Thin thin moulding

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FrameMakers

FrameMakers

PFG, Picture Framing God
Joined
Mar 20, 2001
Posts
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Loc
Powell, OH
A customer came in with a 5x7ish framed Fred Thompson print from around 1910-1920. The screw eye that the wire was attached to pulled out of the frame and it needed a general cleaning and refitting. The moulding is very thin with the side of the mouling only being 1/8" thick. It is no wonder that the screw eye pulled out. The moulding is about 1/2" deep, so I was thinking of putting the glass, matted art and a new rag backing into the frame leaving me right around 1/4" to work with.

My thought is to fit this and then glue in a fairly snug piece of 1/4" plywood or basswood to the backing, and then putting my hangers on the wood rather than the frame.

Any other suggestions?
 
I would make an appropriately sized strainer from bass or balsa and pin it to the inside of the frame.
 
The frame is the original frame that the artist put on his works. It is in good shape other than being very very thin.

With the frame only being 5"x7", what advantage would their be in a strainer vs a solid panel?
 
You could drill straight through the strainer, not having to angle the pins. Just makes for a little uniformity of pin length. That, and if there was any concern over the inherent acidity in the panel, it would be somewhat mitigated by not covering the entire back.
 
It's a 5 by 7. The screw eyes have been in since 1910. Invert the frame, you know top to bottom bottom to top and put in some screw eyes, or an easel back.

I still buy the itty bitty screw eyes for customer that just have to have the thin thin moulding.... At 5 by 7 it really should not be too big a concern.
 
How about gluing a piece of matboard onto the back of the frame with a split ring "O" hanger fastened into the matboard? Should be strong enough to last for the next century.
 
Dave, I think your idea and Mar's both have merit. I would not hang it from the frame itself with screw eyes, because the wood is too brittle with age, plus there is risk of splitting it when installing the screw eyes. Be sure to charge enough to cover your time and materials. They wouldn't be able to go just anywhere (such as M's) and expect anyone to agree to work on this.
:cool: Rick
 
I love pilot holes, but have been known to get a little too deep when drilling them :) Meaning if you use them don't poke through the front .....
 
Bob Doyle said:
I love pilot holes, but have been known to get a little too deep when drilling them :) Meaning if you use them don't poke through the front .....
Click to expand...

Wrap some electricians tape around the drill bit at the stop depth and your poking through the front will be a thing of the past.

The tape can slip if you apply to much brute force so check the depth before use. I have a cheap 12V Lion drill dedicated to pilot holes and haven't poked through front in quite a while. I use a bit more tape than the image below so that it overlaps to hole by quite a bit.


tape-on-drill-bit.jpg
 
I once had an embroidery frame that needed new glass. The frame was very diddly. About 10mm face and about 8mm deep. With a running pattern on the face. Customer wanted to keep the same frame. Somehow the original framer had managed to shoehorn it all in a 5mm rabbet. The glass was painted and gilded on the reverse as a 'mat'. Wasn't going to try replicating the glass painting, so I did a double mat the same colors. Which it needed anyway. The new sandwich ended up about 12mm thick.
Anyhow.... I found some simple square profile moulding and mitered it on it's back, so the rabbet faced up. This made a nice little shelf for the diddly frame to drop into. It added only a little lip to the outside and I painted it to blend in. Beefed the frame up without altering the look too much. The depth of the rabbet of the new frame was exactly the same as the width of the back of the original frame so it all fitted nicely.
 
Ended up using 1/4 lathe and making a strainer that we just pointed in. The screws bit well into the strainer and it made the frame even more stable.
 
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