Making a Very Big Frame - Bigger!

[vintage frames]

A customer gave me this frame to re-size so that painting he has will fit inside.
The canvas is 2" longer than the rebate but 4" shorter on the height.

You can't just break these frames open at the mitres, they are built like doorways. The only way in is to saw and hacksaw it apart and then start digging out the deep hidden cross nails.
Why do people keep giving me these monsters? They weigh a ton and are a huge effort to lift and move around.
But at least it is fun and a challenge.

The plan is to cut away some of the inner flat section so as to widen the sight size, re size the rebate, re-cut the mitres, join it up and make good all the loses etc.
'Trouble is the moulding is 8" wide and my saw will only cut up to 4", so I may have to run each length through the rip saw using a thin kerf blade and at a selected point in the decoration.
Then mitre each piece again, glue them together and make good the now very wide mitres.
Sorry to confuse.
Further reports will follow.

[JFeig]

On the lighter side....

You could have said, No can do.

Personally I might have looked into making the adjustments in the centers of the rails. I hope they have deep pockets. Cheers

[Justintime]

Lovely looking frame. I'm going to guess at late 1800's? Of a decent value as it is?
I was thinking the same as Jerome, to cut it through the middle. But do you need to cut it at the mitres in order to cut down the profile?
Looking forward to the updates.

[vintage frames]

Thanks for your comments.
If I had gone for cutting it down the middle, that still would not have given me access to the engaged slip. All the frame elements are well glued together so there was no way of removing it. To increase the sight size of the frame I have to reduce or remove that inner slip.

And I have no way of accurately cutting the frame in half, as well as the problem of re-joining the lengths and making them mechanically strong enough to support the weight of the frame.
If I can re-make the mitres well enough, then I can use long sunken dowels drilled into the corners and filled.

There is 2" spare at each end of the short lenghts and I have been cutting into these and not through the original mitres.
You are following I hope.

[Fruitini]

That’s got hidden metalwork written all over it! I’d price in at least one new set of saw blades into the price if I was brave enough to take that on! If anyone can, Dermot can! Good luck! Can’t wait to see the result.

[prospero]

I had a chap in one day with two not-quite-so-big as that that he wanted resizing. I said "yes" but it would take a few weeks.
He was expecting them done there and then while he waited. As he pointed out - "You have all the equipment so what's the problem?"

[JFeig]

I had a chap in one day with two not-quite-so-big as that that he wanted resizing. I said "yes" but it would take a few weeks.
He was expecting them done there and then while he waited. As he pointed out - "You have all the equipment so what's the problem?

This sounds just like "well, it's only 4 sticks of wood(timber)"
Spoken by someone who is totally clueless.

[Justintime]

And thinks we sit around waiting for them to walk in...

[prospero]

This sounds just like "well, it's only 4 sticks of wood(timber)"
Spoken by someone who is totally clueless.

Not quite so bad as the man who wanted a mat for a 12ft long Chinese scroll - while he waited.

Or... the one who wanted a 24x20" big ornate frame cutting into two 12x10s.

[JFeig]

We all have our horror stories regarding customers expectations.
Merry Christmas

[vintage frames]

Little bit of topic drift there..

I've opened up the frame and just as Frutini had predicted, it was rammed full of metalwork.
The wood saw is a bit the worse for wear but the hacksaw get me through 'till the end.

I got all the nails out by drilling alongside each with a 2mm drill bit and once loosened, pulling out with long-nose pliers.
Nails driven into the sides were knocked back out with a hole punch.
It's all a bit messy but can be easily sorted later.

Now I've got access to the front engaged slips and will be able to reduce the profile width to display the larger canvas.
3/4" needs taken off but removing it from the front might spoil the symmetry of the profile, so I might go deeper into the contours, remove a larger piece and fashion a new sight edge and inserted slip.

I've dismissed my original idea of splitting the moulding into two pieces so as to fit the double mitre saw. It would be easier to build a super-accurate mitre box and buy a new quality handsaw from Screwfix.

Merry Christmas everyone.