Any tips for pinning oak frames

[Jag62]

Hi all,

I have just prepped an oak frame, 17mm square, approx 900mm x 400mm. I ran a couple of tests on the underpinner with some scrap of the same moulding and the pins tried to follow the grain if I got to close to outer edge. As a result I have just used 1 central pin per corner & everything looks okay but Is this sufficient or should I attempt to get another pin in there (if I dare) once glue dry ?

Thanks,

Neil

[Not your average framer]

I have found that just one wedge per cormer does not necessarily result in holding that corner sufficiently accurately in position while the glue dries. So I like to have two wedges if I can. It is always good to have a well gripping top clamp and rebate clamp on your underpinner, to prevent the joint trying to open as the wedge penetrates into the wood. There is a degree of skill and practice which is often necessary when joining oak on an under pinner, to achieve perfect results. This is just how it is! Oak is one of the most difficult woods that a framers will have to work with. However it is one of the best selling wood types that I personally produce frames from and it may well be a top selling wood for you too. This means that it is likely to be well worth mastering the skill to correctly cut, join and finish oak frames. Nice looking oak frames will soon win you customers as the word gets around. It is always helpful to have the odd oak on display in you shop window, if you have one.

Less than perfect left over bits of oak are good for making rustic oak frames, which sell quite well as rustic oak ready made frames. Make sure that you label them in your shop window as rustic oak ready made frames, so that people don't think that there's something wrong with them, but recognise them as something special instead. I like to wire brush less than perfect oak, to produce a uniformly consistent finish, which really looks the part. As I am based in a small rural town in the middle of a rural part of Devon, with plenty of old cottages and barn conversions, rustic oak frames sell quite well. I often rub a suitable paint colour and a bit of coloured paste wax in to the brushed texture to increase the rustic appearance and they look great! Don't assume that small rustic oak frames won't sell, because they are small, I can assure you that they will. I have customers asking me how soon before I will be doing some more. Also be aware that people will buy them to create items, which they can sell on, so it can be helpful to price some to encourage this part of the market.

I convert much of my left over moulding scraps into items that are salable. The secret is to make plenty of rustic looking stuff and I also do this with left over bits of pine and obeche mouldings. It only needs to look rustic and nice quality as well. Every framer ends up with plenty of small bits of left over glass, backing board and mount board. Stuff like this provides an opportunity to make a little bit extra, so why just throw it all in the dumpster. In particular adding a mount to a small ready made frame, will generally contribute to it salablity. If it was a mount board scrap that was going to be thrown in to the dumpster, what have you got to lose? I make plenty of square frames, with square mounts, because each side is the same size and there's much less time to set up machines to make them. Small square frames are a bit different and have a special appeal, because they are different. Both rustic oak and rustic pine frames are a good sales item for putting in your shop windows, just price them to sell and watch them fly out the door.

[Jag62]

Thanks Mark,

Great advice as always. Oak is very popular here too so I do want to master it. I was careful to ensure good alignment on the corners & the outer faces before clamping & then placed a flat piece of wood on the top between frame & top clamp whilst pinning, which seems to have done an acceptable job. I've now got the frame in a ratchet clamp to encourage it all to stay in place whilst it sets. Not sure if I dare attempt to add another pin per corner !

Cheers,

Neil

[vintage frames]

You've done all the right things. One pin in the corners to hold everything in place and a ratchet or simple band clamp to squeeze the mitres tight whilst the glue dries. Use the best wood glue you can lay your hands on.

[prospero]

For oak/ash frames my usual method is to insert one shallow V-nail close to the inside. This holds the joints in
register while you cross-pin using conventional nails near the top. All this while the glue is wet. You can throw a band clamp
around, but depending on the shape/size of the moulding can make nailing tricky. Another way is to use spring clamps. You
can easily nail around these, but they do leave a small divot. However, since you need to fill the nail holes you can fill the
divots in the same operation. I use Brummer stopping (Antique Pine) for oak. On raw oak you can sand it flush and the fills
are virtually invisible.

[Not your average framer]

I recently bought a set of these. While I spent a week being trained with Pete Bingham, he used these all the time. I have not had the chance to use these yet, but they do produce a very good result, particularly of harder woods like oak. I lot of the time Pete did not bother to underpin these joints afterwards, but I like something extra to give a bit more strength as well and under pinning is not the only option for doing this. I have a pneumatic headless pinner which fires almost invisible very small stainless steel pins, which work really well for me.