Now that I am back from the...
Now that I am back from the weekend and see my weaving job again, I see that the last three horizontal courses I did will have to be un-done, as they went gray and stand out from the rest of the weaving, and pretty much stayed gray now that they are dry. The cane must have just reached a point where it was going bad at that stage, from being in the water too long. I will likely have to buy a new batch of cane as well, before I can continue.
I inspected the remainder of ...
I inspected the remainder of my over-soaked cane, seeing how much of it had gone gray. Quite a lot of it had, and what the gray areas seemed to share in common is that the natural layer of shiny enamel that is on the outside of the cane was missing in the areas that were gray. Looking in the tub that I was soaking the cane in, there seems to be a layer of particles on the bottom that I am guessing is the missing enamel. My best guess is that as the cane soaks for too long, it swells up too much, and the shiny layer on the cane kind of breaks down and falls off.
I got my binder cane from....
...wait for it...
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Frank's Cane and Rush Supply. It was pretty good quality and the price was way less than some other sites that carry it. (And no, despite my constant recommending of this place, I don't work there or get perks for recs. They're just nice people and they carry pretty much everything.)
I don't think the shiny coating is intact on the entire strand to begin with, but yeah, it does protect the cane from discoloration. The cane is created by peeling strips of "bark" from bamboo-type grass, and I suspect that the shiny layer is already worn off in places by the elements, and then further cracks off when the strip is peeled and bent. But I dunno for sure.
I actually thought about using distilled water for soaking because my tap water has a funny taste. But that would mean heating it first. Limiting the soaking to 30 minutes seems to work pretty well.
OOPS sorry, my bad---
I got my binder cane from The Country Seat. Franks didn't have big hanks for doing whole seats, only small hanks for going around the perimeter of seats that are woven with narrow cane. Link below.
I got five 500' hanks to do six chairs with the weave shown below, which obviously uses more cane than tchp's weave. I wasted a bunch and will end up with some left over. I would guess that 500' does 2 1/2 seats, maybe. I should have kept better track of it, I guess.
As for glycerin, I tried that years and years ago and it seemed to attract dust and dirt, which kinda makes sense because glycerin is sticky. I didn't think it helped any with flexibility. In my opinion, the best trick for that is soaking in hot water for 30 minutes and weaving the strands before they dry out. Keeping them in a plastic bag keeps them damp for hours but doesn't seem to turn them gray.
http://catalog.countryseat.com/naturalcanestrands.aspx
My Hvidt chair was 4mm...
My Hvidt chair was 4mm binder cane, which I got from The Caning Shop in Berkeley, CA. I ordered two 500' bundles, but will only manage to do this one chair back with both. There is quite a bit of trim waste. I needed long lengths to weave with. Each horizontal wrap takes a 6'-7' piece.
I was able to get the rattan ...
I was able to get the rattan completed on one of my Hvidt chairs today. I used Spanky's method of soaking the rattan for 20 minutes, then storing it in a plastic bag to keep it damp. That helped keep the cane from going gray. Anyway, I am pleased with the results, and hope to do my second chair soon.
Thanks jesgord. When I do my...
Thanks jesgord. When I do my second chair, I plan to photograph the process, and put it up online, as I did with the paper cord chair weaving instructions. One of my main motivations for doing that is so I can remember how to do it myself, since I will forget how this is done in short order.
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