Caned my seats !

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Chipper1959
Posts: 30
Joined: Thu Feb 09, 2012 3:21 pm
Location: Cowansville Qc Canada

Caned my seats !

Post by Chipper1959 »

I just finished caning the seats for my Hiawatha. I had never attempted caning anything before but I had told myself from the start that my canoe was going to be built 100% by me.

I bought the 3.5mm plastic cane from HH Perkins...(500ft), and went to work. Each seat took me about 5 hours to complete. The hardest part of the process was tying the knots underneath. I hope no one ever sees the underside of the seats because it looks like a real rat's nest. Tying a nice small knot with the plastic cane was nearly impossible.
Other than the huge mess of knots on the underside, I'm quite happy with the results.

If anyone else has used the plastic cane, I'd like to hear their story.
fsilva15
Posts: 9
Joined: Thu May 10, 2012 8:22 pm
Location: San Antonio, TX

Re: Caned my seats !

Post by fsilva15 »

Congrats Chipper,

I just started caning the seats for a prospector I'm building. First time builder. This is my fist time caning anything and also purchased my materials from Perkins. I had trouble with the diagonal strands but I see my mistake. I didn't double up on a couple holes where I should have. Looking forward to finishing off the knots myself and thought about adding a drop of glue to ensure they don't unravel under stress. Just wondering if anyone has done that or something similar.
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Patricks Dad
Posts: 1476
Joined: Wed Oct 13, 2004 1:11 pm
Location: Warrenville, Illinois

Re: Caned my seats !

Post by Patricks Dad »

Congrats on finishing the caning job. I'm sure you're glad to be past it. But I do have a quick question. Why would you have more than a couple knots to deal with?

As for a drop of glue on the knot, I think it's a good idea. The only time you would want to remove a knot (I would think) would be in a case where cutting the knot out wouldn't be an issue.
Randy Pfeifer
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Chipper1959
Posts: 30
Joined: Thu Feb 09, 2012 3:21 pm
Location: Cowansville Qc Canada

Re: Caned my seats !

Post by Chipper1959 »

I guess my reason for having more than a couple knots is because my lengths weren't long enough to do each pass completely.
In hindsight, I would have done it differently....but I sure as heck ain't starting over.. :wink
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