choosing the right wood for Stretcher Bars

[nickjensen]

Hi, I have a question about stretcher bars. I make my own and i was previously using softwood pine. However i find that it can not always be square and can have a tendency to warp.

I found a timber merchant in Peckham called Witton Timber and i can choose from a variety of Hardwood. I bought some Tulip and it works really well. I was just wondering if anyone had advice on another style of hardwood that may be more appropriate?
The choices are:

Ash (English)

Beach

Obeche

Maple canadian hard

Ash American

and elm.

I just wondered what you guys would recommend and why?

Also it is worth bearing in mind that i like my stretchers to have a little weight to them.
Regards,

Nick

[prospero]

I'd reccomend buying them ready cut from Lion. They are made with finger-jointed pine that is laminated lengthwise. They are beautiful. Got to work out cheaper than trying to source a stable wood and cutting them yourself. They do them in three profiles. The 'Gallery' ones are like girders.

The only problem is if you want odd sizes (which I often do).

[Nigel Nobody]

Also it is worth bearing in mind that i like my stretchers to have a little weight to them.

Why?

Well seasoned California Redwood is excellent, because of it's stability and it's lightness.
A lot of finger jointed pine is used down here. It's cheap, quite stable and quite light!

[nickjensen]

Hi, well yeah i make really small paintings, so i dont like the size of the mouldings offered at lion, i also like a lip of 33 no wider to rest my canvas on so i make them myself. I like the slight weight because the pictures are so small i like them to feel a little bit more substantial. Too light and they feel to fragile.

So thanks guys.

[Bill Henry]

My concern with using hardwood for stretchers would be the difficulty in mounting the canvas.

If one uses a simple mechanical stapler, you might not be able to drive the staples deeply enough to make them flush; if you use an electric or pneumatic stapler, you may knock the corners out of square.

… unless you are using strainers rather than stretchers, then … well, never mind.

[framemaker]

I think tulip (also known as poplar) is the most suitable timber for stretcher bars.

[Nigel Nobody]

i also like a lip of 33 no wider to rest my canvas on ...

The canvas should rest on no more than a few mm on the outside of the stretcher. If you mean the front of the canvas rests on 33mm of wood, that's way too wide and can result in a line appearing in the canvas in line with the inner edge.

If stretchers feel too light and insubstantial to you, it doesn't mean that everyone will have the same opinion. (A feather is very light, but that doesn't mean it's quality is poor.) Stability of the wood is the most important factor in stretchers.

[Gesso&Bole]

I'd say tulip.

These guys also use tulip

http://www.johnjones.co.uk/services/sur ... tretchers/

Worth a look, very slick website

[nickjensen]

Woops i ment 3 mm sorry must have miss typed. (not 33)

Yeah John Jones in north london use Tulip which is a good reassurance that it is a good wood.
They use Kiln dried Tulip, anyone know where you can get that?

Thanks a lot,

Nick

[prospero]

I think you'll find that the difference in weight between Tulip and Pine on a small-sized stretcher is hardly worth considering. Just because Pine is botanically speaking, 'Softwood', it doesn't mean it's any lighter than a hardwood. Balsa is a 'Hardwood'.