How to replace the cane on bentwood barstools

I finally fixed my bentwood cane barstools!   The cane anyway!  (I still need to polish/ oil the wood and tighten up the “Bambi”  leg of the front stool).

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After shopping around for an alternative to these barstools I quickly realized I should just order the cane webbing and get to work.  The more I looked the more I realized how much I love these vintage stools.  The style is a perfect juxtaposition to the modern lines of my floating shelves, ship-lap siding, and concrete counter on the island.   Plus they’re the perfect size.  I just wish there was one more!

I ordered the cane webbing from the onlinefabricstore.com.   There’s many different styles and sizes of webbing to choose from.  I chose the same size and style as the original-1/2 ” open weave.  To determine the size of the weave you measure from center to center of the hole.  It comes in a variety of widths to accommodate any size seat.  My seats required 18″ wide webbing and I ordered 8 feet but only ended up using about 7 feet.

I used this youtube video for instructions on how to put in the new webbing.  It’s really simple.   I used the same spline I removed from the chair because it was still in tact and unbroken.  I didn’t buy any of the tools that he suggests in the video.  I used a flathead screwdriver, a multi-tool and a hammer.

I soaked the new webbing in the bath tub after cutting it to the proper size.  Then I laid it out on the first seat, made sure it was square,  and pressed the cane into the groove around the edge of the seat using the flathead.  Then I applied Gorilla glue (the best glue available)into the spline groove and pressed the spline in.  Then I hammered the spline in securely with the multi-tool.    Finally I used a very sharp razor knife to cut of the excess webbing off.

I’m really happy with how they turned out and so far they are holding up really well!

We’ve been using the stools for about two weeks and so far they are still tight and sturdy.  What d’ya think of bentwood?

Check out the “before” pictures of these stools here.