Making Frames

I think the first flies I placed in a shadow box of my construction was in 2016 or 17. I framed up the sixty-plus flies I tied for Mike Valla's hairwing streamer book in four different frames, donated the frames to the Miramichi Salmon Association's Boston fundraiser where the group sold for around 600 bucks. They hang on a good friend's wall over in New York State.

I'd like to think that, since then, my framings have become more sophisticated, if you will, and perhaps more creatively framed. At any rate, I still really enjoy making them. Here's how I do it: First you need some tools, power tools. Mine (with the exception maybe of my sliding compound mitre) are all as working class at you can get. Not a single one, including the floor models, even come close to costing a thousand bucks. You can buy my Craftsman table saw any day of the week for $150 used. Mine was a gift back in the 1980's from my then-wife. I rebuilt the bearings and shafts last winter, costing maybe fifty bucks plus my time, which has, of course, a value of zero.

A mitre saw (in my case a Milwaukee 12" compound slider) is essential, unless you just love cutting mitres by hand on a mitre box (which I'm sure some people do; just not me). It was a gift from Bridget a few Christmas's ago, and is the most expensive tool I own. I really, really, really like this saw. A slider for this kind of work isn't essential; any good chop saw will do...it's all about no wobble and the right blade. I got no wobble and I got a great blade:

There are folks that spend hundreds of dollars on the blades they use to cut frame mitres. Mine cost less than a hundred bucks, and somewhere in this post you'll see why I think it does just fine!

You could actually make frame stock with just those two tools if you used straight lumber right from the store. I don't. My frames are made mostly of red oak and black cherry, local to my area and purchased as rough-cut lumber from small suppliers. This is where the next two tools come in: Curvy stock doesn't make much of a frame. I straighten mine (before it goes through the table saw) with my six inch (wish it was 8) Delta jointer. Absolutely the way to get good, straight lumber unless - here we go again - you like to use one of those old two-foot long hand plans. I don't.

Since most of the stock I buy is 5/4 (that's five quarter; an inch and a quarter) thick, I need to: a. plane it smooth and b. decrease that width, since most of my frames are 3/4" as you look straight at the frame. I use my 13" planer for that:

That black hose goes to my absolutely state of the art dust collection system:

Actually, it works pretty well for the big sawdust; I did pick up for 50 bucks (used) a nice air filter that hangs from the ceiling and really helps keep dust down to a dull roar:

Since my shop is under the master bedroom, I thought it behooved me to install a pretty powerful exhaust system. I spray a lot of finishes and this helps keep the fumes down to another dull roar and me somewhat out of the doghouse:

Power sanders really cut down on sanding time; I use a handle-held that is a beast to sand the frame front and a belt/disc combo that makes short work of sanding the sides of a frame:

Gotta have clamps to get things together; I'll show what I use as we go along. Here's the process I use to build a shadow box frame: First, as I mentioned, I need some lumber. I've been fortunate to have a local sawyer that let's me pick through his piles of cherry and red oak. Since it is not quarter sawn, I look for the straightest grain boards I can find. This redwood, used for another project, is a great example of what I'm looking for:

And some nice local black cherry:

First thing I do is run the boards through the jointer to get the edges of the lumber as straight as possible. I also use it to just plain clean up the edges. Before:

After:

I then use the planer to reduce thickness (if necessary) and ensure that each board in the batch is the same width.

Then its on to the table saw to rip boards into the stock I'll use to make frames.

Good to have your homemade featherboard clamped down to keep stock tight to the fence:

All of that leaves me with (usually) a pretty good stash of block stock from which I saw out my frame stock.

An important step comes before sawing the lumber into actual frame stock - I choose and mark with either tape of those little sticky dots the face and side I want exposed in the final frame pieces so that I don't accidentally cut those faces rather than the less desirable sides of any given piece. The marked face always faces up, and the marked side always faces the fence when making the actual frame stock.

I make the frame stock from the blocks with two passes through the table saw. It can be done other ways, often with a router spinning sharp carbide steel at 15,000 rpm's; no thank you.

I have learned, over the years, to stand slightly to the side of the table saw when performing certain operations. In this case, I knew it was bound to happen, so place cardboard in front of the glass doors, which accepted the flying lumber gracefully (this doesn't happen often, but it pays to be ready):

Time to make frames. I am positive there are folks that can measure a piece to be framed, measure width, etc of the framing stock, and use a little math to come up with exactly the right length to cut the frames. I didn't like math in high school or my 14 years of college, so I don't go down that road. I just have something the same dimensions as the piece to be framed for a template (I usually use 3/16" foam core for this chore), make the first forty-five degree mitre cut in the stock, hold it against the template, and make a mark, and head to the saw. I kind of creep up on the exact dimension I want for a side. When I have it, I transfer it to the stock for the opposite side, and make my 45 degree cut. That 100-tooth sawblace makes a clean cut on cherry:

Oak, on the other hand, is prone to tear-out and/or splintering, so I prevent that by first wrapping where I am going to cut with masking tape, resulting in a nice, tidy cut:

Ask one more woodworker what he/she/it thinks is the best glue, and you'll likely get one more answer. I've pretty much settled on Titebond III; should hold things together even when you submerge your frame.

I have gone through a batch of ways to clamp a frame. From using just one of these (which are loads of fun to figure out what hole to put the little orange thingies in):

To just using one of these:

To using both of them together:

Making my latest frame, things quite literally weren't coming together, corner-wise. The little light bulb in my head went on, and I realized that maybe the clamp thingy wasn't quite up to the task in the corner. So I made up a set of these little ninety degree do-dads, put tape on them so they wouldn't bond to the corner's glue, and away we went!

As I mentioned at the outset of this post, some will tell you that you need to spend hundreds on the right blade (not to mention thousands on the saw) to get a decent mitred corner. My Milwaukee and its pitifully cheap blade make these corners:

I let the glue cure for 24 hours before I subject it to harsh handling (i.e., sanding). I sand the top with my handy Bosch orbital, and the sides with my Wen belt/disc deal. I start with 80 grit, then in order, 100, 120, 150, and finish all with 220 grit. I ease all the edges by hand with 150 and 220 grit. Made a handy little keeper for my discs which hangs right behind my sanding spot.

So the frame is looking pretty nifty, well-glued and all, but is it really strong, and is there a way to combine looks and strength to enhance the frame? In a word: yes. Splines, my friends, splines are the answer.

I nosed around the internet to see how these things are accomplished...lots of awesome framers out there. Using the ideas of those who ventured before me, I made this fixture for my table saw fence:

The frame nestles into it nicely, the saw blade it raised to the correct height, and the four grooves are cut:

I cut small slices on the bandsaw of whatever wood I want to use, and glue and clamp them in place:

I cut the majority of the spline off with a small fine-toothed hand saw, or more likely, run it through the bandsaw, then final sand so its flush with the frame proper:

The final finish is always a gratifying finale to me. Some frames get stain before the final finish goes on, some are left natural. Whichever, I make these fixtures to keep me from making a smudged mess of things; they hold the frame nicely. I usually sit them atop a small pail or coffee can so that I can spin them around easily. Someday when I'm rich and famous I'll make an honest-to-goodness lazy susan to spin them on:

Everyone has their fav stains and final finishes, so I won't go down that rabbit hole, but a little thing I picked up from Amazon REALLY helps keep overspray at bay when using a spray-on finish. Supposedly you can get it to spring back into the little bag it comes in. Do let me know if you buy one of these and manage that task.:

So, all that to make a little something to wrap around a pretty picture. Ain't that somethin?

Cheers, Gary