The Framers Forum

First of all I would try re-seating the blades.

They should be snug where they meet and equal height.

I use a Keencut straightedge with the rubber inserts. :D Foamcore is notoriously hard to cut clean. You need a good, sharp blade. Blades are cheaper than foamcore. :P It's a good idea to make the first stroke very lightly just to establish the 'track'. Then you can press harder until you get though ...

Quick Tip: Don't use steel wool on Oak (or Ash) or you can get little black spots were steel fragments
lodge in the pores and react.

I use a great many of these for mounting sticky-out canvases... https://www.lionpic.co.uk/p/8591/Bendable-Fixing-Plates-37mm-Pack-100 They are very easily formed to fit exactly. If you want to conceal the side of the canvas then Rose&Hollis do a good selection of square stripwood which can be ta...

I've used these people in the past and they are specialist art shippers. Not too dear.

https://www.aardvarkartservices.com/

I cobbled together this setup for £<500. The only disadvantage is that it needs to be a permanent setup. It's also very dusty but a good dust extraction system would cure that. I've been using it for ten years and it speeds up cutting big awkward mouldings considerably. Having two saws avoids the ne...

I agree with all the previous advice. I started with a Nobex saw. It was sort-of OK for small mouldings. :roll: An artist friend of mine (who was as clueless as I was) pitched up with a heap of moulding he'd bought in a sale. It was big chunky stuff. Can I cut and join 10 12"x10" frames? S...

Many Apollylodgies. I should have gone to Specsavers.

It's still on the Simons site. Whether they have any or not is anyone's guess. Says 120 on the page.

https://djsimons.co.uk/product/regency- ... old-heavy/

Have a word with these guys....

http://www.norfolkmouldings.co.uk/

I have found them are very good and min order only 100ft. Quick turn around.

The profile is simple and won't need special knives to be made.

You have to crunch the numbers. If you have a job that requires two sticks of an expensive moulding and you are left with say 6ft, then that bit is essentially scrap, especially if it's a wide one. It may have cost £30, but in practice you are never going to see your money back. You can't take it to...

The so-called 'Swept' frames that were imported from the Far East were typically very cheap, which is why a lot were used in the '80s/'90s. They were quite 'brassy'. I have had a lot of success with refinishing them in a more subtle tone to suit modern tastes. An Ivory base with hints of colour and ...

Mounting 101: NEVER stick anything down that you can't replace. :P If the piece needs to be drymounted then the artist should mount the substrate before executing the work. :wink: *I would be very wary of applying heat to an oil pastel. It would need to be cold-mounted using PVA and left under weigh...

I remember Simons doing wax filler sticks in tins. I used to melt it on with a soldering iron. They did wood shades and also metallics. I found this on Amazon.... https://www.amazon.co.uk/Total-Furniture-Repair-System-Touch-Up-Brown/dp/B017GGDNKO/ref=asc_df_B017GGDNKO/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode...

I remember the Lira frames and mouldings from Sisslings. :D They were dirt cheap and looked quite classy. The mouldings were on a base timber of some really ropey pine, often with multiple finger-joints. This made them very twist-resistant though. Cutting/joining was could be quite problematic but o...

The elegant solution for making BIG subframes. Get some tongue and groove pine cladding. It's (relatively) cheap and comes in 8mm thickness. Rip off the tongue side. The clever bit is you can form half-lap joints without any fancy woodwork skills. Just use two layers, glued and screwed. The laminate...

Acetone will eat into leaf very quickly. To control it, have a wad of cotton wool dipped in White Spirit
standing by. This will neutralise the Acetone allowing you to control the effect.

Nitric Acid is a bit OTT and is harmful to bare skin.

I'd say riveting the d-rings to the back is the best way. Even use 2-hole ones on a bigger frame. That way all the stress is taken on the back. Putting a piece of aluminium tape over the rivet 'tails' is a good idea. Fixing the back to the frame would work but if the back is near a damp surface or i...

I use Multi points for everything. They hold well. They are nice and thin and can be bent without springing back. They are also handy for joining stacked sections when the inner part protrudes - band one in and put a small screw in the hole. They are easy to remove. :D I never like the conventional ...

Lion do (did do) Fletcher 11mm ones.

But if you take my advice, invest in a Fletcher Multipoint gun. Excellent for 'shoehorn' jobs.