The Framers Forum

Lion do (did do) Fletcher 11mm ones.

But if you take my advice, invest in a Fletcher Multipoint gun. Excellent for 'shoehorn' jobs.

I have a manual cutter. I always tell people that blades are a heck of a lot cheaper than mountboard. On a manual cutter you can tell by the feel that the blade needs changing. :wink: * The 'kick-up' along the cut face seems to indicate to me that they were cut on a manual cutter. This is normal and...

As they say in Lincolnshire: "Av sin woss".

Looks to me as if someone is trying to squeeze to last drop out of the blade.

Ademco is a company long defunct. Never heard of Keencut machines.

The most common ones nowadays are Drytac ones. I had an Ademco one but replaced it with a Drytac.
In comparison they are much more substantial than the old Ademco ones.

LJ Hayseed is a good neutral shade. Not too white and not too yellowy.

Definitely off the shelf.

I would be more worried about a work on paper being exposed to the environment. Oils on canvas are durable and damage can be repaired. But if somebody pokes a hole or scratches an piece of paper it a whole different matter. Also dust will settle on it and consolidate with the oil and will degrade th...

I wouldn't even attempt a conventional mount. When you get to that scale you have think a bit 'out of the box'. I'd go for a wide slip. Gold slips go up to 30mm. With a bit of trickery you can engineer a slip so it fulfills the properties needed - not crimping the edges of the paper and leaving room...

On wide mouldings (2"+) on biggish frames I like to put a biscuit in. It makes what is a simple butt joint into a Mortise and Tenon and make joining easier. The different in the strength of the corner is significant. I've tried breaking biscuited corners by hand and it's very difficult. I'm on ...

In my experience with underpinning (about 40 years) it's not good to add more pins after the glue as set. It's all about getting the top pressure in the right place - that is getting the top pad over the insertion point. Easy on a flat moulding, but on a moulding with a high back and placing a v-nai...

Every 70mm? That's too many. Also that tape is too strong. P90 would work better. Two hinges at the top and maybe two at the side toward the bottom which should be 'loose', that is formed so they allow lateral movement but hold the print down. It's a bit of a optimistic expectation to float mount a ...

You can fix braces to the back to mitigate bowing of a thin moulding. I've used strips of 2.5 MDF in the past. Also add steel 'L' mending plates on the corners. It works up to a point but it's a slightly half-arsed solution. :P * The Wessex subframes have a neat bevel on the inside that allows you t...

For something that size and with that moulding width you really need a subframe. That is a support frame that goes behind and takes the weight of the entire inner package. Wessex do suitable sections, but for max strength you can make your own from PSE timber. It should be the same size as the backi...

Coloured mounts really are an '80s thing. I rarely use strongly coloured mounts nowadays and stick to mainly pale, neutral shades with just a hint of colour. People think a colour in the mount will 'pick up' a colour in the image. It won't. It's a heavy-handed method used by people who don't really ...

I have a BIG shed full of 'useful' bits. It's 30ft long and 12ft wide. Most of it is the remnants of a job lot of moulding I bought in 2006. I've cherry-picked all the good stuff and used it. The rest is stuff that is perfectly good but I just have no use for nowadays. Also vast heaps of boxes full ...

This was a popular thing in times gone by. Sometimes a print would be mounted to canvas and put on stretcher bars to better emulate the look of an original. I've had people come to me with 'granny's oil painting' for a valuation only to be informed that it was a print and worth next to nothing. It g...

Ooh, can I jump on and ask what you mean about band clamps Prospero? Your ones without corners that you can underpin? The one I have from Screwfix, I think I could take the plastic corners off so it is just the screw/handle/ratchtety thing and the strap. Is that essentially the same or are your one...

The cutter depends on a good solid base. A slight dip will cause this problem. You could try adding a few shims of
card or whatever underneath and see if it's any better. Mountcutters work best when installed in a permanent position.

I do a lot of big chunky frames and I like to slightly over-engineer the joins. The fact is that over a certain size frame the sheer weight of a big moulding tends to work against it. You have a bigger glue area, but the glued strength depends on tight joints and even contact across the face. With t...

Do you mean the plain wood that will act as my boarder cannot touch the glass. What would happen if it did? I should have said.... Some painted surfaces produce strange optical effects when glass is laid on them. I believe the proper term is "Newton's Rings". Pale colours in particular sh...