Method to produce moulding profiles

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poliopete
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Re: Method to produce moulding profiles

Post by poliopete »

"Good quality masking tape " (Tessa from Simmons) is exactly how I do it and have always done it. It holds everything tight while the glue cures. I don't have any speed clamps but I do have a number of small Record G clamps and these work well with scraps of card between wood and clamp.

Vintage's suggestion of cutting each length overlong and pinning is brilliant, don't know why I've not thought of that because I always cut lengths for h/f overlong. The glue I use at the moment is "Duo" a bit expensive but I really like it as it does not turn Oak green when sanded.

Thanks for the re[ly and posting the photo's Josvanr :D Much appreciated.

Peter.
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Re: Method to produce moulding profiles

Post by Not your average framer »

I like to stack mouldings together using air powered nail guns, or air powered narrow crown staple guns, fired from inside the rebate of one moulding into the moulding which is on the outside of that moulding. This is also the reason why I stack frames starting with the outer frame and working inwards. This means that the fixings are always hidden and as a bonus the nails act as clamps while the glue between the mouldings sets.

Clamping with clamps until after the glue has set, doesn't really work for me, my workshop is limited for space and I don't want to leave anything on any of my benches, while the glue sets. Fortunately the nails and staples are extremely secure and won't give at all, while the glue is setting. Not only that, but my method of working is too stack the next moulding inside the previous moulding without waiting for the glue on the previous mouldings to set first.

It's all very easy and particularly important to enable me to work really fast. I really do need to work fast and work smart to maintain my profitability and cash flow. Cash flow can be a killer for a small business, particularly if you are running a one man business, so working fast and smart is a serious priority. I now longer have a pneumatic underpinner, but that does not stop me from using other air tools.

Pneumatic nail guns and staplers can be the key to consistent and very neat results, if you are using the right guns. Some so called first fix guns are not really a nice neat job, but second fix type guns are intended to produce a nice neat result that will impress every time. If the time comes when I can justify a couple more guns, I may even add two more at a later time.
Mark Lacey

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josvanr
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Re: Method to produce moulding profiles

Post by josvanr »

Marc: do you make lengths of moulding this way and then cut, or do you use nails after having cut the miters? If you make lengths and then cut the miters, arent you afraid of cutting through the nails? Working the other way around (first cut miters, then nail), it seems difficult to me to get the measurements right for the separate 'frames' to fit.

Jos
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prospero
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Re: Method to produce moulding profiles

Post by prospero »

A good way of clamping (sometimes) is to use wrapping film. It's quick and easy and can exert a lot of pressure.

I always build the frame from bare wood and the finish afterwards. Cutting finished lengths has become quite alien to me. :lol:

This way you don't risk chopping through nails. Also, if you do have to nail elements onto the frame the nail holes disappear in the finishing process.
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Re: Method to produce moulding profiles

Post by Not your average framer »

I don't tend to cut finished lengths if I am making proper hand finished frames, as I think that customers are expecting the mitre joints to be hidden under the finish. However, there are certain moulding that I also use as ordinary mouldings, but buy them as unfinished bare wood mouldings to add a quick and easy low cost finish according to which display sample of this moulding is chosen by the customer.

Keeping one bare wood moulding always in stock to offer it as a range of mouldings in different finishes is a no brainer for me, I try to order my general purpose stock mouldings as a combination that get me discounts on the individual moulding types, but also to make up the whole moulding order to above the carriage paid order value.

Just in case any of you are thinking I'm some sort of massively busy, volume framer, well I'm not . I'm just a small business located in a relatively small rural Devon town, with a very helpful niche market for quality hand finished frames. I also can't claim to be particularly fast anymore after one heart attack and two strokes having considerably affected my general health, but I'm still going for it, because I need to be doing something.

These mouldings are ones where the price is good, together with good general quality and I can get some useful discount, for buying a worthwhile stock quantity. If some of these mouldings fit the bill for stacking with other stock mouldings, for hand finished stacked combination this can be useful too. Especially as stacking a few really cheap mouldings often has a cost advantage over equivalent all in one moulding of a similar size.

There has to be some commercial advantage to doing stuff like this, or what's the point. Many of my stacked moulding combinations only make sense to do if I can minimise the labour component and I considerably reduce my actual time spent doing this by smart use of pneumatic nail, or staple guns. This may surprise some, but I'm already on to hand finishing many frames before the glue between the mouldings has set. This does not matter at all, because nothing can move as it is already very solidly fixed with either furniture grade narrow crown staples, or brad nails.

I need to work fast and work smart to make this sort of work worthwhile. May I recommend the use of pneumatic staple and nail gun as thw smart alternative to using other methods of clamping while waiting for the glue to set.
Mark Lacey

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Re: Method to produce moulding profiles

Post by vintage frames »

Yes, I used to use a air stapler - thup-thup-thup and you're done. Then it broke...
Now I'm into "slow framing" - hammer and nails, leave the glue to set overnight.
If you do any gilding, there's no point hurrying as the whole palava takes so long to finish anyway.
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Not your average framer
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Re: Method to produce moulding profiles

Post by Not your average framer »

I reckon that everything breaks, or gets worn out evenually, but since I my existing guns were never more than £50 each, I don't mind the cost of replacing them when the day comes. At present, I'm assuming that my current guns will probably last beyond the age when I will still be framing.
Mark Lacey

“Life is short. Art long. Opportunity is fleeting. Experience treacherous. Judgement difficult.”
― Geoffrey Chaucer
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