best tools to get straigth cuts for a frameshop

[mateo5]

Hi

I want to start a my own frame shop and I want to rip my own frame stock but not from a raw chunk of wood but instead from say a 2x4, 8' pine to make my own frame stock.

I'm not a pro I just love design and I love frames and in order to be able to make my own ones I'm learning the woodworking art by reading books and working on weekends, but now I do want to take this seriously as a living.

I thought that by using a BS I would get my pieces straight right away but that seems to be not the case.

Im looking for some advice about which tools would help me achieving straight pieces to use them as the base material of my frames.

thank you all.

carlo juan.

[leehljp]

For a frame shop, I would be looking at other woods beside pine. Most pine it too soft, doesn't finish as well without considerable experience and moves quite a bit with humidity changes. Hard pine has too much sticky sap. Pine as a whole is cheap compared to most other woods, but the drawbacks will probably prevent repeat customers, IMO.

A frame maker needs to be persnickety because if he isn't that is one area that customers are!

[mateo5]

Thank you so much for that advice I completely agree with you, and if there is something that I want my future clients to have is satisfaction. I will have that in mind every time... well almost every time

[MilDoc]

The best way to rip a board straight is the table saw IMHO. But you might still need a jointer too. And I use a good miter saw for the corners.

I've made a lot of my own frames and used many kinds of wood, and agree pine doesn't make the grade. You need wood that doesn't bleed sap and is stable, especially for "archival" framing.

[LCHIEN]

the preferred tool for ripping is the table saw, that should be advice in most any woodworking book.

For final dimensionsing and straightening a planer and a jointer are usually used.

A SHaper is required for molding complex moldings.
For making the corners a compound miter saw.

There are a number of south american/central american hardwoods. Brazilian Cherry, some mahoganys etc. that should make much better frames than pine, for the reasons others have posted.

for hardwoods, at least in the states, they don't come as 2x4 (dimensional lumber) but as rough-cut boards of varying lengths and widths and fixed thciknesses.
You would joint, then plane, then rip, then shape, then miter to make frames.

[Pappy]

I would start the required list with a table saw and a jointer to prep the stock. A shaper or molding cutter would be ideal for the profiles but there a number of molding bits that do a good job on a router table, just not as fast.

For cutting the miters a good miter saw or an accurate miter sled on a table saw. In either case a high quality blade is essential. For the final trim/fit, keep your eyes out for a Lion Miter Trimmer or a similar machine. Don't go with the new, knock off trimmers. This is one case where old iron is worth the price.

[mpc]

Table saws work great for consistent rip cuts. Combine the saw with a self-made "miter sled" and you'll get repeatable 90 degree corners. Look at some of the sleds others have posted on this site for ideas. Some have the fences with adjustable stops on fence arms so you get both consistent angles and consistent length workpieces. Take the time to make a sled for each corner angle you need: 4-sided frames, 6 sided, 8 sided, etc.

A router will do for basic profiles; a shaper later on will let you make profiles on larger/harder stock more quickly. In the near term, a router can even be set up to do basic jointer duty. A good hand plane for fine-tuning things until you get that (really cool) miter trimmer tool.

Ripping on a bandsaw takes a lot of practice and you'll never get perfectly smooth results like ripping on a tablesaw. Bandsaws excel at cutting curves in thick stock or resawing. It takes very careful setup to get a bandsaw to cut straight lines parallel to the saw's fence; instead the typical practice is to use a "resaw fence" which is a vertical post or point near the blade teeth... instead of a long "wall" fence. This contacts the workpiece at just a single vertical line keeping the thickness constant near the blade... but it's up to you to manually steer the workpiece to compensate for "blade wander" or "blade drift" which is a natural outcome of bandsaws. With perfectly co-planer saw wheels, and blade tracking adjusted to be perfectly centered on the "rise" of the wheels, you can get pretty small drift angles. It takes a bit of setup time and adjustments... but once done making consistent resaw cuts on the bandsaw is easier.

mpc

[drumpriest]

The tool list provided so far is spot on, I just wanted to chime in with another vote for a miter sled over a miter saw. I have used both, and the sled will do a better job of making those tight miters that frames need.

Also, look at spline miter jigs that you can make to make your frame miters nice and strong.

[crokett]

I decided a while ago that most of the woodworking projects I do right now will be frames - not on a production basis. I've built maybe 14. I don't have a planer so I start with surfaced stock. I use a jointer to get a good edge, table saw to rip the stock to width, miter sled on the TS for the miters and a router do do all my profiling. I also have a spline jig I built to spline the corners. Other than a shaper instead of the router I would not need any other tools. Some guys use a disc sander to do final sanding/fitting on the mitered corners but if you set the saw up right you don't need to do this.

So I'd say jointer, tablesaw and router will do what you need. A shaper will make the profiling faster.

[LinuxRandal]

Country look?

If your going to use building material, like 2x's, I am assuming your going for that country/crafty look (that my mother loves so well ).
2x's on tablesaws do have problems, as the wood is much wetter, then the lumber you get from a hardwood store. In this case, a sled should be mandated if going with a tablesaw.
Otherwise, this is an area, where I would look at something like the EZ Smart, or a homemade sawboard and some clamps. Since Pine is pitchy and hard on blades, I would instead of a Jointer, go with a router (which can also shape the board).

I would also look at a miter saw (but look at good ones).

[mateo5]

Wao!

Thank you all for all the info, it's helping me big time!!!


Im looking now at the EZ Smart system and a jointer to complement the other tools that I have:

Porter-Cable 4212 12-Inch Deluxe Dovetail Jig
Hitachi M12VC 2-1/4 HP Variable Speed Router
GMC AMS814LS 10.5 Amp 8-1/4-Inch Compound Miter s
Bessey VAS23 Vario Angle Strap Clamp
Logan Compact Deluxe Mat Cutter Model 301S
Delta BS100 Shopmaster 9-Inch Bench Top Band Saw with a 1/2 woodslicer

Once again thank you all

[JR]

I notice nobody mentioned the miter cutter that so many frame shops use. It's a sort of guillotine affair in which a fixed blade is sliced throught the wood. I've never used one, but they seem very popular among framers.

If I get a chance I'll find one on the web.

JR

here's one from Rockler:

[lum]

One of those miter cutters ... it was a knife set up like a paper cutter where the blade is hinged at one end ... was at hand for several days many years back. The quality of the cut was as clean, straight and finished as anything I've seen. To touch a cut with a tool or paper would have diminished the result.

Liam

[Bruce Cohen]

having just been laid off from a framing co, if you want to make any money, I suggest you don't try to make moulding yourself. Check out these links, they're companies we've delt with and their stuff is excellent.



http://www.omegamoulding.com/vhome.htm

http://www.decormoulding.com/index.shtml

http://www.framerica.com/index_html.php

Best of luck,

Bruce