The Framers Forum

Hello all,

Long time lurker and infrequent poster here. This is a great forum and I've gleaned a lot of useful information from you guys, but I now have a problem.

I'm a retired engineer living in Iowa near Waterloo and have a very small framing studio in my wood working shop. I mostly do picture frames for family and friends with the occasional paying customer.

I just finished a 19x13 shadow box for a client. It's heavier than my usual framing, about 7 or 8 pounds. I attached some plastic coated hanging wire rated for 45 lbs but when I lifted the whole thing by the center of the wire I noticed that the wire was very slowly stretching! It turns out it wasn't actually stretching, it was unwinding at the hanging loops on the side.

My method is to take a double turn through the loop then make five or six wraps of the loose end around the hanging wire. This has never been a problem in the past, but I don't think I've ever framed something this heavy.

Is there a special or secret technique for attaching the wire to the loop so it won't unwind or pull out over time, particularly if it's a fairly heavy frame? Is there some sort of crimp I can put on the wire to hold it tight? Would uncoated wire be better?

Any help with this is greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Kevin H.

The best knots tighten on themselves - in these instructions fig 3 is a barrel hitch which does exactly that. http://www.wire-cablespecialties.com/pr ... 678910.htm

RoboFramer,

Thanks for the great tip! I'll be checking it out later this afternoon.

Kevin H.

RoboFramer,

Well, I tried your method of attaching the hanging wire and it worked great! The wire hold fast and there's no 'unwinding.'

Thanks again for the helpful hint.

Kevin H.