Handy 



Some Useful Picture- Framing Hints 



By Charles A. King 



BEFORE a picture is measured for 

 its frame, its opposite sides should 

 be parallel and its adjoining sides at 

 right angles. The "sight" of the frame, 

 or its extreme inside dimensions, should 

 be 2^-inch smaller than the picture, thus 

 a picture 14 inches wide and 20 inches 

 long would require a frame 13^ x 19^ 

 inches inside, or sight dimensions. 



An iron miter box is more satisfactory 

 than a wooden one for sawing the miters, 

 though accurate work may be done by 

 the latter. Often, after using either, the 

 joint can be improved by block planing, 

 so that the surfaces of the miters will be 

 in perfect contact when the back of each 

 moulding lies closely upon some flat sur- 

 face and the outside edges rest against 

 the inside edges of a steel square, as 

 shown at A. 



If satisfactory results cannot be ob- 

 tained by this method, a "shooting 

 board/' shown at B, may be used; the 

 edges a a must be at right angles to each 

 other and at angles of 45 to the edge 'b. 

 The two angles, a b, are necessary to per- 

 mit the opposite miters of a moulding to 

 be planed. The edge of the plane iron 

 should be straight, instead of slightly 

 rounded as usual, and adjusted to cut a 

 thin shaving of uniform thickness from 

 the entire surface of the miter. 



After the joints have been fitted and 

 the opposite pieces of moulding made the 

 same length, holes should be bored from 

 the back edge through the mitered ends 

 of each piece, as at C, hole i being placed 

 near the face, and 2 near the back. 



There are two methods of placing 

 mouldings in a vise to nail them; a flat, 

 unfinished piece may be held as indi- 

 cated at D f while the method illustrated 

 at E is better adapted to one with a fin- 

 ished or moulded face, as it will not be 

 marred by the jaws of the vise. The in- 

 experienced worker should practice upon 

 small pieces before attempting to fasten 

 the frame together, as the principal dif- 

 ficulty lies not so much in the fitting of 

 the joints as in the nailing. The short 

 piece 3 should be placed in the vise, and 

 the long piece 4 nailed upon it as at D. 

 The nail should be placed in the hole I 

 near the end of 4, and the mitered end 

 lightly touched with glue, and placed with 

 its edges about *^-inch beyond those of 

 3, as at 5 6. The backs of the pieces 

 must coincide so that when the nail is 

 driven through 4 into 3 the sliding of 4 

 will permit the face members of the 

 mouldings to intersect, as at 7 of D. 

 Piece 4 may be held with one hand while 

 the nail is being driven with the other; 

 a firm pressure, perpendicular to the sur- 

 face of the miter, must be applied, or the 

 moulding will slip. 



One nail through 4 into 3 should hold 

 the pieces in place while their positions 

 are carefully reversed, in doing which 

 care must be used to avoid moving the 

 pieces by each other, and a nail driven 

 through 3 into 4. Unless the foregoing 

 task is done carefully, the joint may be 

 started. After the other two pieces have 

 been nailed together by the same method 

 they must each be handled as one piece, 



S69 



