The Caner's Handbook

by Jim Widess and Bruce Miller

Book Overview

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.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0937274607
• ISBN13: 9780937274606
• Release Date: December 1991
• Publisher: Lark Books (NC)
• Length: 144 Pages
• Weight: 1.23 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 8.4" x 10.7"

Customer Reviews

All I Needed to Know

My chairs needed new seats and I hadn't the foggiest idea how to fix them. I had no available workshop, no experience, merely patience learned form handwork. I found this book and it gave me all I needed to know in order to complete the jobs up to the standard of my highest expectations. The authors provide detailed information for projects, giving history of the craft, materials, needed items, and "how to do this" complete with detailed instructions and step by step illustrations. My projects involved sheet caning, woven caning, and rush seating. Other forms are included and look to be every bit as "do-able" as my projects were. This is THE BOOK.

The "Bible" of the seat weaving industry!

Of all the myriad of reference books I have acquired in the 25 years working in the seat weaving business, The Caner's Handbook is by far the best and #1 on my entire list.I was fortunate to purchase my first book (in hardcover), right after it was published in 1984. I had already done every type of seat weaving covered in this book, but through the clear, close-up pictures and accompanying text, was able to fine tune my craft even more.At each one of my seat weaving classes, and whenever someone asks me what the best all around book on seat weaving is, I tell them to buy The Caner's Handbook. Through the information in this book, anyone can learn to weave with cane, rush, splint, rawhide, Danish Modern, Oriental seagrass, and all types of splints in a variety of designs and patterns.Jim Widess, who besides co-authoring this book, is the owner of The Caning Shop, where he and his employees not only sell materials used in cane and basketry, but have first-hand knowledge of weaving. They have been doing this for a living for many years, so know all the problems and questions the novice as well as the consumate weaver might encounter.I urge anyone that is contemplating beginning seatweaving as a hobby or profession to buy this wonderful book, take some time to read and digest it, then go out and conquer the world of seat weaving! There will be no doubt that you will be a professional in no time!

concise, straightforward

this book is far and away from your typical 'how-to' book. These actually want you to learn this skill. You won't be let down with this one.

The only book you need to weave seats

One book that tells you EVERYTHING is The Caners Handbook by Bruce W. Miller and Jim Widess. It is the best I have found. A great book for beginners as well as pros like me who have been in the business for 20 years.

The one reference a chair restoration enthusiast must have.

This book provides an easy-to-follow, step-by-step guide to all the major seating types, with plenty of photographs. You'll refer to this book over and over.