The Framers Forum

Roboframer,
Liked your picture! Looks the business! Can I ask what the moulding is?
Cheers,
Mark

Hi, If the back is to support the weight of the cricket bat then it needs to be strong enough and stiff enough for the purpose. You will also need to consider how you will fix the back to the frame also! Normal fixing methods such as framing points or tabs would not be my prefered option in this cas...

Hi, I found Arqadia Framebox was a pain in the neck! There's a lot of messing around to get it to cut cleanly on the morso and I'm yet to find a first class way of joining it on the underpinner. I ending up joining it in an old stanley framers vice with pins through the sides or the joints. I stoppe...

Hi, I already do dry mounting and heatsealing and find I use my heated press much more than I ever expected. Being local to Dartmoor, maps are a regular item, also there are many other creative possibilities too! Unfortunately, my old and very large Ademco screw down heated press takes 30 minutes to...

Hi All, A few weekends ago, Ventons' had an open day and were demonstrating a motorised pressure sensitive mounting and laminating machine. I hadn't previously even thought about getting one before, but it was very quick, easy and impressive too! Since then, I've been thinking seriously about gettin...

I've never liked the idea of staples in framing at all. I was trained in a workshop where they are used all the time. They created dust where they punch the the edge of the backing board. They look like a mass produced, or contract framing job and often leave a real mess when they have to be removed...

Hi, The Keencut Laser came after the Keencut Ace and before the original Keencut Ultimat. I had a brief look at a Keencut Laser and the Venton open day, just because I had never seen one before, unfortunately not a good enough look to help answer the question. However, for what it's worth I do own a...

Thanks Roboframer, I'm already with you on Bainbridge, I use their whitecore and artcare ranges as my stock range. Their range of colours and finishes are just fantastic and the price is very competitive even against inferior brands too! I had a little suprise though the other day - my mount cutter ...

Roboframer - I think this is becoming a very useful and informative thread. Your way of defining your framing standards gets right to the objective in mind in a way that is immediately obvious and needs little explaination to customers. I wonder if you would be so kind as to give a little more detai...

On a personal note- i hate doing all fabrics. I hate taping because it is (imho) a bodge. I hate lacing because... .. well I just do. If they paid me £100 an hour to do lacing, I'd still try and palm it off on someone else. And yes, it *is* part of the job, but so is putting bleach in the toilet, s...

I like others have noticed how this thread has broadened to cover backing boards, etc. I don't see this as being a problem, in fact we are discussing some of the most important issues in framing today. I think, I would like to clarify that I don't use MDF for conservation framing at all, but I do us...

I wax the contact surfaces on the Morso fences with a hard clear wax such as black bison neutral. It stops light coloured unfinished mouldings from picking discolouration when sliding against the fences.
Cheers,
Mark

I started getting a similar problem, but only on hardwood moulding. It took ages to figure it out and was really driving me nuts. Eventually after a long time, I finally worked out what was happening. Mine's a Morso model F, vintage 1995 and has the aluminium vernier measurement system, but over tim...

I see quite a lot of old frames on a regular basis in my workshop, sometimes bits of the frame have been chewed by the odd rat or insects. This has on occassions included the gesso decorations. Funny how they never go for the gummed tape. I suspect if it had anything edible in the adhesive something...

I had to frame an engraved regimental dress dagger last year where the customer did not want to see any visible signs of supports and I also put a mirror behind to view the engraving on the reverse side too! Fortunately, the dagger had a small round projection right on the end of the handle, so I wa...

I use gummed paper tape all the time, with one of the dispensers that Lion sells, it is just as quick as self adhesive, better IMHO and afraction of the cost. The only disadvantages are that it won't stick to waterproof backings and some mouldings need sanding before it will stick to them too. Hi j...

I made some phone calls today and got some more specific answers about box board today. First, the distributor I spoke to originally says, yes you can use box board as a barrier paper, but it does not officially comply with fine art trade guild standards as it is not manufactured specifically to do ...

Hi John, Why brown? Well, I was thinking more about the fact that the vegetable dyed surface paper over time can fade to grey and looks just like grey board, which looks rather cheap and nasty. A first sight a faded grey board could suggest to others that it is not a quality framing job. The custome...

John, box board is a solid white, very smooth china clay load board, which is available from just about every picture framing distributor. One of the best known ones is called Simwhite which is 600 microns thick (0.6mm). Come to think about it "Art-bak conservation" which I use only on sma...

Hi All, This week I spoke to a member of staff at well known U.K. framing materials distributor, who during the course of the conversation told me that box board is ideal as a barrier paper and will remain nuetral pH more or less indefinately due to the substantial quantity of china clay contained i...