_Inexpensive Framing Stock._--Picture-frame stock can be easily
obtained of dealers in artists' supplies and in furniture stores in a
great variety of styles. Much of it is so well prepared and so nicely
finished that it leaves little to be desired. It is, therefore, often
best to secure the stock for frames in this way. It is, however,
somewhat expensive, so that, when economy is important, it behooves the
young woodworker to prepare his own framing stock.
Very satisfactory frames 2 inches in width or less may be made from
matched oak flooring, a section of which is here illustrated, by
planing off the tongue and cutting away one side of the groove to
furnish the inset for the glass. Wider flat frames of any thickness
can, of course, be cut out from the ordinary stock. A special tool
for cutting the inset is desirable but not necessary. A 1/4-inch
saw cut may be made with a circular saw or even with a hand saw and
the necessary removal of the wood accomplished by means of careful
chiselling.
[Illustration: Picture framing stock made from oak flooring]
[Illustration: The mitre joint]
_Mitres._--Frames may be joined at the corners in various ways. A
common way is by the mitre joint illustrated in the drawing. To secure
good joints of this kind it is necessary that the mitres be cut on an
angle of exactly 45 degrees and that the pieces for the corresponding
sides of the frame be precisely of the same length. Hand sawing is
generally not exact enough to produce angles of sufficient accuracy
even when an ordinary mitre box is used. Hand-sawed mitres, therefore,
will require a little truing with a small plane. Great care must be
exercised also in fitting the corners together. The common bench
square is not large enough to prove the work. A better way is to lay a
carpenter's framing square on the bench and fit the two pieces of the
frame against the sides of the square, testing each corner in that way.
[Illustration: Clamping mitre joints]
_Gluing the Joints._--If the corners are unusually well fitted, a
good joint can be made by first sizing the ends with glue and then
firmly pressing the pieces together upon a true surface, leaving them
undisturbed for four or five hours until the glue is hard. By sizing
the ends of the joints is meant thoroughly filling the end pores with
glue, rubbing it into the pores with another block. Generally speaking,
however, it is necessary to make use of a mitre-clamping device. If
a special clamping device is not available, one can be easily made
by gluing small soft wood blocks to the parts of the frame near the
corners, as shown in the accompanying drawing. In a half hour or so
these blocks will become firmly set so that the mitre joints may
be glued together, clamping them up with a hand screw. As already
explained under the general directions on gluing, it is good practice
for a beginner to glue up opposite corners and not attempt to glue up
the two remaining corners until the first two are well set. When the
first two corners are well set they should be nailed; and before the
two remaining corners are glued it is well to try the parts together
to see if they do not require a little correcting before gluing. These
joints also should have light nailing after the glue has been set. In
nailing, small holes should be made with a brad awl or drill in order
to avoid splitting the corners, and long finishing nails should be used.
_The Defect of Shrinking._--With proper tools the mitre joint is the
easiest one to make, but it has one unavoidable defect, especially
in wide frames. It is very difficult to get stock well seasoned and
almost impossible to get it perfectly seasoned, so that wide frames,
however well finished, must be expected to shrink a little after they
are joined together. As most of this shrinking is across the width of
the stock it is evident that it will tend to open the mitre joints on
the inside of the corners. This is what happens almost invariably with
joints made in this way from wide stock in picture framing. The same
defect is also frequently observed in the interior finishing around
windows and doors.
There are three other methods of joining the corners of picture
frames--_viz._, the halved lap joint, the mortise and tenon joint, and
the dowelled joint. A drawing is shown to illustrate these three kinds
of corner joints, and it is hardly necessary to say that no one of
them is open to the same objection that attaches to the mitre joint.
All these joints require accurate cutting and rather more of it than
the mitre joint requires, but they are more easily glued up. The halved
lap joint is easily clamped up with a common hand screw, even when the
frame is a very large one. But the other two require long clamps in
order to pull the joints up well.
[Illustration: Halved lap joint]
[Illustration: Mortise and tenon joint]
_Character of the Frame._--The kind of joint required depends upon the
general character of the frame--whether it is to be heavy or light,
wide or narrow, and whether made of picture frame moulding or of the
plain framing stock with round or flat face; and the character of the
frame is a matter of design, determined by the kind of picture, by
its setting, and by other considerations discussed in Chapter III.
How the plan for the construction of the frame for any given picture
is influenced by such considerations may be seen in the example which
follows:
[Illustration: Dowelled joint]