Picture Frame - Cherry and Mahogany

glenn bradley

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Preparing for LOML's mother's Christmas gifts (say that 3 times fast). I was none-to-subtly notified that mom had some pictures that needed frames :). There will be a couple of them. Cherry inner frame with a profile in the style that mom likes. A mahogany outer frame to give it some pizzazz and carry the profile on out. There's also a close up of the rather busy profile. My tastes run simpler but, its not all about me ;)

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We were talking about clamping frames so here's yet another shot of how I do it. I'll post more when the finish hits them.

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Those are so awfully nice frames. Maybe by the time I am through I can get that good at it. I made some of the clamping things you have pictured, but I just couldn't get them to work with the types and sizes of clamps I currently have. I'm keeping them because I'm sure I will collect more clamps as time goes on.
 
You are right about the clamps Paul. I tried a few different ones before I found some that would hold irregular profiles without crushing them and be small enough to get out of the way of the clamp doing the corner work. You may notice I added some cauls to some of the Bessey Mighty Minis that I picked up when Lowe's was blowing out all their Bessey stock. The cauls allow them to grip reliably with less pressure on uneven surfaces than just the pad might alone.

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That jig you posted recently sure looked like a slick solution though :thumb:.

But, back to the reason for this post . . . I got a set of convex / concave scrapers as a gift once upon a time. They are just what the doctor ordered for cleaning up any milling marks on complex profiles like these.

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Glen - love what you are doing.

I am trying to get better at picture frames.

1) How do you cut the miters?

2) How did you make the profile?

Thanks Leo. I use an Incra V-27 with an Incra extrusion I added for the miters so, basically just a miter gauge. The profile is multiple passes with a couple of router bits. You can really get creative by stacking profiles of the bits you probably already have. I do most with angular surfaces a-la Frank Lloyd Wright; but, mom has lots of curly things in her house and I think these fancy profiles will suit her.
As someone was asking about a while ago; featherboards and stock control become critical the more involved the profile gets. If you want to see frustration, picture a wonderfully air tight miter on two pieces that do not match in profile :pullhair:.
 
Picture frames..

Great job and completed a lot quicker than I did mine.

I bought the wife a half a dozen Randolph Spangler pictures three Christmas's back and promised to make some pictures frames. Started them about a year and a half ago, and just finished them up a few weeks ago. :eek:

Rob
 
That was an awesome video. That guy has a masters degree in woodworking.

I was thinking of a fixture using wedges, long before watching this video - he just drove it home for me.

I was really impressed when I saw what a simple idea it was. I used it here on some frames I made from African Sapele with Curly Maple inlay and it worked really well:

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Welcome to the Family, Johnny! :wave:

Thanks for posting the video. I've used wedges occasionally but never really thought of using them as extensively as the woodguy does.

You should shoot on over to the introduction area and formally introduce yourself and tell us about your work.
 
That frame is beautiful. Figure everywhere. Did you use a router table to profile it, or do you have a shaper?

Thanks for compliment Ted. I used a router "table". Actually, when I made these my router was mounted below my bench. I'm just finishing up a rolling cart for my router now.
Here's a few more pics:

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These have only been getting a little attention between other things but, the first coats of finish show how the mahogany and cherry marry up:

Jan's Frames (6).jpg . Jan's Frames (7).jpg
 
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