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I used to be a picture framer and having the images tilt a bit did not bother me. Larger pictures are generally hung higher and the modest tilt is an advantage.
I would not use wood for a backer as the lignins in the wood are harmful to most art. A PH neutral backer board is much preferred. These are generally marketed as "archival".
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For what it's worth over the years I've never used anything besides 1/8" tempered hardboard commonly available at the big box stores. I only use them for printed photos, not paintings or anything, but I've never had any sort of problem with that approach. Easy enough to make whatever size you need.
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Really large frames with small profile mouldings can be an issue. The horizontal frame members can bow under the weight. For those, I would glue up a mat board to keep things straight.
I would follow up with a dust cover made from craft paper glued to the back of the mouldings. I used adhesive transfer tape for that.
A light misting of the dust cover with a light wipe down with paper towels will leave the dust cover uniformly wet. As it dries it will shrink and leave a drum-tight and very tidy appearance. It looks "professional" and makes a nicer package especially if it is a gift.
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For decades I would build picture frames the classic way, heavy/thick around the outside, thinner/lighting around the inside.
About a dozen years ago I flipped the profiles, thinner outside, thicker inside and it significantly reduced the weight of the frames.
Have never had issues with bending/warping.
I just use matted boards for framing picture and backing. The largest picture frame to date was 24"x36". All the miters are reinforced with small dominos.
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I framed several thousand pictures and the only miters to give me an issue were the ones over 2-1/2" wide moldings. The seasonal movement would eventually work the joint loose. We used an underpinner so this rarely became an issue as the underpinner provided a mechanical fastener.
Certainly wide moldings are subject to miter failure. Much less once we went from white glue to Corner Weld (a very fast setting version of Tight-bond. I recently tested the strenght of Corner Weld vs Tightbond III and found them to be about equal for miters. The Corner Weld would start to setup in under a minute, so it could be handled in a couple of hours. Other than that I see no advantage. But it was a huge leap forward over white glue, which was the industry standard up until that time.
If you do the math on a 3" wide molding you will see that the inside will be 6" shorter than the outside of the miter. T
Basswood is the most common wood for most pre-finished mouldings. I don't know the expansion rate for that specific species. But it is enough that a 3" wide molding can pop the glue joint.
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It's not my favorite, but I've been using the 1/8" tempered hardboard. It works well, the thing I don't like s the weight. So I was looking at the place where I get my Matboards made, and they have all manner of backing boards. If you feel you want to go pro,
take a look at this stuff. My frames have mostly been less than 20" in any direction, almost certainly if I make a larger one for some reason I'll try the other stuff.
I started with absolutely nothing. Now, thanks to years of hard work, careful planning, and perseverance, I find I still have most of it left.
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2 things. I use 1/8 hardboard and then I use brown paper that I glue to the frame on the back. It's easy to do and adds rigidity to the frame. This is what pro's do. I have a friend that did this for a living and he showed me. Just PVA glue and brown paper.
John
Always use the right tool for the job.
We need to clean house.
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Brown paper.......
Steve
Mo.
I miss the days of using my dinghy with a girlfriend too. Zack Butler-4/18/24
The Revos apparently are designed to clamp railroad ties and pull together horrifically prepared joints
WaterlooMark 02/9/2020