best work surface

[amarlo]

If you were going to use one large table for joining frames and fitting art into those frames, what would you want that surface to be? Carpet, smooth wood, cardboard, matboard, paper, something else?

 

[Paul N]

Mirror or glass. It's easier to see the shards, dust, goop, dust, splinters and other cretins that fly into the frame when you're not looking.

But hey, that's me...

 

[imaluma]

My favorite work surface has always been the foam cor covered table wrapped in a layer or twenty of kraft paper. You can slip a piece of paper or a release board over the gluey area while joining and move it when you clean up or vice versa. I like to use a release board so you can wipe it off and tuck it away. And I also like to add layer to my paper when it is a little dirty, just adds to the cushion a bit. when it gets to bulky just tear a few layers off.

I do not like carpet as it needs to be vacuumed to make sure it is clean, unless you do it daily you can't really move stuff around on it lest there be some tiny shard of glass or a splinter ready to cause trouble. Then you cave to cover it and I am not sure what the point of carpet is if it's covered.

Are you concerned about aesthetics? Is it somewhere you want to look nice? Maybe a laminate table top for doing clean work like matting and flop down a layer of foam cor when you are joining and fitting.

 

[Kirstie]

We like a soft work surface to protect the frame, prevent glass chipping, etc, so we have used multiple layers or Kraft in both our custom and DIY areas for many years. We repaper a lot to keep surfaces clean. When it gets too thick we tear it all off and start over.