Hello, Any picture frame builders out there?

Curt Fuller

Member
Messages
348
Location
North Ogden, Utah
A flatworker I'm not. If not for woodturning I would be completely void of any knowlege of wood. But I have a question. I'm trying to make a picture frame from some fairly knotty alder. It's a simple style, the moulding I've cut is flat with a 45 degree bevel on each side, 3 1/2" wide, and it has the square corner cut out of the back to hold the picture and glass. I've cut the 45's to make a square frame and when I lay it out on a table everything looks like it's going to fit pretty nice. Now how is the best way to put it all together, glue? Do you try to glue the whole thing at once or just one corner at a time? I also have some fasteners for the corners that look like a squiggly staple type thing. Should I use them in addition to glue, instead of glue, forget about them and trust the glue? And keeping in mind that I don't have all the clamps that a real woodworker would have, is there a fairly simple way to clamp to 45 degree angles to form a 90?

Thanks in advance.
 
I have made my own and I can tell you what I do. As whether it's right or wrong ...??? It works for me. I cut my 45's on a table saw sled to make sure they are going to make tight corners. I make exactly the same cuts on the back that you do (a rabbet to hold glass, matting, photo, and backing). I only glue mine and I've used TiteBond III and Gorilla Glue. I don't see any perrformance difference between the two glues for this light duty work. For the amount of work that a frame has to do (unless it's a big frame with heavy glass), I don't see any need for biscuits or staples etc.and I don't do big ones, so I've never used any. The largest frame I've made is about 24" x 18" (roughly). I glue mine all at once using a tightening strap with four 90' corner blocks and I lay the frame down on wax paper on a flat work surface and clamp the frame down flat so that it dries flat. The first time I made a frame I didn't know how tough it would be so I made the first one as a destructive testing version and the only part that didn't break was the glued joints ...

cheers, I hope this helps a bit.

EDIT : strap clamp is something like this : http://busybeetools.ca/cgi-bin/picture10?&NETID=2008330621071480826&NTITEM=B757
 
Last edited:
And keeping in mind that I don't have all the clamps that a real woodworker would have, is there a fairly simple way to clamp to 45 degree angles to form a 90?

Tape. No fooling, that nice sticky clear packing tape will stretch well for quick and dirty clamping of miters. Dry fit to make sure the miters are tight, then lay it all out in a line and put a long piece of this tape on the edge. Take the lined up taped pieces and "bend" at the miters to close them again making sure that there are no gaps (may have to re-tape to get them closer together). Then apply glue and do it for real. After the glue dries, a couple of brads each way across the miter will make it plenty strong, though its often not necessary.
 
I'll second the tape suggestion. I've used it for making mitered boxes, using pretty much the same technique John does. I lay it out flat end-to-end, tape all the joints except the ends, turn it over and fold it into the rectangular shape and tape the last joint shut. Adjust if necessary to make sure everything is tight. Ideally, it'll take a little bit of pressure to get the last joint taped shut. Then I un-do one corner, add glue to the joints, and tape it back shut. I also mask off the inside corners, so any glue squeeze-out is easy to remove.
 
Bob, thank you for posting your method. Those clamping blocks are a great idea!! I have a couple frames to make and that is exactly the kind of thing that'll be handy to have. I hope you don't mind if I "steal" your idea?
 
This method of clamping is about a simple as I can find but seems to work well for simple shop made wider molding and checking / adjusting for square is easy.
Starved glue joints are common on 45° cuts so to prevent that I usually apply two coats of glue. When I finished and put the frame on the wall I promised some day I would shoot a couple of brads in the corners. I finally got that round tu-it about a year later and it hadn't fallen apart by that time.
 

Attachments

  • mirror frame  - Quick grips.jpg
    mirror frame - Quick grips.jpg
    29.6 KB · Views: 16
  • mirror and frame 8-15-06.jpg
    mirror and frame 8-15-06.jpg
    34 KB · Views: 10
Top