Dogbone shaped picture frame build along

[Jim McCue]

I decided to make a picture frame for the dog pictures. I considered a shape like a pawprint, but settled on a dog bone shape.

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I searched for ‘clip art dog bone’ and saved a jpeg. I cropped all the white space out and then adjusted the size. My piece of wood is 8.25” wide so I adjusted to that dimension. The paper on the right is enlarged proportionally but I didn’t think it was long enough. Normally when resizing a picture you want to do it proportionally, but I don’t think it matters in this case, so I left the height at 8.25” and stretched the length to 17.5”. Side note: it’s not always easy to print overlapping papers like this. I’m sure there’s 10+ programs on my computer that can open a JPG, but only one easily prints them across multipe pages.

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I taped the picture to the wood and cut it out with a knife. The knife leaves a mark which I later colored over with sharpie. Other methods would be to use graphite paper or just trace it with a ballpoint pen pressing hard enough to leave an impression. If you use a knife with a complicated design, you might remove some portions of paper before you meant to.


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I cut the shape out with a coping saw. I made a few straight relief cuts in the corners to let the waste fall away and reorient the saw. I left one end attached to the board in case it’s helpful for clamping.

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The white circle is a scrap picture, 4” diameter. Most of my pictures I get printed at 4x6 or 4x5.3. I thought of using hole saws to make a circular hole for the picture, but I think they’re slightly too wide, in addition to being questionable about controlling and leaving a nice surface.
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So I did it the hard way. I drew a circle a little less than 4” with a compass, drilled a few holes, threaded the coping saw blade through a hole, and connected the dots.

[Eric Brown]

Looks good so far. Will you be hanging it with a dog leash chain?

[Jim McCue]

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I smoothed the hole with a file. Then I chamfered it by setting a marking gauge to 1/4 or so and freehanding it with the file. This is my current favorite file, the Lee Valley “Japanese Milled Tooth File” which I have straight and half round. They leave a pretty good surface straight off the file, but I will probably end up sanding.

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For the outer edges I first rounded them over slightly. But the piece of wood is so thick at over 3/4”, and my marking gauge was already set, so I did the same procedure for a more pronounced round over.
I did as much as I could without moving the holdfasts, then decided to take a break.

I really didn’t plan all this at the start, I just meant to cut out the dog bone shape. I still have to figure out how to mount pictures in the backside, and decide what to do with the field in the middle. I planned on a rectangular or ovoid picture hole in the middle, but am now not sure.

[Jim McCue]

Looks good so far. Will you be hanging it with a dog leash chain?

Not a bad idea. I already regret not leaving the little mounting hole that was on the original printout. In most cases I would prefer to hang without visible hardware but in this case I think it would look appropriate.

[Jim McCue]

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I cut out the next hole by the same method, boring holes and coping.
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The rough hole is smoothed and chamfered with a file.
Then I cut the dogbone free from its last attachment to the board, and cut the remaining edges.
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Again the rough coping marks are smoothed with a file. If I lean my head over I can see the saw marks disappear. I think of it as ‘erasing’ the marks from the previous tool.

[Jim McCue]

After finishing the top edges I flipped it over to figure out how to get pictures in the back.
I decided to create a recess, kind of like a mortise, to set a picture and glass into. I went with square as I think it’ll be easier to get or cut square glass than circular.
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So I put down some blue tape and cut away a 4” square. I swirled a router plane around the inside to mark the final depth. I used chisels to remove the waste close to the line, then used the router plane for the last passes.
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That’s where I stopped for the day.

The plan is put 4” square pictures with 4” square glass, backed by some cheap thin plywood. I’m not sure the recess is deep enough but I can fine tune that when I have all the materials.

I thought I could get a cheap picture frame at the family dollar and cut the glass to size, but most of their frames had plastic. The only glass ones had things like LIVE LAUGH LOVE printed on the glass. So I guess I can get glass cut at Lowes or Home Depot or I can scavenge some from elsewhere. I still have to print out some pictures anyhow.

[Jim Koepke]

Jim, nice dog bone idea. You live in a large city and could likely find a salvage company with old window panes you can buy cheap.

I've even been lucky at one architectural salvage company to find a Charles Buck chisel and other tools.

Just did a search on > Cleveland salvage store < and found quite a few.

jtk

[Jim McCue]

Not opposed to going to salvage store, would likely find lots of things to buy. I saw a box of crystal doorknobs at an estate sale I had difficulty not buying.

In this case I wanted some cheap picture frames, kids swim goggles, and gluten free cheeseburger helper, so I ended up at Walmart.

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These 4x4 frames were not on their website but on the shelf for $0.88. They were glass so I didn’t have to get a larger size and cut it down, which is good because I’ve never cut glass before. I did have to widen the mortises to get the glass to fit.

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Then I cut some scrap plywood to use as a backer. I’m not sure how I’ll fix it all in place. Picture frames have those things you twist with your fingers, but I don’t have any. The current plan is to use screws with wide heads. It might make the frame not sit well against the wall. We’ll see how it goes. Honestly duct tape would probably work.

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For the middle of the frame I will add a carving. Decided on the dog’s name, Ula, and a heart. I am a beginner carver so can’t do anything advanced. They will just be incised lines, no recessed background or multiple layers or stippling or anything. I’ve done letters before with mixed success.

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I thought it would be a good idea to practice first, so I found a small piece of walnut. At first I tried to tape the paper to the wood and carve through. That didn’t start well so I incised the center lines with a utility knife and removed the paper. I didn’t mark the sides or the serifs, just the center lines. A knife line on walnut is hard to see, the light has to hit it just right. I will print another picture as reference and eyeball the finer details.

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If the practice carving goes ok I will carve the picture frame and be mostly done except for the finishing and mounting. Will have to remember to sand/scrape _before_ carving, it’s harder to do after and might mess up the details.

[William Lessenberry]

Hobby Lobby carries them, they are called Turn Buttons. https://www.hobbylobby.com/Home-Decor-Frames/Frames-Photo-Albums/Hardware-Accessories/Turn-Buttons-With-Screws/p/81032846?queryId=7c863c50c4d1db2296fdab81ff0be896
BillL

[Jim McCue]

Thanks BillL,

I may go there, I bet they have stuff for Mother's Day too. I was thinking of the big bulky ones with a nub on the back that stick out too far. Those wouldn't work. Flat ones would work.

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This is the practice carving. I wouldn't say I'm happy with it but now I know what to pay more attention to for the real thing. I'll try to keep the widths and serifs more consistent and adjust the spacing of everything.

[Jim Koepke]

If there is a Menards near you, they have Red Devil Triangle Glazing Points listed > https://www.menards.com/main/paint/painting-tools/red-devil-reg-triangle-glazing-points-approx-200-piece/1722/p-1444452041474-c-8076.htm

Very likely other retailers carry this or similar products.

Regular glazing points are another option. Most others tend to have 'ears' sticking up to make them easier to install with a screwdriver or a putty knife. They would be easy to flatten.

jtk

[Jim McCue]

I hand sanded the front and sides 120 and 180. For the curves and corners I used sandpaper wrapped around a stick. Then I taped the printout to the wood and incised through the center lines again. This time I made note of where the top and bottom lines for the letters would be, and drew in the edges with a pencil. There’s still some things I’m not happy with but in the interest of not pointing out my mistakes I’ll keep it to myself.

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After carving I did sand some more. There were some slips of the tools and some pencil marks to remove. After sanding I took a few turns of blowing with compressed air and wiping with denatured alcohol. Then I propped it on a block of wood on top of a cereal box and finished with garnet shellac. I’m pretty sure I saw this squeeze bottle recommendation here on SMC. I keep the wad of cotton in one hand and periodically apply the shellac from the squeeze bottle and keep moving. I only use the little brush for the tight corners where the rag doesn’t fit.

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I did about five coats over a day and a half. Then I rubbed it with a brown paper bag.

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I had to look through my picture hanging supplies and came up with this keyhole mount. It required at least a hole or mortise for the screw head, and I decided to mortise the entire thing flush. So there is a shallow mortise for the hardware and a deeper recess for the screw head. At this point I was entering “I’ve got a bad feeling about this. . .” territory as the front was already finished. I was worried I’d mar the front, or drill through, or blow out an edge, or something catastrophic. But it worked out.

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I went with the hobby lobby turn buttons, thanks for the tip BillL. I searched for turn buttons at other places and they were the only store to have them in stock. They required tiny pilot holes for tiny screws.

I printed out some extra pictures and am keeping them in the frame so can rotate them occasionally if I remember.

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Mounted on a drywall screw, which holds remarkably well in the plaster wall.

Ula died about two weeks ago, unexpectedly, at too young an age. It leaves an empty space. I put this by where her bed and food and water used to be.

[Jim Koepke]

Looks great Jim.

jtk