Pressed Caning Tool Set: Chisel, 10 Wedges and 12 Pegs

Webbing, spline and glue get used up with every seat. The tools do not. This set gathers the reusable ones for pressed cane work into one box, so they are ready for this chair and the next.

What each piece does:

• The caning chisel, narrow steel with a wooden handle and about 8 in long, lifts the old spline and cane out of the groove and scrapes it clean without widening it. Choose a 1/8 in blade for #7 grooves or 3/16 in for #8 and larger.
• The 10 hardwood wedges tap the soaked cane down into the groove and hold it while you work round the seat; most seats need 4 to 8 in at once. Laid on top of the spline, a wedge also lets you tap it home without denting it.
• The 12 tapered wooden pegs are the hand-caning tool in the box. They hold strand cane in drilled holes, which covers a chair with a hand-woven seat or back.

What you still need: cane webbing, reed spline sized to your groove, wood glue, a mallet, a utility knife and a tub of warm water for soaking. If you re-cane often, pair the set with a seat kit and you have everything for each new chair.

Work safely with the chisel: push it away from you, keep your other hand behind the blade, and wear safety glasses, since old spline and dried glue can snap and fly.

The only choice is the chisel blade, and it follows the groove. Measure the width of the groove beside the old spline, or the old spline itself. A 1/8 in (#7) groove takes the 1/8 in blade; a 3/16 in (#8) groove or anything wider takes the 3/16 in blade.

If you cannot tell, or you work on chairs from different makers, choose the 1/8 in blade. A narrow blade still works along a wider groove, but a wide blade will not go into a narrow one.