Cane Rastad & Relling Bambi  

Spanky
Just finished recaning one Bambi. After sanding the chaír for two days, I realized I was never going to get all the old finish off. I decided instead to use Luberon finishing oil which gives a slightly matt, neutral finish as close to soap in neutrality as I can find. The chair is much lighter than normal teak and the contrast with the dry cane is much less stark which I like. The light is poor but you can see that the raw teak color is preserved.
The last pic is of the chair 80% finished. What happens when I was adjusting one of the cane strands? Of course, it broke. But it is close to the edge and will be an easy fix. Sat in the chair today and the rest seems to be holding.
I think I will work with a steamer and a shell bodkin on the next one. ANYTHING to make this job easier. At the same time, it was some of the most satisfying work I have ever done. You get into a rythmn and a groove. It is like a trance.

The caning looks nice!
I hope I get to do one of those someday.

Picked up a Bambi dining chair this morning from a local upholsterer who was cleaning out some stock. It was set up like an estate sale, and I was quite pleased to see a $25 price tag on it. Although the caning is old, I don't think it is orginal due to the weave. It's in bad enough shape that I will redo it anyway.
 
This guy is definitely a keeper.

That looks like a fun and rewarding project.  Now that I am close to having my own caned chairs re-woven, I am feeling a need to have another project to do after work and on the weekends.  I do have a bunch of Moller chairs to do papercord on -- 11 actually, and I suppose I should concentrate on that.

After doing a little more poking around online, I saw a few examples where the seat caning pattern was the same as mine (paired strands tight to each other, with paired spacing wraps at the rails - see below). However, I think I like the weave patterns shown in photos earlier in this thread, akin to the Wegner Round chair weave, which look more elegant to me. What do people think about changing a cane weave from its original design?
 
Also, the cane strand is clearly a narrower gage for the backrest weave.
 
jdip, hope your stunning set is now out of storage and being appreciated.

I much prefer the wrap style where the strands alternate, with one coming up from the the bottom side of the stretcher, and then the next strand of cane coming over the top of the stretcher.  It is a pretty distinctive weave style, and I think it is very attractive.  If I had one of these chairs I am sure I would end up re-doing the seat in that style if the seat needed to be re-done.
cdsilva, if your chair was done that way originally, I can't really make sense of it, given how little it seems to have in common with the backrest.  For me it is like two things that really do not belong together.

Agreed, tchp. Although I might even want to go one step further and introduce a single width spacing wrap between the alternating strands, so that the checkerboard grid has both a) a smaller grid spacing, and b) single strand warps/wefts rather than double widths. The backs have single strand widths and they read lighter and more elegant to me than the double widths.
 
Then again, easy for me to say as I haven't done a caning job yet. Time to finally get the caner's handbook and place that Frank's order.

I agree with tchp, for what it's worth.
Were you planning to get binder cane from Frank's?  There was some discussion awhile back about binder cane quality.  I'm not sure Frank's had the right width...??  I got some from someplace and it had a lot of splits and rough edges.  Someone else had the same problem with cane from the same source and then ordered from somewhere else and it was much better quality.  Sorry I don't have more than that to go on---but it shouldn't be too hard to find the thread with the new setup here.  

I have been getting binder cane from Cane & Basket Supply in Los Angeles http://www.caneandbasket.com/
And also from The Caning Shop in Berkeley, CA.  http://www.caning.com/
The cane I have got from both places has been of very nice quality.  To do the seat of a Wegner round chair took the better part of a 500' bundle. 
Cane & Basket is also the place I got black papercord from.

cdsilva,
 
The chairs still remain in storage.  Thankfully I have a much larger than average storage site so I am able to house my hoard.  Was actually up there visiting my "finds" this weekend.  I feel I need to pass the chairs on as I do not see myself using them in the near future......my ESU's are still hanging out up there as well. Those I would like to keep but need to find a way to incorporate them into my apartment. Sorry for the shitty pic,  had to use the flash on the iPhone which is why the red panels look orange.
Nice to finally have spell check!

Thanks for the caning info spanky and tchp.
jdip, you might have the only set of 8 bambis in the western hemisphere. I'd think the top auction houses would all be interested.

Great thread!
I was wondering if spanky or anyone out there who is also a great fan of the Bambi chair, can share or direct me to a source for weaving the cane seats & back?
I've got two blank frames (the weaving that was on there was terrible, not the original pattern at all), and I'm stuck as to how to weave the seat and back as they were intended.
Any tips or instructions would be ever so appreciated.
Thank you!!

I've never done caning, owned a Bambi or indeed any other caned chairs.  I just reviewed the thread, and noticed something:  many of the Bambi seats seem to have a "dish" to them.  That is, the caning drops from the rails to the seating plane -- leaving what appears to be a raised rim all around, which might feel uncomfortable under the thighs, at the front of the chair ?
It makes it seem as if this chair were meant to have a loose seat cushion placed on the cane.
This is such a beautiful chair. (Yes, that set of eight must be a treasure of some kind . . .)  I note one or two photos above in which this effect does not seem to be present (post #18). Is there a pattern of weaving which eliminates the dishing problem -- or is this a non-issue ?
SDR

SDR, my chair has the double-wide weave where both strands always wrap around the top side of the rail to avoid the dip in the seat that you mentioned. The other chairs appear to alternate strands top and bottom wrapping around the the rails, which would naturally result in the tensioned seat weave falling at roughly the midpoint of the rail depth. I'm probably not using the correct descriptive words, so hopefully that makes sense,
 
Good point about the seat cushion. I have seen photos of Bambi lounge chairs (no dining chairs yet) with seat cushions, but am not sure if they were part of the original design,

Thanks, cdsilva.  You described it well.  Sounds to me like there's only one right way to weave that seat, if no cushion is to be used.  I wonder if some dining chairs are out there with cushions.