Do I oil the caning on the seats?

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Adamv
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Joined: Fri Mar 04, 2005 1:40 pm
Location: Owen Sound, ON Canada

Do I oil the caning on the seats?

Post by Adamv »

Greetings to all. After much consideration and coin tossing, I've decided to oil the trim on my Bob's Special rather than varnish it. I will be using tung oil for this.

When I oil the seats, do I oil the caning as well?

Also, thus far I have installed my gunnels using epoxy only. Can I be confident that this will provide enough strength to hold the weight of two people sitting on the seats that hang from them? Or should I add screws as well?

Many thanks again,
Adam
Who travels not by water knows not the fear of God --- 17th Century Sailor
Charles G. Clark, Jr.
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Location: Huntsville, AL

Post by Charles G. Clark, Jr. »

I have a book on caning chairs. In it, it says that you can use a penetrating finish. I suppose that tung oil fits into this category.

BTW, let me know how it goes for you. I am planning to oil the cane on my varnished seat frames.
Chuck
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Woodchuck
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Post by Woodchuck »

I'm am no expert but from what I read, you can varnish the cane just like you do the seats and get the UV protection to boot...
Joe "Woodchuck" Gledhill
Garden City, MI
canoeblderinmt
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Post by canoeblderinmt »

Adam,
From everything I've read, you want to use PLASTIC cane, not rattan. It WILL get wet, even if varnished, and WILL stretch out, and NOT shrink back to shape.

You can get plastic cane from H H Perkins online very reasonably. I have done 4 seats with this stuff. It looks so much like natural cane that I had to put a lighter to it to see it melt to be sure. No problems with sagging, in fact, it retains a very comfortable springy-ness.

Think real hard about using rattan before you do. I think you will be in for a lot of extra work and maybe a lot of dissapointment as well.

All the natural cane advocates can jump on me now... :wink

Greg
" Choose to chance the rapids, Dare to dance the tide..."
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Erik, Belgium
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Post by Erik, Belgium »

1) Oil the caning of your seats

Yes you should oil the caning of your seats, but oil it on the top side only and leave the bottom side breath. Re-oil the caning every 5 trips or so, to keep water & damp out.

2) Screws to support the gunwales

Normally you have mounted the inner gunwales first, using thickened epoxy and additional screws from the outside through the sheerstrip to support the inner gunwale. After that you normally mounted the outer gunwales using thickened epoxy (after soaking the gunwalewood with fresh epoxy) only. If this is the case you don't need to be afraid for the strength.

Erik, Belgium.
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Doug
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Post by Doug »

I (tung) oiled mine.
There is a sag of about 3/4" and it is so comfortable.
Natural cane is very comfortable to sit on.
It does not sweat, even after hours of July - August paddling.

Doug


.
"Some people hear the song in the quiet mist of a cold morning..... But for other people the song is loudest in the evening when they are sitting in front of a tent, basking in the camp fire's warmth. This is when I hear it loudest ...." BM
Charles G. Clark, Jr.
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Post by Charles G. Clark, Jr. »

I am not happy with my decision to use natural cane. It isn't a question about durability. Nor is it a question about oiling or not. It is an issue about the quality of natural cane that I bought.

I caned the seat of my Wee Lassie II using Size Common plastic cane. I greased each strand with Vaseline as recommended to aid the caning process. Caning went well. Maybe to well. I became ambitious.

For my Freedom 17, I decided to cane using Size Fine cane. I was lazy enough that I bought the cane from my "local" Woodcraft store rather than order plastic cane. The real stuff lacks the uniformness of the plastic cane. The eye bump is guaranteed to be where it causes the biggest problem. The cane has frayed some as I have caned the seats.

If I had it to do over again, I probably would not use Size Fine (too many holes to cane) and I would order plastic cane. If I decided to use natural, I would order it from a caning supply house in hopes of getting better quality.

Unfortunately, I do not have it to do over again. I will finish caning with what I have and then re-cane next winter with plastic.

Oh, one other thing. I am using contoured seats. Caning them is a fair amount more difficult than caning flat seats. The seats look really cool when you are done, but the process is more difficult.
Chuck
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Adamv
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Location: Owen Sound, ON Canada

Post by Adamv »

Thanks everybody. Given that my seats are already caned with natural caning, I have no options to use plastic (although maybe I will on the next canoe). It sounds like the best way to go is to oil the top sides only (as per Erik's suggestion).
Who travels not by water knows not the fear of God --- 17th Century Sailor
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