Why can't I make picture frames?

[glenn bradley]

All good suggestions here. We all find our way to air-tight miters. A miter saw is rarely it IMHO but some folks get lucky. I just use a well aligned tablesaw and a miter gauge.

5X5 Frame (16).jpg

One thing is for sure; when you find the way that works for you, that is how you will do them ever after

[Maurice Mcmurry]

I resisted thinking I needed miter clamps for a long time. I now find them indispensable. I also continue to be pleased with the Ryobi mini biscuit jointer. I glue up two opposite corners into two L's, let them dry, then assemble the two L's to create the square or rectangle. I have to label the corners to keep from accidentally creating a worthless L .

Attachment 490707

[Maurice Mcmurry]

All good suggestions here. We all find our way to air-tight miters. A miter saw is rarely it IMHO but some folks get lucky. I just use a well aligned tablesaw and a miter gauge.

5X5 Frame (16).jpg

One thing is for sure; when you find the way that works for you, that is how you will do them ever after

Thats Beautiful Glen!

[Jim Becker]

It was just one piece in with a lot of wood I bought at an auction. The edge of the board looked like normal red oak. I've never seen English oak, but presume it doesn't look like red oak.

I was just responding give you mentioned it was "brown oak". English brown oak has a lovely brown colored heartwood and yellow-ish white sapwood. The photo shows the natural color:

[Keegan Shields]

Anyone else think picture frames are the worst?

Probably my most dreaded honey-do.

Miter sled with stops works well, its just a pain to store unless you are doing picture frames with any regularity.

[Jim Becker]

A miter shooting board can really help fine tune things, but a table saw sled with opposing angles is a good motorized solution to have clean miters that line up exactly at 90º when put together.

[fritz eng]

I use my miter saw, then a shooting plane and board to refine.

IMHO one of the best videos on the subject of making picture frames.....best wishes

https://www.woodmagazine.com/video/h...ered-corners-0

[Derek Cohen]

I have always had trouble making picture frames and hate them....

I spent some time to make sure my kapex was perfectly adjusted, both vertically and horizontally. I cut my pieces and they are 45* dead on. I put them together and there is a space on the inside of all the corners big enough to slide a sheet of paper in. A little filler and no one will ever notice it, but WHY?!?!?!

What could I possible be doing wrong?

Wade, it is easy enough to get 3 corners spot-on. Then the fourth corner is a smidgeon off, and you can see a little light. There is a simple fix.

Hold the four corners together in clamps. Now, with the errant fourth corner, run a dozuki saw (which has a thin blade) through the corner ... through the kerf. Try the fit again. It will be better. Again, push the two sides together and use the saw through the kerf. Each time it will improve until it ends with a perfect mitre.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Stan Calow]

For me, it's usually the length of one or more of the pieces that is slightly off. Especially if you've been "adjusting" one of the miters. Then, I once had a piece that developed a crook after cutting, so the miters were 45 at the ends but the piece was not straight.

+1 for the Lion trimmer.

[Malcolm McLeod]

... perfectly adjusted... ...are 45* dead on... ...space... but WHY?!?!?!

What could I possible be doing wrong?

Your miter saw is adjusted as close to 45 as you can measure - over the length of one piece. When you put eight pieces together the discrepancies add up. A sheet of paper is about .003" thick. Most miter saws have a bit of play in the bearings and wobble in the blade - the only ones I have used that give flawless results are made by Omga, but CTD saws are said to be equivalent. The cure is to use a rigid, perfectly adjusted cutting tool with solid length stops or tune up the imperfect joints by hand with a shooting board, sanding block or similar.

There is no such thing as 'perfect', 'exact', or 'dead on' in the real world, and so Mr. Jenness is exactly correct (no pu... OK, OK, some pun intended). All measurements and angles have error - even if it is too small for someone to measure with the metrology* available to them. And frames are a classic example of error stack-up. All the errors - in every angle and length - add together, and explain the WHY?!?!?! of a space/gap in one or more joints.

Some good solutions proposed by others, but be aware that some of them can impact the target of rectilinear perfection in a frame. Even a 90* miter sled can be a problem- - it produces complementary angles that may add to (almost) 90*, but on really wide frame stock the resulting cuts (hypotenuse) in one joint may be noticeably different lengths. The error just gets relocated. Choose your poison.

*- $63 word that means 'measuring stick' .

[William Hodge]

I use a table saw sled for miters. Sometimes the wood isn't perfect, so I carve the back a little with a chisel. This sounds labor intensive, but it goes fast. The wall won't fret if the back's a little open.

[mike calabrese]

You might try using what is used to make segment bowl rings, it is called a wedgie sled.
You can get exact precise angles on a table saw using a DIY or commercial sled and a didital angle ga.
The picture here is a segmented bowl ring that I did re-purposed, there are 24 glue joints at a 15 degree angle using a DIY wedgie sled.
Cutting process would be slightly different as you most likely would flip end for end your frame member while bowl segments are flipped face to back but an accurate 45 using a sled should be quite easy and deadly accurate.
mike calabrese


examples
wedgie sled likks https://www.google.com/search?client...TF-8#cobssid=s
angle ga link https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01GDN47JW/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o07_s01?ie=UTF8&th=1
segment ring expansion test.jpg

[Lee Schierer]

I always cut my frame pieces a bit long and then trial fit them. There are a number of things that can make "perfect 45's" leave a gap. If the trial fit is off, I can make a slight adjutsment and trim each end of each piece and trial fit again. If they are perfect the first time a trim on one end to the correct length gets the job done.

If your side pieces aren't perfectly straight, the 45 degree cut can be off. Clamping pressure can also skew the angles. I use a clamp that pushes on both sides of each corner and it puls all four pieces together.

My clamp is similar to this one.frame clamp.jpg

A trick I learned from my father. Miter joints are essentially end grain, so you should coat both sides of the joint with glue to prevent glue starvation,

[Kris Cook]

A trick I learned from my father. Miter joints are essentially end grain, so you should coat both sides of the joint with glue to prevent glue starvation,

- Something I would add - depending on the porosity of the wood, it may also help to let the glue soak in and then reapply.

[Mike King]

two things have to be correct for a 45 degree miter frame to close perfectly:

1. All of the angles have to be precisely 45 degrees, AND
2. The lengths have to be precisely the same lengths (verticals equal and horizontals equal).

If either is not true, then the miters will be open.

Mike