Stacked Frames

Discuss Picture Framing topics.

PLEASE USE THE HELP SECTION
WHEN SEEKING OR OFFERING HELP!
Not your average framer
Posts: 11014
Joined: Sat 25 Mar, 2006 8:40 pm
Location: Devon, U.K.
Organisation: The Dartmoor Gallery
Interests: Lost causes, saving and restoring old things, learning something every day
Location: Glorious Devon

Re: Stacked Frames

Post by Not your average framer »

Hi Peter,

WOW, that's really nice! It's a great look as well. I like the way that you have combined mouldings and pieces of ordinary wood into one seemless whole. Can I ask how you managed to blend the piece of ordinary wood on the base of the oulside edge of the completed overall profile with the outer moulding on top? I know that this is not always easy. Are these pieces of nornal wood pieces of Obeche?

I often like to use pine mouldings, as I can easily add in plain pieces of pine and cut across both mouldings and plain pieces of pine with the table saw and then run the cut area on the table planner to clean up to a nice clean and smooth face. The glue line and join usually disappears completely after I have done a little bit of sanding and handfinishing.

That is a very nice job indeed! :clap: :clap: :clap:
Mark Lacey

“Life is short. Art long. Opportunity is fleeting. Experience treacherous. Judgement difficult.”
― Geoffrey Chaucer
Not your average framer
Posts: 11014
Joined: Sat 25 Mar, 2006 8:40 pm
Location: Devon, U.K.
Organisation: The Dartmoor Gallery
Interests: Lost causes, saving and restoring old things, learning something every day
Location: Glorious Devon

Re: Stacked Frames

Post by Not your average framer »

Hi jo,

I somehow managed to miss your stacked moulding frames, but they look great and very nicely done as well. :clap: :clap: :clap:
Mark Lacey

“Life is short. Art long. Opportunity is fleeting. Experience treacherous. Judgement difficult.”
― Geoffrey Chaucer
User avatar
prospero
Posts: 11492
Joined: Tue 05 Jun, 2007 4:16 pm
Location: Lincolnshire

Re: Stacked Frames

Post by prospero »

Not your average framer wrote: Tue 19 Apr, 2022 8:53 am .......... Can I ask how you managed to blend the piece of ordinary wood on the base of the oulside edge of the completed overall profile with the outer moulding on top? I know that this is not always easy. Are these pieces of nornal wood pieces of Obeche?
Basically, a lot of sanding. You're right, it isn't easy. One way I found is to 'plane' the join after filling it proud with a small piece of scrap
glass. A cheap disposable tool of which we all have an inexhaustible supply. :lol:

The filler pieces are just bits of PSE timber that I had kicking about. They don't actually have to be the full length. :wink:
Watch Out. There's A Humphrey About
Not your average framer
Posts: 11014
Joined: Sat 25 Mar, 2006 8:40 pm
Location: Devon, U.K.
Organisation: The Dartmoor Gallery
Interests: Lost causes, saving and restoring old things, learning something every day
Location: Glorious Devon

Re: Stacked Frames

Post by Not your average framer »

Thanks Peter,

That's what I was thinking. I do similar tasks a little bit differently and machine pieces of wood to be level to each other and then mostly rely upon some thick home made primer to act as a smoothable base coat under the the proper handfinished surface. The primer is applied as a brushed on finish and then smoothed down after it has set using cellulose thinners on a pad of folded disposable kitchen tissue. My primer uses up left over water based paints and a little decorators calking. The binders in these paints and the decorators calking appear to be acrylic based and easily disolve in the cellulose thinners, so it smooths off any surface inperfections extremely easily. I have found my table planner a nice and easy way to finish two adjoining wood surfaces to create a seemless surface with no obvious join line. It is not advisable to use any more than a very thin layer of glue, when joining to pieces of wood together prior to planning, because the dried glue is not good for the longevity of the planner blades. It is my technique to staple these pieces of wood together using narrow crown 20 gauge staples, as well as gluing them together. The staples more than compensate for the sparing application of glue. My pneumatic stapler will not fire staples whicn are anymore than 20mm long and my favourite spacers are 12mm thick obeche mouldings, so I still get 8mm of penetration after the staples have passed trough my spacer.

If necessary a second spacer can be applied in the same manner after the first spacer has been apllied and this is extremely quick and easy. The narrow crown staples sink below the surface and do not limit the ability of the spacers to glue down fully flush onto each other. My assumption is that gluing obeche to obeche with produce the best match after planning. If I am extend in a Pine moulding to be deeper the I use a pine spacer instead. I do need to be more careful if I am using pine, as the staples can try to follow the line of the wood grain, which can produce unforeseen and very difficult to correct problems. Also I really need to know where to staple end uo going as they can very easily damage the planner blades. I have quite large stocks of certain nice looking value for money mouldings, which I have also chosen for their versatile range of uses. One of those uses is for when I can simply and easily extend the rear of the moulding to create moulding for deep box frames at low extra cost. I don't find that most deep rebate moulding are always my best options as I like to offer a few other different shapes as well. I don't personally like to follow the crowd
and find it an advanatage to be able to offer options which are not readily available elsewhere, hence I like a bit of shape on the front of my deep box frames, particularly if I can add some extra detail to little quirks which will take a subtile wash line.

Obeche mouldings and spacers are much easier to use for stacking together to create deeper mouldings a so much quicker as well. There are a couple of nice basic low cost pine mouldings which work well as the basis for deep box frame mouldings, but I am rather reluctant to use staple as part of the way of securing them together and as a consequence these are usually screwed and glued together. I have a special drill bit called a "Screwsinker" which enables me to hid the screws with a bit of two part wood filler, which gets sanded smooth and flush afterwards.
Mark.
Mark Lacey

“Life is short. Art long. Opportunity is fleeting. Experience treacherous. Judgement difficult.”
― Geoffrey Chaucer
User avatar
prospero
Posts: 11492
Joined: Tue 05 Jun, 2007 4:16 pm
Location: Lincolnshire

Re: Stacked Frames

Post by prospero »

One of my favourite and useful stacked 'systems' is a wide, flat section edged with narrower mouldings. The flat part
in the middle can be any width and can be a standard moulding or simply a piece of PSE. I've even used OSB which gives
a nice texture and finishes well. This is a great way of making a very substantial moulding from various oddments.
The outer section can be omitted to give a simpler and more 'modern' look.
I have huge amounts of small mouldings which I don't really use a lot of nowadays, but they are great as little 'trim' parts
on bigger profiles. :D
UrbaneGreysample001.jpg
Watch Out. There's A Humphrey About
User avatar
prospero
Posts: 11492
Joined: Tue 05 Jun, 2007 4:16 pm
Location: Lincolnshire

Re: Stacked Frames

Post by prospero »

A bit of 'groovy' pine with a hockey-stick section added to form the rebate.

The random grooves were done with a Dremel+sanding drum. Great fun. :clap:
groovypine001.jpg
Watch Out. There's A Humphrey About
Not your average framer
Posts: 11014
Joined: Sat 25 Mar, 2006 8:40 pm
Location: Devon, U.K.
Organisation: The Dartmoor Gallery
Interests: Lost causes, saving and restoring old things, learning something every day
Location: Glorious Devon

Re: Stacked Frames

Post by Not your average framer »

I am really impressed with that. I don't actually know if I have enough manual dexterity left in my right hand still to attempt something like that. I still have a right handed brain, but it was the right hand side of my body which was damaged by the stroke, so maybe not! Sorry, but I was about to send a replay to your previous post when my internet provider phone to fix my email.
Mark Lacey

“Life is short. Art long. Opportunity is fleeting. Experience treacherous. Judgement difficult.”
― Geoffrey Chaucer
Not your average framer
Posts: 11014
Joined: Sat 25 Mar, 2006 8:40 pm
Location: Devon, U.K.
Organisation: The Dartmoor Gallery
Interests: Lost causes, saving and restoring old things, learning something every day
Location: Glorious Devon

Re: Stacked Frames

Post by Not your average framer »

Although I have have plenty of wood working machinery, I need to limit how much I try to do, because I need to keep focus when doing any machining tasks and my concentration time is limited since my stroke and therefore I like small, quick and easy tasks, together with brief moments of rest to re-focus by brain. My planning table is one of the easiest things do use as you just need to set the depth and you are good to go! I also find the bandsaw very easy to use. The table saw is much more dangerous and I don't use that nearly as much as once did. As a result, although I like to modify some mouldings using these machines, I don't tend to go in for anything which is too complicated and requires too many different machining opporations.

It is particularly important to me to not be using these machines on anything small which means getting my hands too close to anything which can hurt me, so I like the use jigs to hold difficult thing to hold while cutting them. This is makes me feel personally so much safer, since my stroke. As a result, I am less ambitious than I used to be when attempting to use wood machining equipment when re-purposing and adapting existing mouldings. Never the less, adapting basic low cost mouldings into mouldings which are more interesting and more up market is still of very much importance to a lot which I like to do.
Mark Lacey

“Life is short. Art long. Opportunity is fleeting. Experience treacherous. Judgement difficult.”
― Geoffrey Chaucer
Post Reply