The Framers Forum

Hi.

I forgot my user id! So created another.

I wonder if anyone can point in the right direction for a supplier for bespoke stretcher bars, ie made to measure.

We are buying more and more of them and was shocked to see we had spent over 1k on bespoke stretchers in Dec alone.

Anyone recommend any good suppliers for cost effective bars.


Thanks.
Liam

Be glad for the same info myself Liam.

if your spending 1K a month, is it not worth having the machinary to do them yourself?

other than a table saw and a mortising head, what would suggest?

I've tried the do-it-yourself stuff with the MDF triangles. Works up to a point, but I'm not impressed. Recently did a 64" canvas using this system. It was rigid enough when the corners were tight, but I had to tension the canvas to the extent where the corners were getting wobbly. Ended up fixing L plates to the corners. No good if the canvas ever needs an extra tweak. Whole thing looked a bit of a lash-up to be honest.

With all the weird paintings that people bring back from their hols, it seems strange that Metric size stretchers aren't more readily available "off the shelf". OK, you can sometimes go for the nearest size and jiggle it a bit, but over 2ft they tend to go up in 2" increments. I wouldn't have thought it was a massive re-tool job to make a few odd sizes...... You can get chop frames so why not chop stretchers?

Got one now. 24 x 14.5"

No idea exactly how much these machines cost. Gotta be less than a CMC.


http://www.stegherr.net/en/picture-fram ... e-brf.html

Problem is, a single framer could hardly justify the cost of buying the kit purely for their own use. Maybe we ought to have a whip-round and buy one between us. I remember seeing one years ago at the Spring Fair. As I recall, it wasn't an enormous thing.

I used to use a company in london who also made canvases but I can't remember the name.

I just used fixed jointed canvases using Simons two way moulding. I have made tens of thousands of canvases over the years this way they are Ok obviously not to conservation standard as you can't mechanically tighten them, but for the majority of stuff I do they are adequate and cheap. Having said that I would use them to make canvas's for artist's who's work is of any real value but they are fine for commercial interior design jobs etc and cheapo canvases from abroad.

I get made to measure Stretcher bars with braces and wedges etc from Ventons in Callington, Cornwall. Not sure where you are, they may do mail order?
Cheers

We manufacture made to measure stretcher bars. Also now do made to measure Wunderbars (though, these you need to buy direct from Fujifilm or Fujifilm distributor).........Let me know if you need more info. Tim. www.wunderbars.com

Hi All. Have to say would love it if we could make our own.

This machine, http://www.stegherr.net/en/picture-fram ... e-brf.html looks amazing, but this machine looks expensive!

well if it costs say 10K, are our spending 1K a month on bars, bet it would pay for itself with 2 years easy

I seem to remember someone buying a Stegherr machine a few years ago......cost about £30k !!!!

The only machines I have found on the web are ones obviously intended for volume production. 30K is not unexpected. But for occaisional use by A.Framer Ltd, one of these would be completely OTT. Now if there was a small version for about the price of a Morso........ Problem is, it's a highly specialised tool that has one application only. Hardly worth a tool manufacturer making it.


btw. The other day I made a strange-size stretcher frame using some of the two-way stuff that takes triangles in the corners. (Don't no where it came from - think it must have been in a bargain bundle....). had to search about to find some ply the right thickness to make the triangles. I found that if you put a few staples across the corners - back and front, it adds quite a bit of rigidity. The front staples need to go on the sloping part so they are well clear of the canvas. The staples will give slightly if you tap the triangles to apply tension. Only a very small amount of adjustment is possible, but in this case it was enough. I locked the triangles in after it was tight by putting small screws in the channel. All things considered it worked OK on that particular painting (24x14.5"). Still no match for mortised corners though.......

I looked into making these corner joints a while ago, not sure which is the correct name, and I found a number of variations, but the joint is either called a mitred bridle joint with keys or a mitred slot mortise and tenon with keys.

I made up a stretcher on a table saw, using a pretty bodged, but effective jig. I think if you made a really good jig it would be pretty easy to make the joints quickly and effectively.

I have no idea how they work, or if they could be adapted for this joint, but joiners use machines for making mortise and tenon joints. I don't think it would take much for a joiner to set-up a machine to quickly make the stretcher bar joints. I reckon you could probably get a good set-up for a grand or two.


Two good sources for info on stretcher bars and keys, the first link is particularly interesting, and the classic joint we know is illustration No. 36:

http://www.conservation-wiki.com/index. ... _Equipment

http://www.cci-icc.gc.ca/crc/notes/html/10-9-eng.aspx

You can set up making your own stetcher bars with a good quality spindle mouler with a sliding bed. You will need a range of tooling - 2 rebate blocks and a groover. You could also do the job with a 3 head tenoner.

I had to close my buiness last year - we used to make 50,000m per year. If you want some advice then do feel free to PM me.

This is a problem....
We're also are getting more and more odd sized canvases to stretch. The 2 way stretcher moulding that most of the suppliers sell is ok to a point – easy to use, flexible to be any size and inexpensive. But its not a really good alternative for the real thing especially for bigger canvases.

If there was a machine that was even £1k or less to buy that would make bespoke stretchers I would be the first in line to have one.

If I'm right the Venton stretchers work out at about 10 pence per inch, so I think you would have to be buying an incredible volume to justify buying your own machine at 30K a hit and that's without considering the cost of the waste disposal that goes with such large scale production.

Still, some people have bigger dreams than the rest of us.

Here's a workable solution that I found in Milan last month.
http://www.pieraccini.com

Click on the ENGLISH button, and then look at the video.

The machine costs EUR1196 (Just over £1000)
The heart corners cost about 40p each (packs of 250) and the oval joiners about 30p each

They also do the stretcher moulding from 1.46EUR a metre for 58x15

I've actually got a machine reserved, and would be open to offers/joint venture/enquiries if anyone is interested, as I'm not sure I have the time to exploit the opportunity fully.

They also supply a range of amazing quality canvas on rolls .. . .

Why not just get the router table and base direct from Axminster?!

http://www.axminster.co.uk/cmt-phenolic ... rc=froogle

Then all you need is the tooling.

We use Bird & Davis Ltd who are based in London - http://www.birdanddavis.co.uk/. They will post the bars out to you and provide a pretty quick service.