installing woven cane panels

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I've been getting requests lately for woven cane panels in door & end panel frames. I did the first 2 on the ends of the pictured wine cabinet. They came out ok, but I wasn't quite satisfied with how tight I was able to get the cane stretched into the frame. I put the cane into a rabbet on the back side, stapled into place with one guy helping to stretch, then put a 3/8 x 3/8 stop on top with a bead of hot glue and 23 gauge pins. I'm sure there are better ways to do this.

I have an upcoming job with 8 cabinet doors with this detail. I would appreciate any advice on a better method. Thanks!

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rich c.

I suggest you do some research on how that is installed in chairs. The cane is soaked for at least 30 minutes in water. It's held in a groove with tapered spline that stretches the sheet cane as the spline is driven in. When it dries out, it's tight.

Matt Calnen

I do the rabbited door frame(like a glass door) and then made a stout inner frame to push into the door frame. Usually 7/16 thick by 9/16 wide in cross section. I do a bridal joint on the insert frame corners as it has to withstand the stress of the cane shrinking. I assume you are soaking your cane prior to inserting it. For the cane I’m using, I usually subtract 3/32” from the rabbited opening for frame size. I then put a slight bevel on the outside of the insert frame on the edge sander or jointer. Lay the soaked cane over the opening and tap/push the inner frame into the rabbit. I then screw the inner frame to the door frame from the inside, and as the cane dries, it pulls tight. I would recommend a sample to make sure your tolerances are correct. When dry, cut the excess cane from the back side.

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D Brown

Why not do it right, make a jig and route a groove after the door is assembled on the back side, it can have square or rounded corners. The tapered spline is what holds the cane in place along with wood glue in the groove. I trim the cane off before tapping the spline in then trim off the extra.

I soak cane for maybe 8 hours or overnight to assure it is pliable and then it shrinks tight in a groove. Good luck

D Brown

You can also cut your own spline out of wood when you use square corners, takes a finish better than the spline materials.

Matt Calnen

D Brown, I don’t believe it’s possible to get the face of the cane where the face of glass or a panel would be by routing a groove in the back. Often you need caned doors next to paneled or glass doors. Your way would put the cane the thickness of the door back. Do you have an example of how you do it?

D Brown

You are correct a cane door looks different than a glass door. Maybe you could use an applied molding on the edge around the panel to ease the thickness make it look more like you want ?

duster

Update: after some more trial & error, I was finally able to get a good result. What I kept underestimating was how much the wet cane shrinks, and how much force it applies to the stops and the door frame itself.

My first attempt, with dry cane, I was unable to get the cane very tight.

My second attempt, I tried wet cane slipped into a 1/4 x 3/8 dado. I pushed a spline in and pin nailed in place. It looked good, but the next day when it was dry, the cane had shrunk out of the dado leaving the splines in place.

My third attempt, I rabbeted the back of the door frames and held the wet cane in place with 3/8 x 3/8 stops, yellow glue, and 23 gauge pins. This almost worked, but the shrinking cane partially pulled out some of the stops, shrunk out of the frame, and was unusable.

On my fourth try, I used more glue and stapled the stops in. This finally worked to hold the cane and stops in place, and the cane was tight as a drum when dry. However, on the two 42" tall doors the shrinking cane pulled the stiles together in the middle a 1/4". So I got the cane wet again to relax it and spread the stiles apart with three more of the 3/8 x 3/8 stop material to act act as stretchers. This finally gave me an decent result.

If I had to do this again, I'd use 1 x 3 stock for my stiles and rails, and put a center rail in any doors taller than 30".

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