Building Picture frames?

[Adam Cavaliere]

I have just started to get into wood working and have tried building a few picture frames. They haven't broken apart yet :), but now I am seeing stuff about splines. I have no clue what those are and what their purpose is.

Can someone please enlighten me?

Thanks!

[Chris Padilla]

Splines are a piece of wood, skinny rectangle shape, that are inserted between the two miter joints to give it additional strength. Obviously, slits are cut into the miters to fit the spline. This is one kind of spline that is not necessarily seen although it could be.

Another way to do splines for picture frames is to first assemble and complete the frame. Then you cut grooves into the corners of the frames and slip in a piece of wood, sand flush. These are often done in a contrasting wood to add a bit of interest to the frame. Obviously, they also add strength.

Splines can also be used to join boards together for a table top or to make a 12" wide board out of skinnier boards. A groove is ripped the entire length of the boards to be joined and a long skinny spline is also cut and then inserted into the groove. This helps with alignment and adds strength to the joint.

[Eric Mims]

see the picture at top right of this page to see a single spline in a picture frame: http://www.holtonframes.com/frames/closedcorner.html


I have done anywhere from 1-3 splines in frames, depending on the frame depth, all with great success and no frame has ever opened up at the miter joint.

[Adam Cavaliere]

Do you have a spline jig for them? Are there any plans available that you know of for building one?

[Roger Warford]

Splines can be easy to make. One simple approach is to cut a 1/8" strip of contrasting wood to use as a spline. Most full kerf blades leave a kerf about 1/8" wide. Set up your TS to cut down the middle of your frame. The blade height should be adjusted to be exactly half the height of the spline. Test it on a couple of scraps, then run each piece of the frame though the TS with miter against the table. The strip should just fit. Leave it sticking out both sides of the frame until the glue sets, then cut if flush with a flush cutting saw.

I just made my first splined miter picture frame and it went together reasonably well. I did however have one surprise. The pieces fit perfectly during the dry fit, nice and snug. But when I added glue, the spline swelled enough to make the fit unmanageably tight. I started over with slightly thinner splines that were just a little loose during the dry fit and everything worked out perfectly.

Good luck!

[Eric Mims]

here's one you can use on a table saw: http://benchmark.20m.com/workshop/Jigs_General/Jigs_General.html (3rd picture down).

I cut mine on my radial arm saw with the blade rotated horizontal and locked in place. I have a sled that then slides past the saw.

[Roger Warford]

Here's a link with a short tutorial: http://www.newwoodworker.com/makeplines.html

[Roger Warford]

One more, slightly different: http://www.woodworkingtips.com/etips/etip010511sn.html