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Thread: Why can't I make picture frames?

  1. #31
    Many cut too slowly with electric saws, that can make the blade wobble some , the middle of the cut gets good support …while “entry “ and
    exit are free to wobble . WORK FASTER ! And get RICH !

  2. #32
    And even good sawyers will sometimes need to use a sharp chisel to flatten joint ‘belly’.

  3. #33
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    Even if you cut perfect miters today they won't be perfect when the humidity changes. It's a fool's errand. I've looked at lots of picture frames made over the last 600 years (it's a bad habit-- when I go to an art gallery I spend more time looking at the frames than at what's in them), virtually all of them show cracks at the miters.

    I've learned to like the look of a picture frame constructed with rails and stiles, and mortise and tenon joints at the corners. Not only do they not gap with the seasons, they are strong enough to resist racking in almost all circumstances. If you want them to look mitered you can veneer over top of them.

  4. #34
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    My picture frame game got a lot better when I was asked to help create a memory lane. Poster size, framed photos that documented a local Businessman's journey to becoming a very popular landscape store owner. 50 frames and easel's. They had to be done in 3 days for his funeral. The lumber was his stock of rough, air dried hardwoods from trees his company had removed over the years. Some of the guests were given framed pictures after the funeral. I have one. I was totally exhausted and a little disgruntled at the funeral. I had learned a lot.
    Best Regards, Maurice

  5. #35
    thats interesting Roger. I dont like mitred cabinet doors and dont make them. I told the old guy I dont like mitred doors and he said he didnt like them cause they look like picture frames. Last time I saw mitred doors was on a vanity a friend bought. Worst work ive ever seen. I went to the web page and read about their high quality work. Of course. Doors were mitred and open already, likely before delivery. Depending on the mitre there are some details, Mel has mentioned one of them with the chisel.

  6. #36
    I thinK it ….depends . A big factor is whether the cabinets are stained or painted . Mitre’d and painted doesn’t bother me if the doors are
    are clearly, unmistakably slender. For doors that are even slightly broad ,they gotta be ‘stile and rail”, as they need a slendering touch.
    I discovered those principles by watching beauty pageants as a kid.

  7. #37
    I have a dedicated miter gauge with a fence and stop-block that I use for cutting picture frames. I also have a set of these: Rockler Perfect Miter Setup Blocks - Rockler
    I can get the miter gauge exactly at 45 degrees and the stop block allows for cutting exactly the same length time after time.
    It's worked out well for me.

  8. #38
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    With a miter sled, No! It can be 45.1 and 44.9 and you will have zero gaps. As long as your miter sled sides are forming perfect 90 degree, and you make the mating parts on opposite sides. I have never had to tweak my cuts with the miter sled. It also has two stops and it achives perfect length as that is critical as you said.

  9. #39
    My incra miter gauge worked reliably when I used to use a table saw.

    Now I use an adjustable shooting board. It's even better at getting parts to the same length. It's also more gentle than the table saw if you are making thin or small parts - like wood mats for inside the frame.

  10. #40
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    I also have a frame in the works. I just milled the wood and cut in the rabbit this morning and dreading the miters, even though I built 3 frames just a few weeks ago. I did use my miter saw to make those frame. However, I am making it from Hawaiian KOA since the print going in is from a Hawaiian artist. Considering the cost of KOA, I don't want to have to do this twice. I'd actually love to know what machine the picture frame shops use.
    Distraction could lead to dismemberment!

  11. #41
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    A high school buddy worked his way through college operating one like this.

    Screen Shot 2022-11-29 at 9.41.09 AM.png
    Double Mitre Saw For Picture Framing, Woodworking | Alfamacchine T-400
    Best Regards, Maurice

  12. #42
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    Lots of great commentary here.

    To get perfect miter joints on a frame you need two things: dead-on complementary angles in the corners, and dead-on equal length "arms" in the frame pieces. If either is off, your frame miter joints will not be tight. The obvious way to get the complementary angles is to have a tool that cuts dead-on 45o angles every time. If you don't have such a tool, a closely tuned miter sled, if properly will used, will cut angles that are complementary even if ever-so-slightly off 45o - you just have to have the "fence" be a dead-on right angle, and be sure to cut opposite ends of each frame piece using opposite sides of the fence. A shooting board or dialed-in miter trimmer is a real help, if you don't use the sled approach. Most miter gauges and miter saws are a challenge to keep and use accurately enough. If you get the angles right, you still have to get the lengths right. That means clean cuts (fuzz on the point of a miter makes measuring equal hard) in the right place. Use of stops on a miter sled can make this much more likely, but you have to careful about how you make and use the stops, because you're always stopping a pointy miter for the second cut, and it's easy to get that a few thousandths off. Again, a shooting board or miter trimmer fixes all kinds of sins.

    And, not to be a downer about this, but it may not make much difference. If the frame isn't going into a place with very stable humidity control over time that matches the moisture content of your wood, it's going to develop gaps by the time it's been hung for a couple of years anyway. I like making frames, and have made a lot of them. I nearly always assemble them with splines or dowels to make the miter joints as stable as possible, but differential shrinkage and expansion has made nearly all of them look over time like I can't cut a miter to save my soul. C'est le travail du bois.

  13. #43
    Picture frame shops used Morso Mitre choppers. The last years under Hoffman same machines only white instead of green. Kermit said not easy being green so they changed colours.

    They cut super clean and the high speed steel knives are off the map sharp. With knives out you can show someone by shaving hair off your arm but you might cut your arm off.

  14. #44
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    Several ways to skin this cat, and all have been discussed. All I'll add is not many miter saws can consistently cut perfectly straight, so even if the angle is correct one side or the other of the cut will be just a smidge off. In the worst case you can see it the minute the cut is done, a little jog in the cut. Less poor, but still not good, is when you put the two parts together and then you see a little gap somewhere in the joint. Bigger, stiffer saws with more rigid blades typically do a better job. But in the end no rotating blade will ever cut as cleanly as the shearing cut from a plane, and this is where shooting boards shine. A shooting board with a well-tuned plane and a blade you can shave with is a beautiful thing for bringing a good miter, or bevel, to perfection. I'm mostly a machine tool user, and I've cut lots of frames that way, but a year or so ago I rediscovered how useful a shooting board is, and how easy it is with one to create perfectly fitting joints with minimal fuss. The old guys had no choice but to use a shooting board. Power saws didn't exist. Who would have thought that after the invention of all sorts of power saws that the shooting board would still be so useful?

    John

  15. #45
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    Miters are a basic carpentry skill, not necessarily considered fine woodworking at least by Grand Dad, Dad and myself. Grandpa trimmed houses and made picture frames with a home made wood miter box. Dad really modernized and has a Stanley 2358 and Disston back saw. I learned to trim houses and make frames with the Stanley and hand saw. It was also the saw we used for picture framing which we did whole lot of. My training has been that if the miter is not right straight off of the saw things are not going as they should. I may have gotten lucky with my heavy cast iron Makita. The DeWalt does a fine job too. The most difficult aspect of picture framing for me has been the mat cutter.
    Best Regards, Maurice

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