A few weeks back, my wife (Rozenn) came home with a broken cane chair, which looked something like this, and wanted to try repairing the seat. A few tours through youtube videos, a visit to Amazon and some time with my Dremmel (she’s logged more hours on that thing than I have) and she managed to replace the seat. Even I can sit in it!
Now that it’s completed, I think we both agree that the project was very doable. The hardest part was removing the old spline (don’t believe those Youtube videos where it comes out with one tap of a chisel). Once the spline was removed, however, the rest of the process was a breeze. Yard-sale season may be wrapping up, but I’m sure we’ll find a few more broken chairs at rock-bottom prices that will not only give us a fun project, but also result in a nice-looking chair in the end.