The Framers Forum

Not to sure what to do with this , customer wants to fit his oil on board (Canvas on card) to a floater/ L style moulding .
(page 79 lion cat.) they suggest using a PVA adhesive . I was a little concerned that it would not be secure .
Is there an alternative or do you thik it would be OK ?

Thanks

Jon

As it's on card it is likely to be a bit floppy, so why not glue the whole thing to a 9mm MDF panel first and then you could use (short ) screws.

I did a job like this recently, and did indeed glue it onto MDF panel, mostly because it was bowed in the middle. I thought the MDF would straighten it out, but it just bent the MDF instead! I'm just about to do a similar job and intend to make a rough pine sub-frame instead, in the hope that there's less bowing.

Also, in my experience, screwing into MDF doesn't work very well. The board seems inclined to disintegrate much too easily. There are specialist fixings available I believe, but haven't tried them. I'd much rather screw into timber.

Reference the glue, I did previously use wood glue to get a panel into a moulding as you describe, and it's solid as a rock. Mind you, the board was MDF, not canvas and card.

I stand to be corrected on all of this. Peter?

Thinking about this, it would be better to fix the MDF to a wooden frame and screw into the wood. Thinner MDF would be better in this case as you wouldn't need to screw into it and it if did decide to bow, the MDF would be weaker than the wood frame.
It would in fact make it like a canvas on stretchers. It would also drop into the L frame nicely.

One thing I would add. When mounting to MDF, seal the back with PVA.

Thanks for replys.

I ended up using a deep moulding 4cm , then cut with slim rebate facing outward which in term left me with just under 4cm to stick around the edge . The customer only wanted a very slim edge around the image. Looked nice and tidy and I got a good firm fixing with no bowing. Hope that made sense.

I must learn how to take pics and post.