New to Framing - advice please.

[purplemonkey]

hi all,

love the net, love the fact there is a forum for everything.

so my girlfriend is a painter, she paints on large canvass with oils, and we want to frame some of the frames to add to the quality of the work.

So we found the wood, and had a go last week, which turned out to be pretty poor finish. some of the cuts were a bit bendy, and the glue 'impact adhesive' just broke when we assembled the last corner.

we used a mitre Saw with a plastic angle block, and as I said impact adhesive. now I'm thinking of upgrading my saw and block to maybe a power mitre saw, or a manual mitre saw (clamped in place hacksaw looking thing), and using proper old school wood glue. I have also built a jig for use when the glue is setting.

so my question are, and they are aimed at diy/hobby framers (I'm not trying or able to set up a 5k workshop!),
what saw and angle block arrangement do you use?
what glue?
would you also use V nails on all frames, if so do you use a hammer and v nail or can you get a hand-held v nailer?

Thanks in advance for any advice, and please don't just advice me to go to the local framers, they do a great job but I will be doing this myself and we all got to start somewhere.

all the best
t.

[standenfineart]

If it's a start you are after you could do a lot worse than this:



Other retailers are available.

[prospero]

Hi purplemonkey.

If you are framing oils then it mostly woodwork. So no complicated mounting, glass and such.

Cutting mitres by hand is tricky. The captive saws you mention are fine up to a point. Not terribly accurate on wide mouldings. Power saws of the DIY variety suffer the same drawbacks. They are just less tiring to use.

But.... They are OK if you are going to be making the frame out of bare wood and painting it. You can make very classy frames this way and any gaps in the corners can be made good before the finish is applied. The other advantage is that frames you finish yourself can be repaired easily if they suffer knocks and dings. Especially good if your GF is taking them to and fro to exhibitions. And you can design your own individual frames.

Forget V-nails. Use proper nails in the corners. Use PVA white glue. The key to good gluing is holding the joint tight while the glue sets. A rachet strap (as used on car roof-racks, trailers) is great for this. You can glue up and clamp all four corners at once.

[countrystudio]

You could look at the Logan range of products.
Their hand mitresaw and studio joiner will get you started.

[framemaker]

I think there are quite a few options available, lots of cutters and joiners aimed at the DIY/hobby market. No experience of them myself but I know quite a few forum members have started out this way.

I agree with Prospero about working with barewood frames, they are much more forgiving the pre finished ones. Some of the best hand made frames I have seen have been joined with cross pinned nails.

So I would be looking at a hand mitre saw like the Logan or Nobex, but to be honest, if you are just going to work with barewoods I would look at getting a Dewalt of similar power mitre saw. It's not that difficult to measure and mark the timber and get each side exactly the same size, a little time consuming but if you are doing low numbers and your aim is a well made frame then it is worth doing carefully.

Then I would use a Stanley type mitre vice to clamp the corner, lots of good PVA wood glue (like Titebond), drill the pilot holes and pin the corners with nails/framing pins. Once all four corners are done I would use a strap clamp (or ratchet like Prospero said) to pull it tightly together and then leave overnight to set.

The corners can then be filled and sanded as required and then the frame can be painted.

It is not the quickest method but you will have a solid frame.

[stcstc]

another option would be to spend the money without buying a chopper or saw. and order your frames chopped from the supplier


then spend the money on a better joining system, for example a second had pro underpinner

[purplemonkey]

Thanks everyone, some good looking information there. I like the look of the Logan equipment, healthily expensive too

[Sam Cook]

Hi
Unfortunately you have found the critical issue that most people discover when trying to make their own frames the first time round - and that is getting good accurate corners so you can make a good job of joining the 4 pieces together!
We sell a variety of DIY tools and would usually recommend to invest your money in a mitre trimmer rather spending money to upgrade a mitre saw or hand saw. The mitre trimmer will give you a perfectly accurate 45 degree bevel, and although I appreciate it is one of the more expensive pieces of kit it is better to save to buy that and because it is made from cast iron it will last forever, you just need to sharpen the blades from time to time.
If this is not an option at the moment it would probably be more cost effective (to save you wasting moulding) to buy the moulding precut on a 'chop service' as suggested, and then buy a tool (like our PFK04) to join the corners together.
You would still use wood glue, but the great thing with the kit is you can clamp and put v-nails into each corner (the v-nails will hold the corners together whilst the glue is setting), so it is quick to go round and join each corner one after another.
Here is a link to our website:
http://www.framerscorner.co.uk/uk/shop/ ... -1/joining

If you have any other questions please feel free to drop me a message.

Sam