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framing before modern equipment

Posted: Wed 09 Nov, 2022 6:36 pm
by red
i like framers of old who had no access to our taken for granted equipment,yet
produced the 'goods'. Framing pictures, book by JT Burns ,There is a few lines that made me chuckle,

there is a machine for cutting mounts that require little skill
or experience,but its high cost makes it impracticable for the expert amateur,
except perhaps in a group workshop.

there is a machine called a morso...although excellent,it can only be of
academic interest to the amateur unless he belongs to a group wealthy enough
to establish a well equipped workshop for collective use

when was it written? 1978! not that long ago really .

Re: framing before modern equipment

Posted: Thu 10 Nov, 2022 11:57 am
by Justintime
Life before Ebay!

Re: framing before modern equipment

Posted: Thu 10 Nov, 2022 1:56 pm
by JFeig
I grew up in an era watching my dad at a drafting table, drawing his plans/drawings with a straight edge and a triangle. He made his calculations on a slide rule.

Re: framing before modern equipment

Posted: Thu 10 Nov, 2022 2:38 pm
by red
as life gets more technical,although there are many advantages to technology,
something of the human touch is lost,will picture framing of the future be
done by robots? there's a thought, just sit back and watch them working the morso!

Re: framing before modern equipment

Posted: Thu 10 Nov, 2022 4:52 pm
by vintage frames
There's a good argument to be had about the 'human touch'.
A bit like vinyl versus CDs, analogue versus digital.
Before Morsos, under pinners and CMCs, framers had to be pretty skilled up with their wood-work. Slight errors were always made and yet these were where that subtle imperceptible beauty can lie.

With all the modern equipment we can now produce absolutely faultless work. Not a trace of error.
I wonder what we are losing there.
Maybe it makes us feel more secure when dealing with the demands of retail customers.
Then again, would anyone even notice if we did have to revert back to the hand-made?
Would we even notice any difference?
We're supposed to be dealing with art, so perhaps we should notice.
Would anyone care?
But then, there is still that argument; vinyl versus digital.

Re: framing before modern equipment

Posted: Fri 11 Nov, 2022 11:07 am
by prospero
When I started making frames in the early '80s underpinners were a relatively new thing in the industry. A lot of
framers then still joined with the old hammer and nails. There were various clamping machines that speeded the job
up but many used the old Ulmia spring clamps. :P If you had to fill nail holes you could fill the divots at the same time.
One chap used big-headed wire nails from the top/bottom only and left the heads showing - reasoning that they wouldn't be
visible. :lol:

I bought this gizmo in a sale many years ago. I use it on occasion.
vice001.jpg
vice002smaller.jpg
I also bought this in the same sale. It's one of the most useful tools in my arsenal. Great for fixing liners in. With a conventional
hammer you risk missing and damaging the sight edge. It's branded 'Morso'. :clap:
pogger.jpg

Re: framing before modern equipment

Posted: Fri 11 Nov, 2022 11:17 am
by red
You make some good points there,re perfection. In my work i aimed for perfection,
in my craft work the same.Not until i was in my 50's did it strike me ,were my
customers looking for perfection? on the whole no. ive eased my perfection, have
buyers noticed , no. It was coming from within myself.
'Are we men or machines', a line in the charlie chaplain speech, the great dictator film.
Some framing looks like it has been done my machines.
On looking at my own perfectionism,i realised there was a fine line between it and OCD.
I aim to do work now as good as possible,but the old perfectionism can still creep in!
I can make frames as well by hand as by equipment, it just takes longer.

Re: framing before modern equipment

Posted: Sat 12 Nov, 2022 5:24 am
by prospero
There are flaws and there are "Lyrical Imperfections". :wink: :clap:

Re: framing before modern equipment

Posted: Sat 12 Nov, 2022 11:33 am
by Not your average framer
I've got all the usuall modern equipment, which everyone else uses, but everything has it's limitation and some jobs still need to be done using the old fashioned tradisional way. Yes, I often have to use hidden pins, or nails to keep the front face on really deep frames closed and stuff like that. Also it is not an uncommon thing for customers to want a framing job, where it is more of a carpetry and joinery type job and cannot be done with standard mouldings and methods. I pick up a reasonable number of framing jobs, just by virtue of the fact that I can undertake such jobs, when other framers don't want the work at all.