shims

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A

Al E

CGF II, Certified Grumble Framer Level 2
Joined
Jan 21, 2001
Posts
446
Loc
Starrucca,PA,USA
Quite often I get chops which have a leg or two taller than another. I don't know why but I'm sure you guys will tell me!

Since I join on the mitre vises I would use any thin stuff I could find to shim under the leg. But I stumbled upon brass shims of several different thicknesses and they have worked like a charm. The sampler set is the way to go.
Lee Valley has it at:

http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=2&p=40946&cat=1,43456,43407
 
Or when the moulding is seriously warped. We buy length for all special orders (moulding we don't stock) and use the remainder to add to stock or make a ready made. But it seems warped moulding is becoming more and more prevalent. Sometimes it takes 3 framers just to get a frame in the vise. Grumble, grumble.
 
I feel your pain, Kirstie. No, really, I feeeeel your pain! No wonder so many of us have carpal tunel....and we thought it was just from cutting all those mats the "old way" (pre-CMC). I had some really bad snakewood last week, customer didn't want to wait for replacement....my hands and wrists still hurt from wrestling that snake into the vises (too warped to glue/v-nail, had to be vised/glue/dry/v-nail)....but I did it!!! Ow-OW-owie!

Would shims help with snakewood, and if so, how?? Diagrams/pictures would help the visualization-impaired (that's me..."I just can't visualize it!"))
 
Are y'all talking about warped wood or twisted wood??

I am having a problem understanding how you can force a warp out of a piece of moulding, join the corners, and have the warp stay out of the leg. Even with a twisted leg of moulding I can't imagine the twist becoming completely straight just by applying hand torque to it while joining.

There are many possible causes for moulding going out of profile 2 of which being uneven moisture content in the board/leg of moulding, and internal tension coming from various causes including twisted grain and forced growth. If the internal tension of a piece of wood is such that it causes the wood to warp or twist as it comes out of the kiln and stabilizes, the wood is simply trying to reach a condition of less internal tension. I don't think that any amount of hand pressure while joining the unstable wood will cause it to become straight ( or forced into a condition of more internal tension) and not attempt to return to its less tense condition.

Warp is one type of wood problem that I always return for replacement. A curved piece of moulding won't ever sit right on the wall and will exert pressure sometimes on the glass or canvas in such a manner as to cause it to break or misalign. Either case will eventually bring the piece back to your shop for repair.

It doesn't seem to be worth the effort to me to try to straighten that type of problem out and take the responsibility for it staying straight.
 
The frame I was referring to was for a customer who absolutely insisted I go ahead with the frame, with the understanding that it be returned after the little amateur art show she wanted to put it in, and by then I would have the warped stuff replaced, or choose a different moulding. I have boxed up neaarly 200 feet of that stuff, same profile, different colors, with every stick badly warped and/or twisted and it's all going back. The vendor wants me to pay a restocking fee, but that's not going to happen, and I will be speaking with the company owner tomorrow. I have since (finally) taken down all of their corner samples. It's become that much of a repeated problem.

I don't have the time or the energy or the patience to wrestle anymore with snakewood. That was an exception.

I agree with you 100%, Framerguy. It was a small frame, 13x15, and somehow straightened out in the vises, but I'm sure it won't stay that way, and she promised to bring it back so I can do another one properly. Shouldn't have done it at all, but....I did.
 
We don't wet join anything. This may be old fashioned, but we have a lot of vises and we glue the corners/dry/then use the underpinner. (Our DIY is assembly only--we cut and join, cut mats, glass, etc. no museum glass DIY, no fabric wraps, etc. Just the simple stuff). The rest is custom. Anyway, Jeff firmly believes in letting the glue dry before it goes to the underpinner. Of coure our underpinner is old, but I don't think it is about that.
 
It would take another full time employee to return and get replacements for all the warped, twisted, dented moulding and the finishes that don't match the samples.

Yes, Kirstie it is getting worse and worse. Some here on the G will give you "reasons" for the situation, but they sound more like excuses. The fact remains that we, after selecting from samples, buy moulding in good faith, and some would have us think that we are foolish expect to get what we thought we bought which is moulding that has NONE of the characteristics I mentioned in the first sentence.

I do sympathize with moulding suppliers/importers who deal with people who don't have much regard for contracts that are hardly inforceable outside the U.S. But, their problems are making the stability of poly mouldings look more and more desireable.

How many of you reach for the perfect moulding to go on a customer's art and stop that reach in mid air when you hear a voice in your head saying "but what about the carp Company X sent last time?".
 
jframe said:
How many of you reach for the perfect moulding to go on a customer's art and stop that reach in mid air when you hear a voice in your head saying "but what about the carp Company X sent last time?".
Click to expand...

Often enough that I just pulled the last of Company X's corners off the walls. I've had enough.

Last week I was talking about this with a rep, and he said "Well, you probably have a lot of that because of the dry climate here". Not!! It arrives here that way! I told him "Nice try, but that's not the case and you know it"...and he had to agree.
 
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