses up the job. Just pick a side and begin.
Peg the ends of the binder, and then go up through, over the binder, then down the other side, using the smaller cane. Then on to the next hole. Work your way around the seat. When you have made your way around, the only step left is to peg the corners. Usually the cane that goes through the corners has nothing underneath to tie off to. So, thus the pegs. The wood for the pegs has to be a soft wood so you can tap it down into the holes. I use a short piece of canoe strip cedar. Just chisel off about a 1/4 inch from the bead side, and whittle it roundish.
Next, carefully tap the peg into the hole. The first canoe seat I made I was worried that the peg would work itself out over time, so I drove it in way too hard. When you do that the peg will cut the cane off even with the edge of the hole. Then you get to pull out all the damaged cane and reweave it. That was not much fun. So when you tap the peg in be gentle. If you think it is in tight enough to hold, it probably is. It's that " i'll just tap it once more" that will get you. When you get it in, then just trim it down close to the cane, and if you don't dare tap it in to flush it up then you can always carefully sand it.
Now, if all the loose ends are tied off, and you have trimmed the pegs, top and bottom, you have a finished seat.
One seat down, one to go. I am anxious to get the hull stripped up, so the other seat will wait until later. From now on it's wood time. I plan to put strips on tomorrow so there may be an update tomorrow evening.
I worked on finishing the seat today. The first thing to do was finish the diagonal.
Now the design looks good. Next job is to cover all the holes around the edge. The cane used for this is called binder cane. I think I mentioned earlier that I got the cane from H. H. Perkins. If I remember correctly they give you some binder when you order the medium cane. I guess some companies do not, so you have to order it separately. This cane is fairly easy to put on and really dresses up the job. Just pick a side and begin.
Peg the ends of the binder, and then go up through, over the binder, then down the other side, using the smaller cane. Then on to the next hole. Work your way around the seat. When you have made your way around, the only step left is to peg the corners. Usually the cane that goes through the corners has nothing underneath to tie off to. So, thus the pegs. The wood for the pegs has to be a soft wood so you can tap it down into the holes. I use a short piece of canoe strip cedar. Just chisel off about a 1/4 inch from the bead side, and whittle it roundish.
Next, carefully tap the peg into the hole. The first canoe seat I made I was worried that the peg would work itself out over time, so I drove it in way too hard. When you do that the peg will cut the cane off even with the edge of the hole. Then you get to pull out all the damaged cane and reweave it. That was not much fun. So when you tap the peg in be gentle. If you think it is in tight enough to hold, it probably is. It's that " i'll just tap it once more" that will get you. When you get it in, then just trim it down close to the cane, and if you don't dare tap it in to flush it up then you can always carefully sand it.
Now, if all the loose ends are tied off, and you have trimmed the pegs, top and bottom, you have a finished seat.
One seat down, one to go. I am anxious to get the hull stripped up, so the other seat will wait until later. From now on it's wood time. I plan to put strips on tomorrow so there may be an update tomorrow evening.