Joining advice for a hobbyist

[Gurduloo]

I'm getting back into picture framing as a hobby after 15+ years away. I worked part time at a busy frame shop for about 4 years as a teenager, so I'm fairly experienced. The shop I worked in used the old fashioned miter vise with nails method for joining molding. It worked great and I was very good at it. Occasionally we used a thumbnailer, which worked well on some moldings. I really liked the thumbnailer because it meant we didn't have to use any putty. For some reason this shop never used v-nails of any kind. I always had the impression that v-nails were inferior and made lousy corners. But in the past few years, I've had some framing done professionally by a guy that uses v-nails, and his frames come out looking great. I'm not sure what equipment he uses though.

I'd like to try using v-nails, but there's no way I can afford an underpinner - even the cheap Logan one would be hard to justify. I was very close the other day to ordering one of the Logan Studio Joiners, but then I found this site and read some pretty negative things about it, so I'm hesitant to pay for one. I've also been looking at the Pushmaster and am even considering using a plain old hammer as suggested on GrignonsArt.com, but I'm skeptical that either of these would work reliably.

So my question is: If I want to use v-nails - is an underpinner really the only workable solution? Or is there some way to use v-nails on the cheap?

[Patrick Leeland]

V nails do not make bad corners, bad corners come from not having sufficient clamp down devices while inserting the v nails. V nailers have come along way in the past five years. Some now have three hold down clamps were one used to be the norm.

As far as the Logan thing goes...don't waste your time. You will get a better corner if you vise it and nail it. Putty, that is not that big of a deal. If that is such a bad thing you could order joined frames from most suppliers. They usually run between $3.00-$6.50 per frame. If you are looking at big guys 3-4 inch range they could be $15 a frame.

It takes good saws and choppers, sanders, and joining equipment as well as the person behind the machine to make a good frame. Throwing $200 at it won't get you by cheap and definitely not a professional job.

PL
Good luck and welcome to the G