Originally posted by Bob Doyle:
Sorry, no.
Too many tested methods to use... Fritzy specialized in "untested" repairs...But I will send the $5 jobs your way !
Sorry for being snotty, but a temporary fix shouldn't become a permanent business method.
I wouldn't call your comments snotty, Bob, just short-sighted.
Screw eyes are among the most "tested methods" in framing, having been commonly used for such a long time. But screw eyes are stressful, because the devices elevate the wire off the frame. Bob said "I think of all the old frames that are brought in with the screws eyes almost pulled out and think how dangerous and flimsy this method sounds." You don't see any difference?
A screw eye's elevation amounts to a lever, which amplifies the side-stress on the hole and increases the likelhood of splitting the grain around the hole. To demonstrate the physics involved:
1. Drill a hole as usual in the back of a frame, about 1/2" deep.
2. Drop a 1" long nail into it, and push toward the rabbet, in the direction the wire would pull. Unless the hole is very close to the rabbet's edge, you probably can't split the grain by pushing sideways on the nail.
3. Now remove the nail and drop a 6" long awl into the same hole. Repeat the pushing motion and watch how easily that 6" long tool acts as a lever and splits the grain of the wood around the hole.
The bigger the screw-eye, the taller it stands off the frame, and the more stress it places on the hole. Far fewer grain-splitting problems result from using a flat-to-the-surface device, such as Infinity Hangers, SuperSteel, or plain old D-rings. Ahohen's DITH method is in the flat-to-the-surface category.
So far, I have not yet used the DITH method on any customer's framing, and probably will not for some time. I'm still testing it, but I'm finding that it is probably a good way to install a wire on a frame.
In any case, WallBuddies are still my shop's standard hanging hardware fro all the reasons we've discussed so many times before.
Like everything else, the DITH wiring method has limitations. For example, it is still a wire system, and most consumers will hang a wired frame from one wall hook, no matter how we beg them to hang it properly from two hooks. Refer to the undisputed advantages of the FACTS standard for installing a wire with an angle of at least 60 degrees, and realize that most framers aren't wiring their frames properly in the first place.
The DITH wiring method should not be used with aluminum wire, because it might fatique and break off in the hole, under the point-stress of this method. I would use only stainless steel wire; the more strands, the better.
Also, it is very important to drill a proper hole, which we ought to be doing, anyway. That is, make it at least as deep as the screw's length, and make sure the tool cuts the wood cleanly, and does not just split the grain. That's because the hole must accommodate not only the screw, but the wire as well.
It seems short-sighted to condemn any new hanging system out-of-hand by comparing it to stapling the wire, or Fritzy's temporary cob-job.
The point is, nobody will know whether this method is good, bad, or indifferent until it is thoroughly tested. The jury is still out, but I have yet to hear anyone explain a real problem with it, done right. On the other hand, we have heard about plenty of imagined problems, which have not materialized in my tests, despite my efforts to make them happen.
If you can point out a real problem with the DITH method as I've described it above, please share it.