No chemicals or scrubbing needed. My high school even teaches you how to cane the chair after you fix the wooden parts. If your high school doesn't have a course like this, ask why. Maybe they would start one. Or check other nearby high schools.
Larger districts seem to have more courses.
If you can save that chair instead of tossing it, you can save money. You may even save an antique to hand down to your kids. One couple at my class have refinished an old chest that they plan to use as a coffee table. Another man has refinished a coffee table, another woman a side table, another man is recaning a chair that was his mother's. I have replaced a broken rung on an old rocking chair, reglued joints on the chair and plan to put a new seat on it.