Expert: Mark H. Miller - 9/4/2006

Question
Hi Mr. Miller,

I hope you can help me out with this question.  My mother has a dining room set, which she loves, after all these years that dining room is still in very good condition except for a few of the chairs.  The center of the back of the chair is made of, I believe, wicker(?) there now exists a few holes to the wicker and in one of the chairs has a bigger hole.  Trying to save the chair, can you tell me if it is possible to replace or repair the wicker part of the chair?  Everything else on the chair is fine.  Please let me know.  Thank you.

DG

Answer
HI,

There are several factors to consider here,  first of all what was the original (wicker) cain.  Look around the perimiter of the cain and see if it is woven through very small holes spaced about 1/2 apart around the perimiter.  If it is, then the chairs are very old and have hand woven cain in them, you should not change that, doing so will seriously lower the value of the chairs.  To replace it is another matter, to find someone who reweaves old cain will be very difficult and very expensive,  however it will be well worth doing so, real handwoven cain is rare and expensive but removing it ruins the value of the chairs.

If rather than hand woven cain, you notice a long continuous spline then your cain is machine woven, like a cloth fabric, and glued in.  You can replace that yourself.  It is not difficult to do.  You can purchase the woven cain material from the John K. Burch company, (no relation to the political person) I don't have their adress but finding that should not be too difficult, they are a very old company.  Soak the caining material in clean water overnight,  then push it into the empty groove which you have created by pulling the old caining out with a pair of pliers, don't use a chisel, since doing so will make the groove bigger.  Install the caining with glue and gently hammer in a new spline which has also been soaked in clean water overnight.  When it is dry it will stretch very tight and be as new.  You can then stain it.

If you want to replace the caining, regardless if it is hand caining or machine caining one can upholster after the caining is removed.  Any upholsterer can do that for you.

But again, I advise you that changing hand caining will greatly reduce the value of your chairs.  You may also be able to purchase the hand caining materials from John K Birch, and do that yourself, make certain you have a good instruction manuel on how to do so.

I hope this helps.

Pleas don't hesitate to contact me if you have further questions.

Mark Miller.