Opinions Wanted First Strip Lining and stretching Canvas on Strainer

[Jleschak]

I love the learning phase of framing and recently took an order for a 48” x 60” canvas to be stretched. I have never done one before but have committed a good deal of reasearch and acquired product for when the opportunity arose. My acquisition was a pair of Holbein 4” pliers (which I love), extra rubber pads because that’s what I do, some Beva 371 2.5 film from Talas, and some unprimed canvas from Amazon (who still supples a many sorted thinks I want to try).

I had bought a small canvas painting to be a test subject on eBay. After many YouTubes, I found a design I liked for the strainers. and ended up starting with a Birch that I milled (thought I bought Basswood, but the mistake was minor as both are good woods in general). See the design in pictures, but a 15 degree bevel was used and I softened it with a 1/8” round over bit on the router table. Various other supports depending on size and feel like I have cracked that code.

Next was the canvas. It needed to be strip lined as it was removed from the previous strainer in California and brought back to the east coast. Let’s face it, I’m not taking anyone’s class and I figure I can manage this risk…I’m a reasonably intelligent guy. I started with a test piece of 2 canvas strips with Franks glue and did one with Beva 371 film. While I actually think Franks glue made a superior bond (non scientific), I went with the Beva as I really didn’t want to hear from the pundits that … whatever, also figured I needed hands on with Beva anyway. The Beva does take some practice, but worked through it. Ended up buying a new tacking iron…probably didn’t need to, but just felt the temp on mine was off. Oh, and I painted on some PVA glue onto the unprimed canvas where I would be stapling….seemed like a good thing to do.

The stretching itself was actually the easy part, on overall uneventful. I was going to get a Senco, but opted to continue with my Ryobi staple gun and got some staples with the nice chisel points in both 1/4” for the main parts and 3/8” for the corners - T50 staples are super cheap too. I don’t think I will be buying a Senco anytime soon as I dont think it will work well with my 8 gallon California Air Compressor and I have little desire to upgrade it.

Anyway, here are the results….fire away. This first stretching job basically paid for all of the initial supplies/equipment. Good margins.

Edit: Why didn’t I just buy the bars? Well, it’s not as enjoyable.

 

[Ylva]

I love that you are trying out materials and see what works well. What did you prefer to work with, Frank's glue or Beva? What was easier for you?

What you built, is a strainer and it looks well built.

I no longer stretch on strainers, I use stretcher bars exclusively. Canvas becomes slack at some point. Some will be okay for years, some come back within a month.
With stretcher bars and keys, all you have to do is tap the keys to get any wrinkles out. Easy.
With strainer, you have to do a full re-stretch job. Taking out all those staples, and stretch again. And again. And again (if you are unlucky)

For me, another advantage of stretcher bars is that I don't have to stretch all that extremely tightly at first try. Nicer on my hands for sure.

 

[Jleschak]

Yep. I think I mentioned they were strainers. Keyed stretchers will be next. Think it should be ok on this previously stretched canvas, if not, I’m ok restretching. Thanks for the feedback.

And for the record, I think franks was better.

 

[wpfay]

Nice experiment.
Birch doesn't equal Basswood.
They are at opposite ends of the "active" scale.
Basswood is very stable, while Birch is very active, both in reaction to environmental changes. It's one of the reasons you don't see Birch furniture that much. Their relative hardness is also considerably different.
Birch is usually found as veneer (cabinetry) or as lamination plies in plywood (See Baltic Birch Plywood).

 

[Jleschak]

Agreed. Basswood is my preferred but had to move on, but will be the go forward as a greater ability to avoid warping. While I question the “active” nature of your comments (I’m sure just my inexperience), I think my perpendicular joining of the woods helps counteract potential of warping. Or not.