Stained Glass Framing

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Z David

Z David

MGF, Master Grumble Framer
Joined
Mar 8, 2010
Posts
944
Loc
Texas
In my continual attempt to expand my market, I put together a little display to take to the local retail storefront that does a lot of stained glass creations. They have many years of experience.
My display (photo attached) consists of the 4 CMI stained glass corner samples.
After meeting with the owner of the business he proceeds to tell me that the channel in the frames is not wide enough to accommodate the majority of the pieces they do. He claims that this is a common problem that he always encounters and his approach has always been to widen the channel on his table saw... of course he typically buys unfinished length.
He showed me the nature of the problem. It's typically where pieces of the metal connect to the perimeter metal and are then soldered. It's that soldered joint that makes the piece too wide for the channel.

BTW... the channel on the CMI frames is 9/32" which I think is fairly standard.
Has anyone else encountered this issue? Is the only solution... widening the channel... or is there some other work-around?
photo.JPG


Z
 
Yes, this is a very common problem especially with the pieces made by people just learning how to do leaded stain glass. Foiled pieces don't seem to have this problem as much.

You have the choice of widened the channel or with a file or dremel tool, smooth the joint done to fit the channel or find another moulding supplier that makes a wide channel.
 
I believe Xylo Moulding makes a stained glass moulding profile -- I'm not sure of the dimensions of the channel though.

If you can't find a profile with the right dimensions of the channel, we could make a custom profile for you. Hardwood/softwood, unfinished/prefinished -- you name it.

Luke
 
Thanks for the input everyone!

I just thought it was odd that this individual who has been in the stained glass making business for 30 to 40 years says that he "always" has to widen the channel on his frames with his table saw!

That just begged the question, if it's such a chronic prevailing issue... why doesn't the industry routinely make a wider channeled frame?




Z
 
Because the stain glass artists want one frame to work on all their pieces..either foiled, leaded with lead around the edge or when they use zinc around the edge. Then there are those who use 1/2 inch flat steel to reinforce the piece. This is one reason I make my own stain glass moulding to accommodate the piece I'm framing.

Wait till you're asked to frame a stain glass piece that is not square...more like a very bad parallelogram
 
I had beautiful oak milled especillay for stained glass framing. A full 1 x 2 with 1/4 Radiius on all four corners. I would cut a groove the exact width and depth as required for each job. Sometime, the groove would be in the center of the 2" side or more towards the back to make like a shadow box. Sometimes I would cut the groove in the center of the 1" side. I had corner samples made a several different designs for the customer to choose. Samples of the wood with different color stains helped them pick out the right color.

After joining the frame around the glass, I would drill, countersink, and counterbore for a 2" long screw (or 2) and plug the counterbore with walnut plugs. Sand the plugs smooth and stain the frame.

To hang I would attach 2 hole D-Rings on the verticle frame members near the top and hang on 2 hooks.

A lot of the stained glass pieces were done poorly and would sag in the center if just supported around the egdes. I would stack up layers of foam board to support the pieces flat whilst handling. Make sure to tell the customer to only handle it vertically because it will sag and crack if they handle it laying flat!

Murphy's law says that it will always crack the in most central piece of the most expensive glass that they don't have any more of.
 
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