The Framers Forum

I was wondering if anyone else used an Esterly Speed-mat mount cutter and if so where they get their replacement blades from? I have about 50 blades left, but have not found any other option thus far from getting them from Esterly themselves. Anyone who knows if these can be purchased in the UK, I w...

Hi there, I have an air operated underpinner, but know that the cassese cs79 and cs88 both get excellent write ups and are popular with users. With regards to guillotines, Morso are unbeatable. When I started framing (not that long ago), I went with an electric mitre saw and bench guillotine, and al...

As the frame you want to repair has other corners in tact. you can make a mould using one of the corners in good order. I have made moulds using a silicone moulding rubber. Once applied, it goes off quite quickly and then it is a case of getting it off the frame which is quite delicate. However, you...

Hi, I also use DHL and normally pay £10.50 including VAT to ship within the UK. I pack all paintings myself with a layer of bubblewrap and then blue foam corners (cut myself from long strips) and then fit into a double walled box supplied by a local packaging company. I give them the dimensions of e...

I use a Draper cutter (not wheel) which works perfectly, and dip in white spirit before each cut. I have a T square which I line up with the edge of my bench, not the glass. The glass is levelled with my bench, but this enables you to finish the cut pushing down the edge of the glass. I then slide m...

Thanks for that link and original post, I had been racking my brains for a good way to do it without coming up with a solution. I reckon I will go with the fillets as well, you are right, it will look rather nice. I will post a photo of the finished job. Are PEL still the best place to get the archi...

I have been asked to frame 4 1950's football magazines for a customer who has managed to get Issues 1-4. They have left it for me to choose the frame and how it looks. If I show the front of all 4 magazines, this will be a pretty large frame. The important thing for the customer is that you can see ...

Hi there, I am a football fan (as much as any person who supports West Ham can be!) and I think that that is a superb job. Granted, the football is not as the design of the Adidas football used at the world cup, but the balls change design from one world cup to the next and even the biggest fans wil...

Hi Chris and welcome to the forum, I thought I would give you my thoughts as a relatively new framer. I started just cutting a few mounts for paintings I had purchased and moved into framing before starting to offer it to paying customers. At first, I thought there was little point spending a fortun...

Thanks for the pricing chart, I have done a comparison using the pricing chart to quote for a frame and using the Estlite software with my current markups and they come out within £5 of each other. I had previously been charging a fair bit less, but put my prices up quite quickly after setting up an...

Hi there, Very nice painting. Have you tried a bronzed frame? As an example Lion do a 70mm "puccini" Matt Bronze frame part number "L1586" Link is: http://www.lionpic.co.uk/catalog/Puccini,195.aspx?items=20&page=1&sort=1&dir=0 I recently framed an oil painting of a si...

Hi Brian,

Thanks for the info, I have just seen your recent thread, I will give those a go.

Many thanks

Nick

Hi all, I have a Euro 9000 underpinner which I purchased a couple of months ago. I got some wedges with the machine. As Euro don't exist any more, I was wondering what the best wedges to use are? I have also had on 2 occasions, wedges get completely jammed, which has resulted in me having to take th...

I have done this on occassion and have seen "Unknown Number" but can't this also mean that a customer is X directory ? Hi Adam, X Directory numbers don't come up withheld, the only way they are withheld from a home telephone line is if you dial 141 in front the the telephone number. I als...

Hi there, I get these all the time too. What I have done is forward calls to my mobile. You can do this easily by having BT featureline which is no extra cost to a normal line (you don't need to buy a featureline telephone, a normal phone will work). Then any calls that come in that are unkown numbe...

I have used Simon Hall as well for more expensive art and have never had a problem. They will also pack it for you and make up plyboard boxes to ship them. Don't use the regular couriers for expensive art. Royal Mail only insure up to £2,500 and the first and only time I sent a £5,000 work of art to...

Hi Fraggle, I found a local packaging company who make double walled boxes individually to the size of each frame. I also get the blue foam, but in 2.4m lengths and cut them to make corners (works out about £0.40 for 4 corners) The boxes work out between £2.00 - £4.00 per box dependent on size. It m...

What size wedges are you using. When I pruchased my Euro, it would fire the 7mm wedges, but not any larger. The action would still work with larger ones but no wedge would fire. The problem was solved but taking to bits and having a big clean up. I also need to give the wedges a quick wiggle after f...

The gutter pipe is a great idea, I am now undecided again, but may try that before going vertical. I did have some leftover 25mm mdf, but of course that has a propensity to bow as well. We have a local screwfix so will get some to give a go.

Thanks all, Merlin, your setup looks great, the difference is yours look well made and support the moulding at several points, whereas mine is wholly inadequate! James, I think I will try to get something along your lines. I have a friend who works with steel building frames for large buildings. He ...