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steve April 17th 07 10:12 PM

Best tool for making picture frames?
 
I've been making my own picture frames but the joints are off slightly so I
have to resort to filling the joints and painting.
What would be a good way of making these cuts so the miters would line up
tight enough to be left natural or stained?

I've tried a hand miter box, My 10" power miter saw, my table saw....

So what is the best way to get that cut at exactly 45 degrees.

TIA



Chris Friesen April 17th 07 10:24 PM

Best tool for making picture frames?
 
steve wrote:

So what is the best way to get that cut at exactly 45 degrees.


Miter trimmer or else a handplane and shooting board.

Chris

Markem April 17th 07 10:44 PM

Best tool for making picture frames?
 
On Tue, 17 Apr 2007 16:12:07 -0400, "steve" wrote:

I've been making my own picture frames but the joints are off slightly so I
have to resort to filling the joints and painting.
What would be a good way of making these cuts so the miters would line up
tight enough to be left natural or stained?

I've tried a hand miter box, My 10" power miter saw, my table saw....

So what is the best way to get that cut at exactly 45 degrees.


A framing guillotine such as
http://www.frameco-online.com/shopusa/prod741.htm
But a flat sanding disc on the tablesaw would work too.

Mark
(sixoneeight) = 618

J T April 17th 07 11:14 PM

Best tool for making picture frames?
 
Tue, Apr 17, 2007, 4:12pm (steve) doth query:
snip So what is the best way to get that cut at exactly 45 degrees.

ff that's a question it's missing a question mark.

Simple, just make sure you've got the angle right before you cut.



JOAT
I have anal glaucoma. I can't see my ass going to work today.


[email protected] April 17th 07 11:15 PM

Best tool for making picture frames?
 
of the tools you named, the tablesaw is your best bet.... assuming
it's a "professional" one with a cast iron top and a real motor.
getting the saw tuned up well enough to do what you want is a bit of
an adventure, but well worth it.

first, you have to get the saw tuned up. that's too big a topic for
this post, so I'll refer you to google:
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.woodworking/search?
hl=en&group=rec.woodworking&q=%2Btable+%2Bsaw+%2Bt une+%2Bup&qt_g=Search
+this+group

then you need to have a suitable blade.

then you need to build yourself a miter sled.


SWDeveloper April 17th 07 11:23 PM

Best tool for making picture frames?
 
On Tue, 17 Apr 2007 16:12:07 -0400, "steve" wrote:

I've been making my own picture frames but the joints are off slightly so I
have to resort to filling the joints and painting.
What would be a good way of making these cuts so the miters would line up
tight enough to be left natural or stained?

I've tried a hand miter box, My 10" power miter saw, my table saw....

So what is the best way to get that cut at exactly 45 degrees.

TIA


There is such a tool for making picture frames. It has a large
sliding guillotine-like blade that moves when you pull the handle. It
can slice off a small amount without chipping. It might be called a
"picture frame trimmer." There are benchtop and floor models.

beecrofter April 17th 07 11:26 PM

Best tool for making picture frames?
 
On Apr 17, 4:12 pm, "steve" wrote:
I've been making my own picture frames but the joints are off slightly so I
have to resort to filling the joints and painting.
What would be a good way of making these cuts so the miters would line up
tight enough to be left natural or stained?

I've tried a hand miter box, My 10" power miter saw, my table saw....

So what is the best way to get that cut at exactly 45 degrees.

TIA


Lion trimmer,
Pootatuck
company
http://www.lionmitertrimmer.com/


George April 17th 07 11:33 PM

Best tool for making picture frames?
 

"J T" wrote in message
...
Tue, Apr 17, 2007, 4:12pm (steve) doth query:
snip So what is the best way to get that cut at exactly 45 degrees.

ff that's a question it's missing a question mark.

Simple, just make sure you've got the angle right before you cut.


And the same length on opposite sides. Probably more a factor than the
angles, really. The threaded four-corner clamps are a great help, too.


Leon April 17th 07 11:38 PM

Best tool for making picture frames?
 

"steve" wrote in message
...
I've been making my own picture frames but the joints are off slightly so
I
have to resort to filling the joints and painting.
What would be a good way of making these cuts so the miters would line up
tight enough to be left natural or stained?

I've tried a hand miter box, My 10" power miter saw, my table saw....

So what is the best way to get that cut at exactly 45 degrees.

TIA



I get great results with the TS, a top quality general purpose blade and a
better than stock miter gauge.

Picture frames can be very hard if you only shoot for making perfect 45's.

YOU MUST also make parallel sides EXACTLY the same length or the corners
will never come out right.

Use a stop on your sled or miter gauge fence to insure that the pieces being
cut are exactly the same length.



rich April 17th 07 11:56 PM

Best tool for making picture frames?
 
On Apr 17, 4:38 pm, "Leon" wrote:
"steve" wrote in message

...

I've been making my own picture frames but the joints are off slightly so
I
have to resort to filling the joints and painting.
What would be a good way of making these cuts so the miters would line up
tight enough to be left natural or stained?


I've tried a hand miter box, My 10" power miter saw, my table saw....


So what is the best way to get that cut at exactly 45 degrees.


TIA


15 years ago I had a small picture framing shop, and I used a
Makita chop saw with a good carbide blade. These were the days before
I took up woodworking. It took two things to make a perfect corner,
equal sides, and a good 45 degree cut. Equally important!!! Each
frame was custom sized, so I could take some time, but I would trim
the lengths to well less than 1/16 inch difference. The standard "45"
degree stops on the saw wern't! I had to tweek the stop until it was
bang on. At least the saw was repeatable from cut to cut. It seemed
that it read 1/4 degree off the stop to make a good cut, yours may
vary.

Then there were tricks after assembly. On metal frames, the side
of a screwdriver was used to roll the corners, kind of like putting
the burr on a scraper. You could roll the ends together quite a bit.
You can do the same, a little, on wood, but the key there is wax
sticks in various colors used as a filler. They also take care of
nail holes, and come in a variety of colors.

I suggest you take some scrap wood, and see if you can get a
perfect 45 from your saw. It also might be a handy skill for other
stuff.

Hope this helps...


bc April 18th 07 12:02 AM

Best tool for making picture frames?
 
On Apr 17, 3:12 pm, "steve" wrote:
I've been making my own picture frames but the joints are off slightly so I
have to resort to filling the joints and painting.
What would be a good way of making these cuts so the miters would line up
tight enough to be left natural or stained?

I've tried a hand miter box, My 10" power miter saw, my table saw....

So what is the best way to get that cut at exactly 45 degrees.

TIA


Mine improved markedly after I constructed a miter sled like the one
he http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/...48543593FmjBVA
There are other sites that will give you step by step instructions,
but the basic principle is that it is (at least for some of us)
difficult to get an exact 45degree cut. The beauty of this jig is
that if you have the two halves of the fence set at 90 degrees to each
other, which is really easy with a reasonably good square, as long as
your blade runs true and cuts fairly smoothly, you are trimming both
halves of the joint at the same time so even if one is 44.8 degrees
the other will be 45.2 degrees and you will get a perfect 90 degree
joint every time. Then as the other poster mentioned you just have to
make sure the two opposite sides are the same length, all four sides
for a square frame, and you're in business. Using a Freud Combo blade
I've never had to sand or use a miter trimmer to get a good tight
joint. Glue ups were however much simpler when I broke down and
bought a Merle adjustable corner clamp from MLCS. It was so helpful I
bought another one a month later. Hope that helps. bc
PS no affiliation to either MLCS or the other web site, just found
them useful...


John Grossbohlin April 18th 07 12:53 AM

Best tool for making picture frames?
 

"steve" wrote in message
...
I've been making my own picture frames but the joints are off slightly so
I
have to resort to filling the joints and painting.
What would be a good way of making these cuts so the miters would line up
tight enough to be left natural or stained?

I've tried a hand miter box, My 10" power miter saw, my table saw....

So what is the best way to get that cut at exactly 45 degrees.


I second the hand plane and shooting board approach. My sons, then ages 8
and 11, made picture frames for their grandmother for Christmas and put
their school pictures in the frames. They started out with skip planed
walnut and using only hand tools ended up with perfect miters and frames
with square corners. They used rip and cross cut panel saws and hand planes
to prepare the stock and then, using the 45 degree shooting board jig as a
guide cut the miters with a back saw. The miters were then trued up using a
plane and the shooting board.

I posted a detail of corners of both frames on ABPW and a picture of 8 year
old Joshua shooting a miter.

BTW, the boys won a second place ribbon for these frames at Woodworkers
Showcase. Garrett Hack, Beth Ireland, John Fox and Adam Kropinski were the
judges... the technique works and rather than owning a specialty purpose
guillotine trimmer you have a bench plane that can be used for other
projects.

John



Lowell Holmes April 18th 07 01:19 AM

Best tool for making picture frames?
 

"John Grossbohlin" wrote in message
nk.net...

"steve" wrote in message
...
snip


I second the hand plane and shooting board approach. My sons, then ages 8
and 11, made picture frames for their grandmother for Christmas and put
their school pictures in the frames. They started out with skip planed
walnut and using only hand tools ended up with perfect miters and frames
with square corners. They used rip and cross cut panel saws and hand
planes to prepare the stock and then, using the 45 degree shooting board
jig as a guide cut the miters with a back saw. The miters were then trued
up using a plane and the shooting board.

I posted a detail of corners of both frames on ABPW and a picture of 8
year old Joshua shooting a miter.

BTW, the boys won a second place ribbon for these frames at Woodworkers
Showcase. Garrett Hack, Beth Ireland, John Fox and Adam Kropinski were the
judges... the technique works and rather than owning a specialty purpose
guillotine trimmer you have a bench plane that can be used for other
projects.

John

Besides. a shooting board gives you an excuse to buy a Veritas bevel up
jack plane. Paul Sellers states in his article (Popular Woodworking) that
the low angle planes take the shooting boards to the next level. I use a
Bailey in mine.

Is that a #4 Bailey your son is using?




Glen April 18th 07 01:35 AM

Best tool for making picture frames?
 
You want to make sure your material that you are making the frames is
straight. A lot of molding that frams are made from isn't. If they
are slightly bowed or cupped over the lenght of the edge of the board
the cut will be off. A miter saw only registers about ten inches of
board against the fence. If the board edge against the fence is not
straight, it will throw the angle of the cut off a little. Multiply
this slight angle variation by the eight cuts that make up the picture
frame and you will have some gaps. You can either find straight stock
to make the frame, joint the stock to make it straight, or mount it on
a straight piece of 1/4 material and use that to register against the
fence.

Good luck



On Apr 17, 4:12 pm, "steve" wrote:
I've been making my own picture frames but the joints are off slightly so I
have to resort to filling the joints and painting.
What would be a good way of making these cuts so the miters would line up
tight enough to be left natural or stained?

I've tried a hand miter box, My 10" power miter saw, my table saw....

So what is the best way to get that cut at exactly 45 degrees.

TIA




John Grossbohlin April 18th 07 02:20 AM

Best tool for making picture frames?
 

"Lowell Holmes" wrote in message
news:OBcVh.9069$h8.2964@trnddc06...

"John Grossbohlin" wrote in message
nk.net...

"steve" wrote in message
...
snip


I second the hand plane and shooting board approach. My sons, then ages 8
and 11, made picture frames for their grandmother for Christmas and put
their school pictures in the frames. They started out with skip planed
walnut and using only hand tools ended up with perfect miters and frames
with square corners. They used rip and cross cut panel saws and hand
planes to prepare the stock and then, using the 45 degree shooting board
jig as a guide cut the miters with a back saw. The miters were then trued
up using a plane and the shooting board.

I posted a detail of corners of both frames on ABPW and a picture of 8
year old Joshua shooting a miter.

BTW, the boys won a second place ribbon for these frames at Woodworkers
Showcase. Garrett Hack, Beth Ireland, John Fox and Adam Kropinski were
the judges... the technique works and rather than owning a specialty
purpose guillotine trimmer you have a bench plane that can be used for
other projects.

John

Besides. a shooting board gives you an excuse to buy a Veritas bevel up
jack plane. Paul Sellers states in his article (Popular Woodworking) that
the low angle planes take the shooting boards to the next level. I use a
Bailey in mine.

Is that a #4 Bailey your son is using?


It's an L-N #4 with York frog. Not ideal for shooting end grain--I bought it
for dealing with curly maple--but it works better than my stock Stanley #4
as the iron is thicker and it cuts cleaner. The boys cannot handle the L-N
#7 that I typically use for that purpose so I recently got a L-N #5 Jack for
them to use. I find the mass of the larger planes is helpful in shooting end
grain, particularly with wide boards.

The boys tried my associate's L-N low angle Jack plane at Showcase but the
sides of the plane are much smaller than the Bailey profile and they kept
rocking the plane. I'm not sure if the Veritas plane presents the same
problem or not--I didn't think to check it at the Lee Valley booth at
Showcase. I did let them handle the L-N #5 plane at the L-N booth and they
seemed fine with that.

I had hoped to introduce the boys to Tom L-N and Robin Lee but neither were
there... sigh Tom was shooting another video and the guys at the Lee
Valley booth simply said Robin wasn't there. Oh well, maybe next year!

John





CW April 18th 07 03:05 AM

Best tool for making picture frames?
 
Any of the three you've already tried, adjusted properly.

"steve" wrote in message
...
I've been making my own picture frames but the joints are off slightly so

I
have to resort to filling the joints and painting.
What would be a good way of making these cuts so the miters would line up
tight enough to be left natural or stained?

I've tried a hand miter box, My 10" power miter saw, my table saw....

So what is the best way to get that cut at exactly 45 degrees.

TIA





John Grossbohlin April 18th 07 03:17 AM

Best tool for making picture frames?
 

"Glen" wrote in message
oups.com...
You want to make sure your material that you are making the frames is
straight. A lot of molding that frams are made from isn't. If they
are slightly bowed or cupped over the lenght of the edge of the board
the cut will be off. A miter saw only registers about ten inches of


This is also a situation where a shooting board excels... by using shims
between the shooting board fence and the frame stock you can adjust the
miter angle to correct for stock that isn't perfectly straight. It's amazing
what few layers of paper can do for you...

John



J T April 18th 07 03:22 AM

Best tool for making picture frames?
 
Tue, Apr 17, 2007, 9:33pm (EDT+4) (George) doth sayeth:
And the same length on opposite sides. Probably more a factor than the
angles, really. The threaded four-corner clamps are a great help, too.

Yeah. length too. If I was gonna make many I'd make a few cutting
jigs, then I wouldn't even have to think, just do it. Somewhere on line
there'a a link to make your own frame clamp, I'm sure I posted it at
least once.



JOAT
I have anal glaucoma. I can't see my ass going to work today.


J T April 18th 07 04:05 AM

Best tool for making picture frames?
 
Tue, Apr 17, 2007, 3:02pm (EDT-3) (bc) doth
sayeth:
Mine improved markedly after I constructed a miter sled like the one
he
http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/...48543593FmjBVA There
are other sites that will give you step by step instructions, but the
basic principle is that it is (at least for some of us) difficult to get
an exact 45degree cut. snip

Nah, not hard to get a 45 degree cut, just a bit time-consuming
maybe, and a bit of a PITA, but not hard. I'd have an exended "arm"
then cut a couple of pieces on one end, for sides or ends, then clamp a
stop block at he length you want, then cut to equal lengths. Repeat for
shorter or longer pieces No prob. I would expect the same basic
principle would work with a power mitre saw too. Me, I wouldn't bother
unless I figured on making a batch.



JOAT
I have anal glaucoma. I can't see my ass going to work today.


Larry W April 18th 07 05:16 AM

Best tool for making picture frames?
 
In article ,
steve wrote:
I've been making my own picture frames but the joints are off slightly so I
have to resort to filling the joints and painting.
What would be a good way of making these cuts so the miters would line up
tight enough to be left natural or stained?

I've tried a hand miter box, My 10" power miter saw, my table saw....

So what is the best way to get that cut at exactly 45 degrees.

TIA



I have a small dedicated 45d miter sled that I use for cutting edge
banding strips, frames, etc. on the table saw. It is the type that
has a 90d 'V' with the point of the V aimed at the saw blade. It works
very well for me. You should be able to google up a set up plans or check
out a good book on table saws from a library.

--
There are no stupid questions, but there are lots of stupid answers.

Larry Wasserman - Baltimore Maryland - lwasserm(a)sdf. lonestar. org

Lew Hodgett April 18th 07 06:52 AM

Best tool for making picture frames?
 
Larry W wrote:


I have a small dedicated 45d miter sled that I use for cutting edge
banding strips, frames, etc. on the table saw. It is the type that
has a 90d 'V' with the point of the V aimed at the saw blade. It works
very well for me. You should be able to google up a set up plans or check
out a good book on table saws from a library.


Fred Bingham to the rescue, it's in his book and it works for me.

Lew

[email protected] April 18th 07 11:22 AM

Best tool for making picture frames?
 
Miter sled using 1/4" ply, 1X scraps, Tee nuts and bolts for pivot
points for 1X and blocks just over 45ˆ glued to base to slip shims
into for fine adjustments. Pivot a 1X runner near the kerf in the
ply, glue the block near the other end of the sled, adjust for quality
cuts.

On Tue, 17 Apr 2007 16:12:07 -0400, "steve" wrote:

I've been making my own picture frames but the joints are off slightly so I
have to resort to filling the joints and painting.
What would be a good way of making these cuts so the miters would line up
tight enough to be left natural or stained?

I've tried a hand miter box, My 10" power miter saw, my table saw....

So what is the best way to get that cut at exactly 45 degrees.

TIA


Toller April 18th 07 03:40 PM

Best tool for making picture frames?
 

"steve" wrote in message
...
I've been making my own picture frames but the joints are off slightly so
I
have to resort to filling the joints and painting.
What would be a good way of making these cuts so the miters would line up
tight enough to be left natural or stained?

I've tried a hand miter box, My 10" power miter saw, my table saw....

So what is the best way to get that cut at exactly 45 degrees.

I just made a two frames with my RAS. It took me 20 minutes to tweek the
angle, but they came out fine.



Will April 18th 07 04:03 PM

Best tool for making picture frames?
 

"Toller" wrote in message
...

"steve" wrote in message
...
I've been making my own picture frames but the joints are off slightly so
I
have to resort to filling the joints and painting.
What would be a good way of making these cuts so the miters would line up
tight enough to be left natural or stained?

I've tried a hand miter box, My 10" power miter saw, my table saw....

So what is the best way to get that cut at exactly 45 degrees.

I just made a two frames with my RAS. It took me 20 minutes to tweek the
angle, but they came out fine.

I use my Osborne EB3 miter guide to make mine. They're always dead on.




Jeff Gorman April 19th 07 11:30 AM

Best tool for making picture frames?
 

"steve" wrote:

I've been making my own picture frames but the joints are off slightly so

I
have to resort to filling the joints and painting.
What would be a good way of making these cuts so the miters would line up
tight enough to be left natural or stained?

I've tried a hand miter box, My 10" power miter saw, my table saw....

So what is the best way to get that cut at exactly 45 degrees.


On my website at
http://www.amgron.clara.net/planingp...teingindex.htm
there are drawings for making a shooting board. This includes a mitre
attachement.

Best of luck!

TIA


Hum ............................. !
--
Jeff Gorman, West Yorkshire, UK
email : Username is amgron
ISP is clara.co.uk
www.amgron.clara.net



Swingman April 19th 07 03:47 PM

Best tool for making picture frames?
 

"steve" wrote in message
...
I've been making my own picture frames but the joints are off slightly so

I
have to resort to filling the joints and painting.
What would be a good way of making these cuts so the miters would line up
tight enough to be left natural or stained?

I've tried a hand miter box, My 10" power miter saw, my table saw....

So what is the best way to get that cut at exactly 45 degrees.


My website has been down due to a DOS attack so I hesitated to reply 'til
the bastids stopped.

Consider making a miter sled for your table saw like the one on the Jig and
Fixtures page of my website.

http://www.e-woodshop.net/Jigs.htm

Big plus is the _exact_ "45 degree" angle basically becomes a moot point
(particularly with the usual widths of picture frame miters) because the
order of cut insures complementary angles, and the jig allows you to use a
stop block to insure the sides are all cut the same length.

These two concepts combined make miters that fit perfectly a much easier
task, with much less tweaking.

--
www.e-woodshop.net
Last update: 2/20/07



steve April 19th 07 04:42 PM

Best tool for making picture frames?
 

"J T" wrote in message
...
Tue, Apr 17, 2007, 4:12pm (steve) doth query:
snip So what is the best way to get that cut at exactly 45 degrees.

ff that's a question it's missing a question mark.


Should that ff be if ?




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