Good Afternoon Everyone,
I’ve been hired to make picture frames for paintings from members of an art class at a local college. They want me to use red oak, in a “rustic” style. I decided to go with 1.5″ x 1.5″ rails and stiles, joined with rabbets at the corners, with a 2″ overlap, and 1/4″ x 1/4″ ledger strips to hold the painting. The canvases are 3/4″ thick. The paintings are all 25″ x 30″.
The attached picture shows exactly what the frame looks like.
Here’s my question: what is the best way to join the rabbets? A couple of the artists are installing their paintings in Florida, some here in Massachusetts, etc. I am wondering if liquid hide glue alone will do the job? Or should I add wood screws, covered with plugs? Or should I use dowels?
I’d really like to he hired again for the next class, so I want to do a great job!
After reading “The Glue Book” cover-to-cover recently, I now feel that every glueing job presents a major question mark!
Thanks for your help.
Edited 11/15/2002 2:48:35 PM ET by Matthew Schenker
Replies
A half lap would be stronger than just a rabbet. A single screw at each joint, driven in from the back, will eliminate the need for a plug.
I think I mis-stated the joint. It would be considered, I believe, a half-lap joint. Each member has a cut-out equal in depth to half the thickness that matches up with the cut out on the joining member. Therefore, I have face-grain and end-grain glue surfaces.
Matthew
Perhaps a half lap glued with square pegs in a contrasting wood for decoration.
just a thought
les
This looks very close to Mission style frames, but the dimensions of the wood are wrong for that style. I think Mission would be made pretty much as you describe, perhaps with a decorative, square, plug, but the dimensions of the wood would probably be .75 by 3 inches or so. The wider pieces would make it much stronger as well.
John
Your cross-lap is plenty strong--i use that on stained glass, which is a lot heavier than canvas. Overkill to screw it or plug it--what are they paying you? <G> Congrats on getting the job.
A tip: a fast, fast, fast way to cut these multiple identical joints is to gang the sticks together and pipe clamp them on a very flat surface, then run your router over all of them at once. No edge splitting (use waste stock to bracket the bunch), and superior accuracy to doing one at a time. Depending n your router and bit, take multiple passes until you get to the right depth. Make sure your router bit is firmly seated or it's also a fast way to ruin a lot of parts!
He Splintie,
What a coincidence! The technique you described (ganging the pieces together) is exactly what I did. I used QuickGrip clamps, and the handles were nice for pushing through the router table. I used a 1"-diameter straight bit. What's nice about this is that I only had to do one shift for each depth because the entire lap is only 1.5" wide. This made for perfectly matched members.
I searched for a 1.5"-diameter straight bit, but couldn't find one. Now if I had that shaper.....
You are probably right about not needing screws. However, I have to apologize for not following your advice on this. I went ahead and added a wood screw from the back of each joint. The screws are 1" long, countersunk 1/4", which centers them between each member of the lap joint. I know you said it was strong enough without this, but it's totally invisible from the front and it makes me feel more secure. I tell you, after reading The Glue Book, I've started over-worrying about every glue job.
Thanks everyone for your help.
Oh, on this first frame I made $50. Probably can get more than that, but it's a start!
Edited 11/16/2002 1:56:59 PM ET by Matthew Schenker
The best part of putting the screw in is that it makes for a great clamp, right? And you did use statutory bronze, right? <G>
I would get a bit more than that for a stained glass frame of that size and the store owner for whom i frame adds her percentage to that. Price some of these, and you'll see that quality, custom framing is very expensive. I realize it's worth a discount to do multiples and to get your foot inside that door.
If this works, you will likely get asked to do others in various sizes. I worked out a formula based on a price-per-foot of molding, plus an assembly charge. This accounts both for the cost of materials plus "basic" fees so you don't get either burned on a small frame or price yourself out of the market on a large one as you would with a straight fee based on area or linear measurement.
What is statutory bronze??? (I've only heard the word used to modify "rape".)
Jeff
Statuary.
Optimized for corrosive environments, like pigeon poo.
Edited 11/17/2002 1:24:48 AM ET by Uncle Dunc
The odd thing is that when i typed that, that term that i've seen on screw packs and in advertising suddenly looked odd to me, too, so i googled to see if i had it wrong. I found it used in contract specifications for outdoor plaques and by boat-builders so i figured it had to do with percentages of metals or the rigor used to make certain kinds of extreme-duty silicon bronze as opposed to that used to cast artwork. I called the sculpture foundry that i work with to see if they knew the difference, but couldn't raise anyone there on a Sunday. I'll try again and let you know if i find out.
Splintie,
Thanks for your help on this question! This weekend I delivered the frame and saw the painting mounted in it. A few people were viewing it together, and I was a bit nervous, but I have to say, it is one of those moments when your work almost takes on a life of its own. The painting looked excellent in that frame!
So, it looks like I'll be getting some more orders. Your assistance on pricing will help me out on this. I did the first one for cost (equal to the value of materials). Now I have to make sure people understand that I only did that for the first one because I was starting out!
I toast your success! I must admit i've turned over in my mind many times your clamping the parts together with Quick-Grips to run them over the router table. In my view, those clamps wouldn't be secure enough to make a practice of using them like that. And with those material lengths, i would take the machine to the wood instead of vice versa. I'm not throwing cold water on your project, just trying to think of faster and safer ways to do it.
Splintie,
The QuickGrips worked fine, but probably good wood clamps might have been a better choice. I tend to take off very little bit with each pass at the router -- only about 1/16" - 1/8" at a time -- so the QuickGrips were OK. The QuickGrips do provide a nice handle as well. Since the pieces are 1.5" wide, the four ganged pieces only total 6", which is pretty easy to handle.
Thanks for your insight and assistance!
Hope I can do the same for you some day.
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