The Framers Forum

I've been asked to frame a couple of cricket tops for my local club. I have a couple of pictures of the existing frames - the moulding is about 1" wide and c.2" Deep (over all). Does anyone on here know which supplier the moulding might be from. Most of the framing I do is plain wood so I rarely order finished mouldings.

Apologies for the bad pics!

Many thanks.

Thinking about it the moulding must be 2.5 - 3" deep.

I think this is probably a plain wood, maybe two mouldings even .... and not very well finished, I certainly wouldn't buy anything finished like that.

avantime wrote:the moulding must be 2.5 - 3" deep.

Have a look at those pictures again! If that frame really is that deep, (which I doubt) how thick does that make the wires for the LED lighting? Also the fixing plates and screws suggest that the original moulding depth of 2" at the start of this thread looks more likely.

If so, I'm wondering if the moulding could perhaps be Rose and Hollis A154 Obeche!

I would also agree with Roboframer about the quality of the stained finish, well spotted John! Clearly no attempt had been made to condition the surface of the wood, before applying the stain. Not a nice result!

A question regarding the staining, what conditioning should be done first? The staining looks fine to me, although I am just looking on my phone so I could well be missing something.

Was just thinking the same myself The finish looks ok to me. I can see it is stained obeche but it looks alright... like a rustic sort of thing. I know it's not a piece of oak or walnut but surely it's not that bad?

Rose & Hollis A154 is 45mm deep 30mm wide. I use this moulding a lot but mostly painted

It's been stained over an imperfect finish - it looks like there is 'chatter' - movement on the spindle moulder that causes marks that can be highlighted when finished over. It's 'orrible - and that's why I reckon there is no moulding ref for it - no-one would sell it. Unfinished, possibly.

The surface of the moulding is fine - a sprayed finish over a stain. Certainly looks like a finished moulding to me when seen in the flesh. The strange graining of the obeche base is just the way the light is catching it. The moulding is smooth to the touch; there was no chattering on the moulder heads when machined.

The R&H moulding would do with the correct finish.

Mant thanks for the replies!

H

simoonez wrote:A question regarding the staining, what conditioning should be done first?

It's not so much a question of what should be done first, It's an optional technique for stopping the more absorbant areas in the wood from taking up significantly more stain than the less adsorbant areas. With practice you can vary the degree of blocking to control the level of contrast between the lighter and darker parts of the grain and achieve the desired result.

If you look closely at the picture showing the front face of the moulding, you can see some darker banding in the grain where a higher loading of stain has been absorbed. This banding would have been quite difficult to quantify in terms of it's effect when stained before it had been stained, but after it has been stained there is no longer any chance to let these areas soak up something to fill the unwanted absorbancy.

There are proprietory pre-stain conditioners which you can buy, but blocking these areas is not that difficult to do using fairly basic methods. For spirit based stains, the usual text book method is to give the wood a couple of coats of well thinned shellac applied with a piece of rag, or tissue. Alternatively, I often use a watered down chalky emulsion paint and after this has soaked into the wood, I rub off all the surplus which kitchen towels untill no more can be removed.

For water based stains, I usually pick a watered down acrylic paint which mimics the normal colour of the wood, wipe off the surplus, let it dry and then apply the stain.

This makes obeche, or tulipwood look much less blotchy and much more evenly grained, while also being a quick and easy thing to do. When I've got the time, it will be more helpful if I do some before and after pictures to illustrate what I am talking about and show the difference this makes with two side by side section of the same piece of wood. It might sound complicated, but actually it is extremely simple to do!

Liming is another way of hiding any undesireably strong contrast between lighter and darker parts of the grain which become noticeable after staining.

I am pretty sure that this is a factory finished moulding, I have seen it somewhere, if I get time I will investigate tomorrow.

You may be thinking of Simons 000W/1029, which looks very similar in terms of the stained finish, but it does not match the quoted dimensions. If the dimension are only guessed at and the margin for error in the guessed dimensions was sufficient, then this moulding could even be the moulding in question.

I might just be worth getting a sample from Simons for comparison with the actual moulding.

Not your average framer wrote:You may be thinking of Simons 000W/1029, which looks very similar in terms of the stained finish, but it does not match the quoted dimensions. If the dimension are only guessed at and the margin for error in the guessed dimensions was sufficient, then this moulding could even be the moulding in question.

I might just be worth getting a sample from Simons for comparison with the actual moulding.

That's fantastic Sir! Many thanks.

Your welcome!

BTW, it's not every day I get called Sir, but I'm happy just to be called Mark (I ain't that important).

that might just be the one one Sir Mark (definitely better than skid)

Could it be this from Lion, part number L1400

http://www.lionpic.co.uk/product/32mm-E ... 001,0.aspx

That looks very very like a Rose & Hollis plain obeche frame. I would suggest-;
Stain the wood with spirit stain, mahogany.
Paint over a thinned wash of acrylic burnt umber paint. ( use "student" grade - it thins better)
Paint on two coats of shellac sanding sealer.
Rub down with 00 wire wool, then wax with 0000 wire wool.
It's best to test all the above on a waste piece of obeche.

mho wrote:Could it be this from Lion, part number L1400

http://www.lionpic.co.uk/product/32mm-E ... 001,0.aspx

That's the one! Many thanks once again to you all!