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Say hello, and tell us a little about yourself.
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RobJones
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue 13 Jun, 2017 9:04 pm
Location: Liverpool
Organisation: RobJones
Interests: Art

Hi All

Post by RobJones »

Hi All
Hope everyone is good,
Little bit about me, I started collecting contemporary urban art years ago I then started getting them framed and found it quite an expense, hence why I only have a few key pieces hanging on the wall.
I liked the idea of starting to do it myself so did a little digging round and found the beginners weekend course with DIY framers so I did that and fully enjoyed it and has left me wanting to do more so I'm looking to get a home setup just manual equipment for now and started looking into best manual miter saws and stumbled across this forum.

So any advice, tip & hint would be great, thanks in advance
poliopete
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Interests: Caring for my wife, Picture Framing and Natural History

Re: Hi All

Post by poliopete »

Good evening Rob and welcome to the Framers Forum.

As you look through old posts you will see the question you ask has been posed a number of times. Mostly, the answer is the same (a few exceptions) from other frame makers. The consensus is to invest in profession equipment from the off. This would include a Morso guillotine, a good mount cutter and possibly a underpinner. These are the three main pieces of kit that will give you the best chance of achieving a good job. Also, if purchased second hand, at the right price, they will hold their value and that way, if you decide not to continue, then you stand a reasonable chance of recouping your money.

Good luck with what ever you decide to do. Keep asking questions. Use this excellent Forum as a resource and continue to enjoy your self.

Regards.

Peter
Framie
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Re: Hi All

Post by Framie »

Hi Rob,
There's so much great and helpfully info in this forum. Start going back to each page and you will learn so much.

Morso Guillotine is a must, no getting away from that.

One thing for sure you're going to quickly find out why framing is the price it is.

Good luck and enjoy :D .

What do you have hiding away waiting to be framed? (most of what I frame is contemporary urban art) :)
Anything Framed
Jamesnkr

Re: Hi All

Post by Jamesnkr »

I don't think OP either needs or wants an underpinner or a Morso. He would need an entire room to be able to keep and use them. He probably wants to make ten frames a year and doesn't want to spend £1000-£2000 on equipment. He has been on a training course which is presumably this one:

https://www.diyframing.com/page.cfm/con ... ekend-List

which shows the students using mitre saws. So he wants equipment similar to that which he used on his course.

The problem is, of course, that there is no second-hand market in DIY framing kit. And DIYframing will sell you a hand-operated underpinner for £218. https://www.diyframing.com/store_viewItem.cfm?ItemID=99 I've never used one, but I imagine it would be jolly hard work. And it's about what I paid for an elderly pneumatic underpinner complete with compressor that is a pro piece of kit.

A Nobex mitre saw, which appears to be one that's quite highly regarded, will cost you the thick end of £100 or more http://www.axminster.co.uk/search/?q=mitre%20saw&hFR[categories.level0][0]=Hand%20Tools&nR[visibility_search][=][0]=1& And you *can* pick up a second-hand Morso for only twice that and however worn it is, it would be up to what OP needs. Though you might well find the blades were no good and the springs were saggy.

Don't forget a mount cutter, where again a Logan will cost nearly £200 for a new one, and a Keencut can be had second-hand for barely more.

So, the choice is spend £600 on amateur kit which has the benefit that it fits in a cupboard but that's just as well as the results won't be good enough to bother doing it much, so in the cupboard it will live. Or £1000 on some creaky old pro kit which takes up a whole room, and might need more spending on it. Or 2k on a decent set up. Or pay somebody else to do the work.

Plan B would be just to buy a mitre saw and rely on cross-nailing the corners. Only ever use bare-wood frames and then the inevitably dodgy corners don't matter. For big frames a biscuit jointer (screwfix, £65) would do the trick. And it could be modified to do splined corners too. And don't ever do window mounts, instead relying on float mounting and fillets - or pay somebody with a CMC to do them. Add in a framers corner for £25 https://www.diyframing.com/store_viewIt ... ItemID=105 and then you're sorted. That's what I'd do. And I might just buy an electric mitre saw to do it; that's why polyfilla was invented. Ever tried sawing ash with a hand-mitre-saw? I have... never made any more frames afterwards.
poliopete
Posts: 798
Joined: Mon 04 Apr, 2016 7:13 am
Location: The Wash
Organisation: Annie Lou Fine Framing
Interests: Caring for my wife, Picture Framing and Natural History

Re: Hi All

Post by poliopete »

James

As usual your reply was interesting and thought provoking. I strongly believe different opinions should be offered and welcomed. The thing is with this particular question (checking back) the advice is, in the main, "with a few exceptions" go the pro' kit route.

Peter.
Jamesnkr

Re: Hi All

Post by Jamesnkr »

This guy has been on a course with very specific equipment so he wants the same sort of equipment. He wants to make a few frames for his own collection. There is a limit to the size of his walls; there's probably a limit to the quantity of rusty equipment he's allowed to store in the cupboard under the stairs. IMO a Morso etc. would be wrong for him.

Buying the moulding on 'chop' - i.e. pre-cut to length is quite possibly his best option.
Not your average framer
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Re: Hi All

Post by Not your average framer »

Hi Rob and welcome to the forum,

Nice to have you aboard.
Mark Lacey

“Life is short. Art long. Opportunity is fleeting. Experience treacherous. Judgement difficult.”
― Geoffrey Chaucer
RobJones
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Joined: Tue 13 Jun, 2017 9:04 pm
Location: Liverpool
Organisation: RobJones
Interests: Art

Re: Hi All

Post by RobJones »

Thank you all for the warm welcome, and the advice it is all much appreciated an taken on boar.
@Framie I have a few from the well know artists in urban art scene Blek, D*face, Banksy, DotDotDot, Sickboy, Paul Insect, so on as I lived in London for years in east London I was exposed to it all on a daily bases do you collect much yourself ?
Not your average framer
Posts: 11014
Joined: Sat 25 Mar, 2006 8:40 pm
Location: Devon, U.K.
Organisation: The Dartmoor Gallery
Interests: Lost causes, saving and restoring old things, learning something every day
Location: Glorious Devon

Re: Hi All

Post by Not your average framer »

I am assuming that Rob will be doing framing mostly for his own use and will probably have to put everything away out of sight somewhere like the cupboard under the stairs, or what ever. So, unless I am reading this all wrong, I suspect either a Morso, or an underpinner will not only be a bit over the top, but not necessary for producing just a small volume of frames at home.

When I first got started my first equipment for joining frames was one of these https://www.lionpic.co.uk/p/7761/Budget-Drill-Stand and one of these https://www.lionpic.co.uk/p/8269/Head-O ... nderpinner, This gets you the means to join frames for a budget of something of the order of about £60 inc Vat. It works well and I think that it's pretty much unbreakable.

I also bought a Pro-man 110 saw, but one of these https://www.lionpic.co.uk/p/8807/Nobex- ... -Mitre-Saw will save some worthwhile cash and I paired it up with one of these. I found these quite o.k. when I first started and I sill have them easily accessible for when I still need them. I've been thinking about changing the Pro-man 110 for an electric mitre saw for a while now, maybe I will do that someday.

As for mountcutting, I would recommend a good secondhand professional one. My first one was a C & H Bainbridge one, but since then I have switched Keencut models. It does not make much sense to buy a mountcutter as new for something just to use at home. I think that if you work along these sort of lines then you won't go far wrong.

Enjoy your framing!
Mark Lacey

“Life is short. Art long. Opportunity is fleeting. Experience treacherous. Judgement difficult.”
― Geoffrey Chaucer
poliopete
Posts: 798
Joined: Mon 04 Apr, 2016 7:13 am
Location: The Wash
Organisation: Annie Lou Fine Framing
Interests: Caring for my wife, Picture Framing and Natural History

Re: Hi All

Post by poliopete »

Good evening Rob

If the assumptions are correct the pragmatic advice given by James and Mark is the way to go.

If not, perhaps you would like to expand further on what you intend regarding framing.

Very good luck anyway.

Peter
Framie
Posts: 252
Joined: Sat 12 Mar, 2011 4:22 pm
Location: United Kingdom
Organisation: Anything Framed
Interests: Custom Framing, Hand Finishes and Multi Aperture Mounts.
Location: Peterborough
Contact:

Re: Hi All

Post by Framie »

Wow, that must be some collection you have. (worthy of some nice equipment :giggle: )

Me, sadly none of Blek, D*face, Banksy, DotDotDot, Sickboy but have framed nearly something from all.

My own collection mostly Obey, Pahnl, London police, mau mau, kguy, Whatson and lot of Snik.

If you don't go down the morso route ordering chop is the next best thing.
Anything Framed
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