New Year, new hobby

[Geoff_S]

Picture framing!

OK, dead easy right? 4 bits of wood, mitred, glued, picture in the middle.

But I think I know that nothing is ever that easy and there's a lot to learn. I've done a bit of surfing, and it would seem that it is in fact incredibly easy, courses taking just 1 hour, or not so easy, courses of 2 days, or fine art bloody complicated taking a year!

I want to do this purely as a hobby, just another moderate type of skill, not professional.

Can anyone point me in the right direction? For example, why use a guillotine when I can use a saw? Questions like that really.

Ta, and Happy New Year!

 

[thetyreman]

I haven't used a guillotine

I do it the hard way, remove all twist and face/edge mark the piece with a handplane, cut the rebate then cut it up into four pieces (continuous grain) using a mitre box and then a shooting board with razor sharp plane for the final surface,

the biggest challenge is getting the lengths EXACTLY the same, even one shaving makes a difference and the whole thing won't go together properly, go too far and you're then making it undersize.

they aren't easy to make

 

[Trevanion]

I did a couple of small picture frames for Christmas, even with a few years of practice in this woodworking lark I struggled to get it perfect! :lol:

I was trying to do the mitres straight off the saw though with a fine blade which after carefully checking with a square you could see very small discrepancies in the cut which made the mitres not meet as nicely as a guillotined surface. I imagine as tyreman said, a mitre shooting board and a plane would work wonders without splurging a couple of hundred on a secondhand Morso or Orteguil.

 

[woodbloke66]

Far from being easy, it's one of the most difficult things to do really well and if it's your pics that you're framing, you'll see every little fault. As mentioned above, you will need to make two pairs of each frame an identical size, with the emphasis on identical.
I penned this little piece when I was working for Ax and whilst it's not for a picture frame, the method of construction and basic details are the same - Rob

 

[AndyT]

Picture frames don't always have plain mitre joints. The "Oxford" pattern frame was popular in Victorian times and uses half laps, generally with stopped chamfers. It's one way of avoiding that sinking feeling that you've spent a long time making something not quite as good as one bought from Ikea.

https://archive.org/stream/woodworkjoin ... 0/mode/2up

 

[marcros]

and to add to the professor's suggestion, there are also mortice and tenon frames https://www.holtonframes.com/frames-fra ... on-frames/

 

[Geoff_S]

I hadn't thought about other joints. I really like the mortice & tenon.

Rob, what a coincidence. I am in the process of making something similar for a set of LP shelves. Just as you made the trivet but without the rebate.

However, not precise enough for picture frames. I'll post it up when it's finished.

I'm still wondering about a guillotine though. I'm rubbish with a plane. I see that I can get a guillotine on ebay and although expensive, nowhere near what I would have to pay to have what I need done professionally. I'm being quoted £60-£90 for a 600x600mm frame. Also, I've got a whole pile of offcuts from various projects that I can stick though the router to make something nice. It's getting the mitre correct that's the challenge for me.

Hell's teeth, for the sort of prices I'm being quoted I might try going semi-pro myself. But, what am I missing? For these prices there must be more to it?

 

[woodbloke66]

I'm being quoted £60-£90 for a 600x600mm frame

That's probably about right to frame a picture, assuming that the frame is purchased and includes a mount etc. If the picture is especially good or expensive, it's worth investing in 'clarity' glass (grade 2, which isn't quite 'museum quality') which will cut out almost all the UV falling on the pic....but for a piece that size you could pay £100+ which then ups your cost to near on £200max :shock:

This limited edition print of a 'Hare in a Meadow' was bought for me by SWIMBO nearly forty years ago and I originally framed it with a fairly nasty home cut mount and ordinary picture glass. You can see in the bottom left hand corner that the print has faded over the years, so earlier this year I made a new frame in oak and had a professionally cut double mount (cutting mounting card is harder than making the frame!) fitted with 'clarity' glass. You can see that there are reflections from the oak frame but the picture itself is totally matt. The glass for this one pic was £135 - Rob

 

[That would work]

I've recently treated myself to a gilloutine. I haven't used one for quite a few years before now when we had one in the joiners shop.
Trust me the absolute accuracy and glass like finish you get on the end grain cannot be produced on anything else.

 

[woodbloke66]

Trust me the absolute accuracy and glass like finish you get on the end grain cannot be produced on anything else.

That's a statement of fact that I would question... - Rob

 

[That would work]

Salt or sweet popcorn? :lol:

 

[NickM]

I've been making a few frames recently and can get acceptable results for what I want, but it's not as easy as I thought it should/would be. I have a table saw and ended up making a jig for cutting the mitres which, most importantly, can incorporate a stop for getting opposite sides the same length.

I had a play with a guillotine in Axminster recently. It's very easy to take thin slivers and leave a crisp edge, but you'd still need to come up with a way of getting each side the same length (perhaps you just cut one and then creep up on the other one until they're identical?). I was half tempted to take along a bag of bits to cut in the shop but thought that would be taking the p**s...!

I've been buying glass and backing boards from Hobby Craft. They're pretty cheap and it's not too hard to trim the glass to the desired size.

Cutting the beveled edge on the mounting card is the bit I find hardest. I bought a cutter online to do it, but I find it very hard to get perfect results with. No doubt the pros use something better (and more expensive).

 

[Chris152]

I recently sold my Logan mount cutter - it was easy to use, really precise. If you're looking to do many I'd recommend them.
And +1 for joins other than mitre - I've tried a few methods and prefer them to mitres.

 

[That would work]

Regarding getting the length's correct on a gilloutine, you would use a length jig. So you cut the first end on the gilloutine, flip it, place that end against the length stop and trim the other end (which has been cut close already).
I've still got to make mine but easy enough, the gilloutine has threaded holes to secure the jig.

 

[thetyreman]

Trust me the absolute accuracy and glass like finish you get on the end grain cannot be produced on anything else.

except a handplane :wink:

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Sharpened how? :lol:

 

[woodbloke66]

I've recently treated myself to a gilloutine. I haven't used one for quite a few years before now when we had one in the joiners shop.
Trust me the absolute accuracy and glass like finish you get on the end grain cannot be produced on anything else.

The advantage of a big guillotine is that you're able to mitre much bigger and fancier mouldings which are beyond the reach of a handplane. For smaller section material, a handplane and especially one with a skewed blade such as the LN51 or it's Veritas equivalent produces perfectly acceptable mitres - Rob