Caning (furniture)

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A chair being caned. Flechten Sitzflache Stuhl.JPG
A chair being caned.

In the context of furniture, caning is a method of weaving chair seats and other furniture, either while building new chairs or in the process of cane chair repair.

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Furniture or chair caning may be confused with wicker; chair caning is specifically the craft of applying rattan cane or rattan peel to a piece of furniture such as the backs or seats of chairs, whereas wicker or wicker work is a reference to the craft of weaving any number of materials such as willow or rattan reeds as well as man-made paper based cords.[ citation needed ]

Rattan

Cane chair weaver, 1759, by Paul Sandby Paul Sandby 1759 cane chair weaver.jpg
Cane chair weaver, 1759, by Paul Sandby

In common use, the term cane may refer to any plant with a long, thin stem. However, the cane used for furniture is derived from the rattan vine native to Indonesia, the Philippines, and Malaysia. [1] :7 The vines typically grow to 100–300 feet (30–90 m) in length; most have a diameter less than 1 inch (25 mm). [1] :7 Before export, the rattan stems are cut to uniform lengths and the bark is removed in narrow strips of 116 to 316 inch (2 to 5 mm). [1] :7 Sugar cane and bamboo (sometimes called "cane" in the southern United States) should not be confused with rattan cane. [1] :8

Rattan vine looks somewhat similar to bamboo but is quite different in that bamboo is hollow and holds itself upright while rattan is a solid flexible vine that needs the support of surrounding structure to elevate itself off the forest floor. It climbs to the top of canopies of the forest to reach sunlight with the help of large rugged thorns that grab hold of surrounding trees. Sometimes much of the length of these rugged vines are draped along the forest floor from tree to tree in search of a suitable structure to climb.[ citation needed ]

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Cane or caning may refer to:

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Indigenous materials are materials that are naturally and locally found in a specific place such as timbers, canes,grass, palms, and rattan. Other indigenous raw materials in the country that are commonly known and used creatively in crafts and decoration are capiz, pearls, corals, and seashells, being an archipelago naturally abundant in beaches and marine resources.

Calamus latifolius is a climbing plant, part of a subfamily, Calamoideae, whose members are usually called rattans in English, they are part of the Arecaceae, or palm, family.

Calamus erectus, also known as viagra palm and locally as tynriew, tara, and zhi li sheng teng, is a flowering shrub in the family Arecaceae. The specific epithet (erectus) refers to the plant's habit of growing straight rather than creeping or climbing like many species of the genus Calamus.

<i>Calamus manan</i> Species of plant

Calamus manan, the manau rattan or rotan manau, is a species of flowering plant in the palm family Arecaceae, native to Thailand, Peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra, and Borneo. A vine, its single stem is widely harvested from the wild for cane furniture-making, leading to an unsustainable population decline. One unbranched stem at Buitenzorg, was carefully measured to a length of 787 feet.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Perry, L. Day (1917). "Caning: The Seven Steps". Seat Weaving. Peoria, IL: Manual Arts Press. pp. 6–14 via Internet Archive.

Further reading