What does my chair need? Choosing seat repair materials

Your chair tells you what it needs. Look at the edge of the seat opening and underneath it. A groove means pressed cane. A row of holes means hand caning. Four round rails wrapped in cord mean rush, seagrass or tape. Small L-shaped nails under the rails mean Danish cord. Fabric over padding means upholstery, and an aluminum frame means straps, a sling, lacing or cords.

Each of these jobs has a project page that lists the materials, tools and kit to buy, with short steps. The tables below link them all.

Three things to look at

1. The edge of the opening. Is there a groove with a strip pressed into it, a row of holes, or rails wrapped in cord?
2. Underneath. Look for small nails, tacks or staples, straps of webbing, springs, a plywood board, or knots and loops between holes.
3. The material. Flat glossy strands are cane. Twisted paper or grass is a seat-weaving cord. Flat cloth tape is Shaker tape. Fabric over foam is upholstery, and vinyl or fabric on a metal frame is an outdoor chair.

Indoor seats

What you see	What it is	Project page	What to buy
A groove around the opening with a strip pressed into it	Pressed cane: a woven sheet held by reed spline	Replace a pressed cane seat	Cane webbing and reed spline, or the chair seat caning kit
A row of holes around the opening, often under a wide flat strip	Hand caning, woven strand by strand	Hand-cane a chair seat	Strand cane and binder cane, or the hand caning kit
Four round rails, cord wrapped from the corners into four triangles	Rush pattern in fiber rush or seagrass	Weave a rush, seagrass or tape seat	Fiber rush or seagrass, or a fiber rush kit or seagrass kit
Four rails, flat cloth tape woven in a checkerboard	Shaker tape	Weave a rush, seagrass or tape seat	Shaker tape
Small L-shaped nails on the inside of the rails, paper cord in a grid	Danish cord	Weave a Danish cord seat	Laced Danish cord and L-nails, or the Danish cord seat kit
Fabric over padding; underneath, straps of webbing, springs or a board	Upholstered seat	Re-web and re-pad a chair seat	Elastic webbing or jute webbing, foam, batting
A tubular steel cantilever chair with a bentwood seat frame holding cane, screwed on from below	Framed cane seat (B32-style chair)	Replace a pressed cane seat, to re-cane the frame	Or swap it: replacement cane seat, seat and back set
A solid wood stool top, cracked or missing	Wood seat	None needed	Round wood stool seat

Outdoor chairs and wicker

What you see	What it is	Project page	What to buy
Aluminum frame, flat vinyl straps fixed with rivets	Strap chair	Fix outdoor patio chairs	2 in or 1.5 in strap, rivets
Aluminum frame, fabric seat slid into channels in the side rails	Sling chair	Fix outdoor patio chairs	Sling fabric, sling chair spline cord
Round or oval vinyl cord wrapped many times around the frame	Laced chair	Fix outdoor patio chairs	Oval vinyl lacing cord
Folding recliner laced to its frame with bungee cord	Zero gravity chair	Fix outdoor patio chairs	Zero gravity chair cords
Soft rope woven across a frame	Rope chair	Fix outdoor patio chairs	Olefin cord
Woven plastic strands that look like wicker	Resin (PE) wicker	Repair wicker and rattan furniture	PE wicker strip or the repair kit
Natural rattan or wicker, broken strands or loose leg wraps	Natural wicker	Repair wicker and rattan furniture	Binder cane, rattan core

Telling look-alikes apart

Groove or holes?

Run a fingernail around the edge of the opening. On a pressed cane seat you feel a strip of spline sitting in a groove, with the cane tucked into it; underneath you see only the dull back of one sheet. On a hand-caned seat the cane goes through holes drilled in the frame, and underneath there are short loops between the holes and tied-off ends. Pressed cane looks like hand caning from the top, which is why people mix them up. Cane webbing vs hand caning shows the difference.

Rush, seagrass, tape or Danish cord?

• The pattern: four triangles that meet along diagonal lines from the corners mean the rush pattern. A grid or checkerboard means a woven seat: tape or Danish cord.
• Fiber rush is brown kraft paper twisted into a single smooth, even cord.
• Seagrass is green to wheat colored, slightly irregular, and smells a little grassy when new.
• Danish cord is paper cord made of plies. Laced cord is round, unlaced is flatter. Look for L-nails on the inside of the rails.
• Shaker tape is a flat woven cloth tape, often in two colors.

For how they compare in looks and wear, see Danish cord vs fiber rush vs seagrass, and for the words themselves, rattan vs wicker vs cane.

What is under an upholstered seat?

• A seat that lifts out of the frame is a drop-in seat: see how to reupholster a drop-in chair seat.
• Stretchy rubber straps stapled or clipped across the frame are elastic webbing: see how to reweb a chair seat with elastic webbing.
• Woven natural-fiber straps under springs or stuffing are jute webbing. Elastic vs jute upholstery webbing explains when to use which.
• Sagging S-shaped wires across the frame are zig-zag springs.

Maybe it only needs care

A slack cane seat with no broken strands can often be tightened with water, loose joints can be glued, and a scratched frame can be touched up. Start with clean and refinish cane furniture and how to tighten a sagging cane seat. A small hole in a cane seat is covered in how to patch a hole in a cane seat.

Other cane projects

• Add cane to cabinet doors for kitchens, sideboards and wardrobes
• Cane headboards and furniture makeovers for headboards, screens and dressers
• Weave your first basket on a wooden base with reed

Measure before you order

Seat	What to measure	Where it is explained
Pressed cane	Groove width, and the size from the outside of the groove	Spline finder, how to measure a spline groove, how much cane webbing do I need
Hand caning	Hole size and spacing	Strand cane size chart
Rush, seagrass, tape, Danish cord	The four rails	How much seat weaving cord do I need
Strap chair	Strap width, path and count, hole size	How to measure patio chair straps

Still not sure? Send us a photo of the seat from above and from underneath with your question. Once you know, the project page for your job, from replacing a pressed cane seat to fixing outdoor patio chairs, lists everything to buy in one place.