There are two critical items for good picture frames. One is the angle
cut itself which is discussed in the other post. The other and equally
important is the length of the sides. You can have a most precise
angle cut but if the opposite side are not precisely equal you will get
poor corners.

I cut the miter on the sides so they are about a quarter inch longer
than I need for the picture. I them match the opposite sides and fasten
them together with an inconspicuous nail or a good clamp.

I the carefully trim the paired side by an eight of an inch on each end.

Even with the above procedure if the piece slide during the final miter
cuts, they will not be true and again bad corners.



CBlood59 wrote:
Hello everyone,

I'm building some picture frames, and want to know if there are any tricks to
getting the miters to be exactly 45 degrees. Seems that there must be
something better than endless tweaking.

Curt Blood