Thursday, April 21, 2011

What is Danish Paper Cord?

Danish paper cord is the material used to weave a typical seat found in many Danish chair designs. It is a very strong 3-ply paper product. It gained popularity starting back after World War II in Denmark and other European countries. It struck the right balance of ease of production and availability combined with its durability. Because of shortages of supplies after the war the same paper product was used to make tires even. For seating it is estimated to last up to 60 years with normal use.


It is a perfect sustainable choice for seating material. The material cost is reasonable versus what it gives back. It is also an eco friendly paper product since it is unbleached. The only drawback to manufactures is that it takes specially trained labor to weave the seating and it takes several hours to accomplish on a typical chair. This explains why you generally only see it on high end quality made furnishings.


So you might just consider choosing Danish cord for your next chair.


11 comments:

  1. where do you get your paper cord

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  2. I buy mine in bulk from caneandbasket.com. It is possible you find someone else cheaper but they supply good customer service and a quality product so that is where I buy. Here is a link.

    http://www.caneandbasket.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=S%2DDSC2LB

    If you are doing more than three chairs buy the 10 lbs. coil. My seats use just over 2 lbs. for the triangle danish style seats which are typically larger than traditional woven chair seats.

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    Replies
    1. Do you prefer the laced or unlaced type of danish cord?

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    2. Good timing. I just happened to be at my computer answer emails right now.

      I prefer the unlaced. It is what the original Wegner pieces were woven with as far as I have ever seen.

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    3. Great thanks! Love your tutorial videos. Very helpful. Are you on Instagram?

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  3. Wonderful work here Caleb, and I love how detailed you are on your blog and the Youtube videos.

    Cane and Basket Supply in California is one of my favorite suppliers, too. I usually buy in the 10 lbs. coils too.

    Although the repair jobs here in northern Minnesota do not call for Danish cord seats all that often, kinda goes in spurts.

    Please join in the conversations sometime on my Seatweaving & Chair Caning Forum, we'd love to have your input, especially on the Danish cord chairs! Been online for nine years now.
    http://disc.yourwebapps.com/Indices/220033.html

    The Wicker Woman®--Cathryn Peters
    http://www.WickerWoman.com

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    1. Cathryn,

      Thanks for your feedback. I wanted to reply to your other question you sent me here as well for anyone who stumbles upon this.

      As regard the layout of the Danish cord nail spacing, I have made a Danish cord ruler for laying out the cord spacing which you can use to locate your nails. It is a pdf file that can be downloaded and printed out for making one yourself. Here is a link to my blog post on the subject that explains the odd measurements for the diameter of Danish cord and the ruler. Hope it helps.

      http://kapeldesigns.blogspot.com/2013/05/what-is-diameter-of-danish-paper-cord.html

      Caleb

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  4. This site is best.I visited many website but not find better service.Thank you for your good information.
    For visit my site click Loppemarked .

    ReplyDelete
  5. My mother has two paper corded chairs, generally in excellent condition but along the front a couple of pieces of the cord have separated. With the right product I think it would be fairly easy to just lay them back in the grooves and glue them in place but I'm not sure what product to use. Any suggestions?

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  6. I’m wondering if you might know… is danish paper chord more durable/stronger than Banana Fiber cord?

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