Woodshop Picture Frame 102 Overview and Gallery

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Summary

This is an overview of picture frame class, design considerations and a gallery for inspiration.

Overview

Picture frames are one of the most accessible wood projects that a woodworker can make. For larger sizes or custom designs, nothing beats a custom made picture frame. Unfortunately, custom frames can be exceedingly expensive to order from arts shops or online. We at i3Detroit have everything we need to make our own frames of any size we desire. This page is targeted to those intending to take our picture framing class. However, many of the concepts apply generally.


Anatomy of a Picture Frame

A frame needs to have a lip as shown below that holds back the picture and other contents. The gap behind the lip is often termed a rabbet (not misspelled) in woodworking speak. See following picture for illustration of a cross-section of a picture frame

Typically the lip is around a 1/4 of an inch wide, and 3/16 or 1/4 inch thick. To accommodate glass or acrylic, picture, possible matting and backing, we typically need around 1/2 inch of rabbet depth. If the lip is 1/4 inch thick, the minimum recommended total wood height is around 3/4 inches, though it can be much more. Note that all these are approximate numbers, and there is a very wide variation in each layer.

Wood and Design Choices

Starting Material

In order to keep class runtime reasonable, we use S4S wood (S4S stands for surfaced on all 4 sides). S4S wood is sold by the linear foot and is more expensive than buying rough sawn lumber. However, it saves us from having to mill wood ourselves which takes extra time and requires machines not always in perfect operating conditions. For this particular class, we use S4S that comes in a thickness of 3/4 inch and different widths. For instance, here is one that is 6 inches wide

3/4 S4S is typical leftover from milling 4/4 rough-sawn lumber, which is the most common thickness of planks sold at lumberyards. This number, 3/4 inches, will be a key to our design choices later on.

Class Design Choices

Think of a frame laying flat on a table as you are looking at it from the top. The frames we build in this class can be classified into two types:

Style 1: Traditional

These are frames will be 3/4 inches high but of various widths, such as 1.5 or 2 inches wide. An example cross-section and an example in Cherry are shown below

These frames will be 3/4 inches wide but deeper, e.g. 1.5 inches deep. An example cross-section and an example in Cherry are shown below

This style of frames is used extensively in modern galleries. Strictly speaking, these frames don't have to even be 3/4 inches wide. We can thin them down further, e.g. to be 1/2 inches total, but for the sake of the keeping the class moving at a steady pace, we'll stick to 3/4 inches wide.

TL;DR What is pre-work for the class?

  • Figure out your picture size. Picture here includes matting. Expect that 1/4 inches will be hidden on each side due the rabbet, but don't otherwise let the rabbet confuse any of your calculations
  • Decide on a style. Style 1 (traditional), which is wide and shallow (such as examples 1 and 2 below), or Style 2 (Modern Gallery), narrow and deep (such as example 3 below)
  • In each case, decide how wide (style 1) or how deep (style 2) your frame should be. For now, the class will limit the other dimension to 3/4 as described above
  • Decide if you wish to add splines as shown in example 3. You can choose to add just one spline to each corner or more, depending on depth of frame. Splines are highly recommended for bigger pictures to re-enforce the joint, and also for Style 2 frames which have skinny joints

Example 1:

  • Style 1: Traditional
  • Width: 1.5 inches with a shallow bevel towards the inside
  • Depth or height: 3/4 inch

Example 2:

  • Style 1: Traditional
  • Width: 2 inches, with narrow chamfers on both inside and outside edges
  • Depth or height: 3/4 inch

Example 3:

  • Style 2: Modern Gallery
  • Width: 3/4 inches, with miter splines
  • Depth or height: 1.5 inches

Online shops for inspiration

Important: we cannot do all the different customizations that dedicated shops can do. Use these as examples for inspiration for your future frames though

American Frame, an Ohio-based custom framing company

As you look through these, look at the header and in some cases the last picture indicating dimensions. Their rabbets are 3/16 thick in many cases but not always. Also look through the reviews with focus on those with pictures to get a sense of real life examples

Style 1: Traditional

Style 2: Modern Gallery

Level Frames

An interesting mix of wood colors and customizations


Finding complementary supplies to finish your frame

  • Big box stores sell Optix acrylic in various dimensions. We can cut that on our laser or specific table saw blades
  • Matting can be gotten at reasonable prices from Etsy (custom) for instance
  • Hardware can be gotten from many stores including big box.

Making fancier frames

Footnotes

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