The Framers Forum

A customer has a very long picture – 1.5m x 0.5m – and wants to hang it from a picture rail. I am thinking some sort of arrangement with two parallel chains (brass preferably) about 300mm in from either end. Has anyone any exprerience of this? And where do you get your supplies?

I'm thinking you would need to fix 2 double D rings to the top of the frame, connect the chains to these somehow and then have some kind of hook connected to the other end.

It's not a very wide moulding – about 20mm. Would be grateful for any suggestions for getting round this conundrum.

frankscragg.co.uk used to do a huge selection of chains and hooks, not sure if they still do.

Am I understanding from your post that you would be taking the full weight of the frame on the top rail? If so, that's probably not a good idea, but it would be quite easy to attach the chain to the side rail, in the normal D ring position, and then feed the chain through another D ring or similar attached to the top rail, so the appearance would be as you described.

Thanks Gesso and Bole. That’s such a good point!

So grateful for the fount of information on this forum - it’s invaluable. I particularly appreciate the way more experienced framers are happy to share their knowledge without making anyone feel stupid or small.

A couple of things, if its heavy and only a 20mm wide frame I be thinking about adding a subframe for added strength.
Also be aware of the angle of the D rings and chains. The steeper the angle, the less stress on the frame.

Here's an illustration of forces on anchor points.

If there was ever a photo you don't want to get upside down, it's that one

That's great Justintime. It's absolutely fine if I stand on my head

Many thanks