The Occasional Need for LowTech

MerpsMom

SGF, Supreme Grumble Framer
Founding Member
Joined
Jul 30, 1997
Posts
4,248
Loc
Leawood, Kansas USA
So smart are we experienced framers. Got a terrific order: six vertical pieces, four old photos each, triple-matted: really cool art. Measured, priced, allowed for over-sized mats in cost estimate, extra labor for triple mats (no CMC :( ), etc. Blanked the boards, was so excited about starting...then hit the wall. My proline table mat cutter is 48" while the artwork is 52".

I pulled out my old little Logan. Since it's an infinity-style cutter, you can go up to 9' if you have to. From panic to pleasure.

It definitely pays to keep some stuff around.
 
I know what you mean. I had to cut a mat larger than our cutter once, and spent more time disassembling the cutter than actually cutting the mat. I wish I had a hand held cutter then! But, you do realize, that in the age of computer cutters, the good ole' table-top manual cutter is becoming a dinosaur and to the next generation of framers will be the low-tech option.
 
That's ironic, Cathy, 'cause I also had a large mat to cut today, 25X58, for a panoramic beach photo. My C&H Advantage Pro is a 48" cutter and, unlike the Logan, doesn't cut to infinity. I had to remove a few things, mark the corners of the window on the top side, and cut from the off side of the mat cutter. That worked but I had to take more time to line up that last foot of cut than it took to cut the next 2 mats that followed. And you have to be careful that when you lower the hold down bar that you don't mar or pinch the end of the mat under the bar stops at the near end of the mat cutter.

To make matters worse, I remembered the foamcore for the backing but forgot the glass!! I have a case of 36x48 in the shop and somehow equated the size of the matted photo with that box of glass.?

It's not Monday so what can I blame this on??

Framerguy
 
No problem, FG.

Piece the glass together with silicon adhesive - you can use scrap glass for this. Cover the joins with black electricians' tape. Tell them there's no extra charge for the stained glass effect.

Kit
 
What's wrong with your glass stretcher?

MM, I take the head off my old Fletcher which sits aging behind the CMC.
 
You know? I love my C&H 48" (just like Tom's?) but I've got to say, my little Logan can go like a bat once you regain the hang of it. I have short arms so cutting from the side on the Logan is easier than reaching with the C&H. But no matter: at least I solved it.

Tom, my brain is in half-mode recently, too, but it isn't just on Mondays. Sometimes I think I can't think at all, and then sometimes I know it. I'm chalking it up to TMI and TMTD. Frankly, the TMTD is what is getting tiresome: too bad it isn't all framing. :(

Cathie
 
Cathie ( MM) ;
I was often extremely glad of my shoestring beginnings. I learned to use some of the most primitive equipment and graduated to better and better equipment as time went on. each time I thought I had been given a gift. But I never forgot how to use those primitive tools.

In fact My Dexter Mini cutter is my weapon of choice when carving my version of what Brian Wolf tried to teach me several times.

I often feel for the new framers who start out using a CMC and can't imagine what a hand held cutter is or what it was used for and how.

I never did it but i was told that in the old days mats were cut with a KNIFE. Man that must have taken skill .But when perfected it must have been like riding a Bicycle "You never forgot".

I actually had a difficult time when attending CMC classes since i still wanted to default to my hand cuts ,because I could lay them out faster and cut them smaller than the programs would allow.

You can always progress upward in technology but those **** CMCs don't default back to skilled hand work do they. LOL

I even am glad i learned why a Gene Green machine worked because the same principles worked on my C+H and I'll bet they worked on Fletcher's and i also understood the geometric principles that the CMC used as well .But If I ha learned to click on the set point first the rest would be GREEK.
BUDDY
 
Originally posted by MerpsMom:
Tom, my brain is in half-mode recently, too, but it isn't just on Mondays. Sometimes I think I can't think at all, and then sometimes I know it. I'm chalking it up to TMI and TMTD. Frankly, the TMTD is what is getting tiresome: too bad it isn't all framing. :(

Cathie
Know whatch mean, C, my thoughts usually think that my thinking doesn't think straight when I'm in a hurry but when I slowly think I get sleepy and quit thinking as I doze off and dream.
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Now is dreaming a form of thinking or am I thinking of some other thought??
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Oh, I have no idea what those acronyms are that you thought I understood!!
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FGII
 
Too Much Information and Too Much To Do.
But you can make up your own: maybe they'd be more creative.

How're you feeling? I've learned more about shingles here than anything ever previous.

Buddy, seems it's similar with math: I don't trust my comps without a calculator, and I just plain gave in to it. ("Giving in" for me is not an easy task.)
 
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