Home » Home & Style » Woodcrafts » Frame It!!

Frame It!!

©

Picture frame making is probably one of the first projects a beginner tackles. Although it seems simple enough to make, it can be one of the most difficult task to do. With picture frames, there's no room for error. Even the best woodworker, at times will discover the four pieces of wood don't always align. There can be a number of reasons why this happens. The miter gauge may not be perfectly aligned for the cut. One or several pieces has warped slightly. The wood creeps when its feed through to the blade. The pieces may not be cut to the exact width or length. Even a 1/16" can make a big difference. Any one of those reasons can prevent the results of the perfect picture frame.

What does one do to increase the chances of getting it right the first time? Prepare your stock for ripping. Check for warping. Take a piece of scrap wood that's at least two and a half times the length of your picture frame. Check this also for bows or bends. If the piece looks good, adjust and square your fence to the tablesaw blade the desired width for your frame. Take the piece of scrap wood and rip it. Measure across both ends of the pieces making sure the width is correct. Check again for straightness. If all is well, cut it in half.

Using your good stock, rip the pieces at least 1-2 inches longer than its required length. Remove the fence. Using your router table with a 1/4" straight bit, rout the inside of each piece 1/4" deep. Lay them to one side on a flat surface.

Set your miter gauge to 45 degrees. Miter one end of each piece of the scrap stock. Tip: It would be a good idea to have four corner clamps available to help you with your framing. Using a corner clamp fit the two scrap pieces together. If they're perfectly aligned continue to the next step.

With your good stock, miter one end of each of the four pieces. Now you've reached the difficult part of getting the exact length of each piece with the other four miter cuts. Tip: To help reduce the possibility of creeping, make a jig with a piece of straight 3/4" plywood the height of your gauge and at 16" long. Then align it to the left of the gauge and secure it to its base with screws. take a piece of 180 grit sandpaper, glue it to the face of the board.

The copyright of the article Frame It!! in Woodcrafts is owned by . Permission to republish Frame It!! in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.