The Caner's Handbook: A Descriptive Guide With Step-By-Step Photographs for Restoring Cane, Rush, Splint, Danish Cord, Rawhide and Wicker Furniture

by Bruce Miller, Jim Widess

Give life to old cane furniture as well as weaving seats and backs for new pieces. Traditional techniques and new shortcuts make caning with wicker, rattan, raw-hide, and other materials easy. Useful charts detail how much fiber to buy and what standard lengths are available. “An excellent purchase for any size library.”— Library Journal.

Genres: Crafts, Nonfiction

144 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1986

Reviews

[Sincerae Smith]

I only read the section on the 7 step method of caning chairs since at this time I'm trying to learn how to do it. For myself I find that Cane & Rush Seating by Margery Brown is a book that explains the steps more concisely and better than this book. It also presents better diagrams. I also feel Making Chair Seats from Cane, Rush and Other Natural Materials by Ruth B. Comstock more easy to understand. I will go back to this book for a reference from time to time, however.

[David Ward]

The Caner's Handbook: A Descriptive Guide With Step-by-Step Photographs to Restoring Cane, Rush, Splint, Danish Cord, Rawhide, and Wicker Furniture by Bruce W. Miller and Jim Widess (Lark Books 1991) (684.13). This is a complete and authoritative guide to a truly esoteric skill or hobby that is quickly disappearing with the passing of the last generation of artisans. My rating: 7.5/10, finished 10/15/14. I reread this on 3/29/19. I purchased a used HB copy from Amazon 1/4/19. HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

[Holly Pablo Monasterial]

I only read the section about working with Danish cord. Per usual, I’ll have to watch some video tutorials to get this project done.

[Trish]

This is one of the best books on caning and seat weaving among the several I took from the library. It has clear photographs as well as drawn diagrams and covers a range of issues one is likely to encounter when reweaving a piece of furniture. It also discusses more difficult pieces, which has the effect of making the more straightforward pieces look positively easy. I has a chart for sizes of cane and discusses possible variations in weaving design.