7 Essential Tools for Picture Framing

Framing your pictures is not only rewarding, but it can save you a small fortune.

Once you have filled the walls in your home with picture frames, you can make them as gifts or start up a framing business as your side hustle. While you will need a few tools to do the job, they aren’t expensive compared to others you may have bought in the past.

Check out our list of tools you will need to get started to make your picture frames.

#1 Cutting the Glass to Size

If you want to make the entire frame yourself rather than outsource the glass preparation to a glazier, you are going to need a glass cutter. No other tool can be safely substituted when you’re cutting glass. The standard thickness of glass for picture framing is 2mm so that it fits into most moulding rebates. The FrameCo glass cutter produces a fine, even cut due to the tungsten-carbide head mounted on to a solid aluminium base. Before you get started, do a little research on tips and techniques for safe glass cutting.

#2 Mastering the Mitre

For professional finishes on your frame, you will need to master the mitre saw. Suitable for a range of different frame materials and thicknesses, your mitre saw will quickly become your best friend. With the popular stops of 15, 22.5, 30, 36 45 and 90 degrees built-in, it makes for a quick and accurate job every time. Otherwise, you can use a carpenters square to make your mitre cuts, just make sure you measure twice and cut once.

#3 Cutting the Mat Board for your Frame

Just as the mitred edges of your frame are important for achieving a professional finish, so is the mat board. For a bevel edge and cutting lines that are crisp and clean, a mat board cutter is essential. If you want to centre your artwork on the mat board, subtract the artwork width from the mat board width then divide in half. This will give you the measurement you need on each side. Draw the cut lines on the back of your board, and then you are ready to start cutting.

#4 Glueing the Mitre Joins

You might already have a couple of bottles of wood glue kicking around your workshop. Before you use it on your frame, just check its thickness. You don’t want a thin glue that is going to run out of the join or drip on the front of your frame. Choose a thick glue that will stay where you apply it.

#5 Clamping it all in Place

Once you have your four frame pieces cut and ready for joining you will need some clamps to hold your frame together tight while the glue dries. A band clamp is suitable for securing anything with three or four corners. The band is held in place with four heavy-duty cast alloy corners that offer impressive clamping pressure.

Plastic corners on a strap clamp ensure it stays in place around the frame. For rounded or narrow backed moulding, wings on the bottom of each corner help keep it in place.

#6 Securing the Joints of your Frame

When it comes to finishing off the mitred joints of your frame, V-Nails are your friend. They work by pulling the joint together tightly as the V shape of the nails open out slightly. V-Nails come in a few sizes; from 7mm to 15mm. The length you need will depend on the height of your frame. Choose a pin that is about 50-60% of the frame height. The PushMaster joining tool will help you insert the V-Nails.

For large or heavy frames, a V-Nail won’t do so use a FrameCo Backing Nail. If you intend to change the artwork in your frame in the future, Flexipoints will make the job of removing the nails easier.

#7 Secure the Frame with a Corner Jack

The pressure of a V-Nail being driven into the moulding base can cause the joint to open if it’s not properly supported. The Corner Jack can be adjusted to work on small even reverse shaped profiles.

If you don’t want to buy these tools individually, there is a Basic Picture Framing Kit that can get you up and running quickly. As you framing list grows, you can gradually upgrade your tools.

If you have any queries about the right product for your next framing project, don’t hesitate to contact us.

Your Guide to 6 Types of Woodworking Joints

Joining two pieces of wood together is an essential skill for woodworkers.

But it can be more complicated than it sounds. First, you need to decide which type of joint you will for each project and second which tools you will use to complete the job.

Butt Joint

It’s the simplest of all joints; two pieces of wood butted against each other and glued or reinforced. You can cut the wood to size by using a tenon saw, or a drop saw. Use clamps to secure the joint while the glue dries or hammer in nails to reinforce the joint. Simply glueing an end grain to a long grain surface is the weakest type of joint. You can strengthen the joint by adding a triangle or square of wood on the inside of the joint.

Lap Joint

Another simple joint but stronger than a butt joint, a lap joint is when one piece of wood sits over another at an angle. A full lap joint uses the original height of both pieces of wood while the more popular half-lap joints use half the thickness of each piece. The final joint is the same height of the thickest piece.

The joint can meet at a corner or crossover. It’s an ideal method to use when the wood stock is thick. The notches provide a large surface area for the glue to firmly hold the two pieces together.

Numerous tools can be used to create a lap joint from a table saw dado stop pro kit or, if you prefer hand tools, a saw and chisel will do the job.

Mortise & Tenon Joint

A strong structural joint, the mortise and tenon joint is suitable for joining the end of a board with another using a tab and slot method. This classic joining method is used when the two pieces of wood meet at a 90 degree or slightly less angle. Many woodworkers believe it is one of the best looking joints. To make the tenon, a band saw, or tenoning jig on a table saw can be used. For the mortise, a drill bit inside a four-sided chisel can be used or a hand chisel for the traditionalist.

Biscuit Joint

A biscuit joint is a reinforced butt joint. A common point on two pieces of wood is found then cut a 4mm slot cut halfway in the width of the timber. A biscuit shaped piece of wood is used to secure the two pieces of timber. Engineered wood and plywood are ideal woods for this joint.

A slot cutter router bit makes it quick and easy to cut grooves, shallow rebates and trenches. If you need a deeper cut, you can stack multiple slot cutters on top of each other.

Dowel Joint

One of the simplest joints, a dowel joint is similar to a biscuit joint. Holes are made in both portions of wood stock, and a dowel inserted and glued to hold the two pieces together. A woodworker can choose to make the dowel pins or buy them ready cut to the length and diameter required.

Dovetail Joint

Considered one of the most revered types of joints due to its beauty and strength, dovetail joints are one of the most difficult to make. Specially designed dovetail saws make the job of cutting the tails easy, and a bevel-edged chisel used to remove the waste. If you prefer the machine method, you can use a router with a dovetail jig.

If you have any joinery questions or want to know the best tools to use for the job, don’t hesitate to contact us.

8 Kinds of Hand Saws for Woodworking

Hand saws have been around for hundreds of years. They not only survived the invention of the router but the improved quality and variety of saws have meant today’s woodworker can’t stop at just one.

There is an array of hand saws to choose from and if you delve into a range of different woodworking projects, you will need a few. Here we look at how they differ from each other and what they’re all designed to do.

Tenon Saw

Also known as a back saw, the tenon saw makes fine cuts needed for joinery work. At the top of the blade is a stiff spine which adds weight and keeps it straight. The added weight means you only need to guide the saw through the wood.

Mitre Saw

If you need to cut an angle or fine mouldings, the mitre saw is your go-to saw. The blade is wide and tensioned with hardened teeth to slide within a carriage. Set any angle to cut between 45 and 90 degrees.

Dovetail Saw

A small back saw which is suited to cutting joints including dovetails. With rip tooth sets, the saw is designed for cutting along the grain for delicate, precise cuts such as dovetail pins. Similar to a tenon saw with its stiff spine, the dovetail has a thinner blade and more teeth per inch than the tenon. Most dovetail saws cut on the push stroke but some will cut on both the push and pull stroke.

Gent’s Saw

Another backsaw the gent’s is shorter and smaller than others. With cross-cut or rip set teeth, the gent’s saw is suitable for the small-scale model and fine joinery work. Also known as ‘right-angled tenon saw’ they are similar to dovetail and tenon saws but have a longer blade and straight handle.

Japanese Saw

Precision cuts in both hard and soft wood, Japanese saws are pull stroke saws made of thin steel. The blade cuts faster with less sawdust. There is less effort needed than a Western-style saw, and therefore smoother, more accurate cuts are achieved. Three main types of Japanese saws are Dozuki, Fugaku and Kataba.

Veneer Saw

With teeth pointing towards the handle and a curved, narrow blade, the veneer saw is designed for cutting thin hardwood veneer. The blade has teeth on both sides and cuts on the pull stroke.

Flush Cut Saw

Similar to a veneer saw the flush cut saw is designed to cut the ends of dowel or tenon flush to the surrounding surface. The teeth have no side set so they won’t mar the surrounding surface and the blade can flex and bend to get in for the closest cut possible.

Carcass Saw

Designed to cut across the grain to cut tenon shoulders and to define the edges of a dado, the carcass saw is complementary to the dovetail saw. The handle is designed for the middle, ring and little fingers to wrap around the handle while the forefinger points along the spine for the best control. Rip and crosscut versions are available.

If you are unsure which is the best saw for your woodworking project, check out this range of high-quality hand saws.

Guide to Buying a Woodworking Table Saw

Despite the number of different table saws on the market, all have the same parts – a blade attached to a shaft of a motor. The blade is raised and lowered as needed and protrudes through a slot in the table. The option for tilting the blade side to side is available for bevel cuts. The main differences in table saws are their size and quality. Make the right decision on a table saw, and it will be a valued piece in your workshop for many years.

Types of Table Saws

There are four main types of table saws available – bench-top, contractor’s, worksite, and cabinet saws.

Bench-Top Saws

If space is a premium in the workshop, woodworkers will often choose a bench-top saw. They usually have a smaller motor than the saws below but still manage to do the job for hobbyist woodworkers wanting to complete light to medium jobs rather than heavy jobs like ripping through thick stock. A collapsible stand on some bench-top saws mean they are lighter and able to be carried around to worksites.

Contractors Saws

The next step up from a bench-top saw is a contractor’s saw ideal for hobbyist or career carpenters. These saws are hardworking and easily portable so that they can be moved around the workshop or go from site to site. The contactors saw has its motor mounted at the rear so the carpenter can remove the legs and place the top on a pair of sawhorses.

Most saw cases on a contractor’s saw are made of sheet metal, not plastic and the table is heavy cast iron with extensions wings on the sides. The guide rails for accepting the rip fence are usually steel tubes.

A contractors saw with an accurate fence can have the same superior performance of a cabinet saw with a less expensive price tag.

Worksite Saws

The job or worksite saw is designed for practical day to day portability. Large wheels on a collapsible cart make the unit easy to move in and out. Storage in the unit allows for all accessories to be stored onboard so nothing is lost or forgotten. The unit is light enough that it can be lifted into a vehicle but robust enough to cope with professional sawing jobs.

Cabinet Saws

Also known as a stationary saw or a tilting-arbor saw, cabinet saws have a closed-in base, heavy duty casting and a large motor. If you do a lot of woodworking the extra expense of a cabinet saw can be justified because it can slice through the thickest wood stock with vibration-free cuts. These saws are often slightly more accurate than a contractors saw or bench-top saw and with proper maintenance, they will last a lifetime.

The main difference with a cabinet saw is the closed-in base which isn’t available with other saw types. This space makes dust collection a cinch. You can choose to hook up a vacuum, a portable dust collector or a whole-shop dust collector. Considering the harmful effect impact dust can have on a woodworker, this feature alone is vital to serious woodworkers.

Blade Size

In the past bench-top saws had an 8-inch blade while all other types of saws took a 10-inch blade but today most table saws use a 10-inch blade. While the blade size is more uniform now, the motor size is the differentiating factor between saw types. The bench-top saw has a much smaller motor than other saw types which limits the size of the wood stock it can handle.

Motor Size

Now that the blade size is fairly universal, the motor’s size impacts on the size of the cut a table saw can make. A small motor can struggle to cut through hardwoods, wet or thick wood stock by stalling or getting bogged down. A bench-top or contractor’s saw may have a 1.3 kW (1.75HP) motor while an industrial cabinet motor can be 3.7 kW (5.0HP) requiring three phase power.

Woodturning Tools – the Core Set you will Use

If you have been bitten by the woodturning bug, you will know the world of crafting opportunities available to you once you have a lathe and a set of turning tools. Before you know it, you will be turning out beautiful platters, bowls, spindles and table legs.

But good quality turning chisels aren’t cheap tools. If you are just starting out and you’re on a budget here is a list of the core chisels you will use.

Chisels are classified and named by the basic operation they perform.

Parting Tool

A diamond-shaped tool used for notching and grooving a project. The cutting tool is also used for removing or parting off the project when it’s finished.

Roughing Gouge

With a deep U shaped gouge that has a 45 degree outside bevel, its ideal for rapidly removing waste such as turning a square block into a round piece.

Domed Scraper

Use the curved profile and flat end to finish off the insides of bowls and goblets.

Skew Chisel

The angled V-section blade is for smoothing and shaping. It’s a versatile tool that will be well used in your kit.

Spindle Gouge

With a shallower bevel than a roughing gouge, the rounded end of the spindle gouge is used to turn beads and other profiles.

Square-end Chisel

This chisel is for finishing off with an extremely smooth surface on cylindrical and conical surfaces.

Individual Chisels or Kits

It’s up to you whether you want to buy your chisels separately or as a kit. When you are starting out a kit makes it easy particularly if you aren’t sure of the most useful sizes of each woodturning tool. You don’t want to buy your tools and then find out they are a miniature size or too big for what you need.

You can buy toolkits with one of each of the most versatile tools. But if you know that you will be spending most of your time on one particular type of woodturning, you may want to invest in a set of the same tools in different sizes.

6 Essential Router Bits for your Woodworking Projects

So you’ve bought yourself a router, now all you need are the bits to take your projects to a professional looking level. But it’s hard to know where to start. The range can be a little bit bewildering really to a newbie woodworker. Below is a list of some of the basic bits that will allow you to cut joinery, shape profiles and router patterns.

Straight Bits

Nothing is boring about a straight bit. Use it to cut grooves and dadoes, mortises, tenons and rabbets as well as clean up edges. Straight bits can have straight or spiral flutes.

Dovetail Bit

For woodworkers making drawers or carcases, a dovetail bit can help with construction. Most dovetail bits have angles from 7 to 14 degrees depending on the hardness of the wood. Dovetail bits are designed to cut full depth. A straight bit may be used to clean out most of the waste when cutting a sliding dovetail slot to extend the life of a dovetail bit and gain a cleaner cut.

Roundover Bit

A roundover bit can soften the look of a piece of wood by taking off the sharp corners. Depending on the size of the bit, some bits will cut roundovers with or without a step also known as a fillet.

To reduce the chance of tearout, take light passes and gradually raise the bit until you are cutting at full depth. The end grain can blowout because the fibres of the wood are unsupported. To stop this happening, round over the end grain edges before routing the long grain.

Cove Bit

The cove bit is designed to make a decorative concave edge such as a hidden pull on a drawer. You can choose to use a cove in conjunction with another bit to router a more complex profile. The roundover and cove bits can be used to create a decorative table edge when both bits are the same radius.

Chamfer Bit

A chamfer bit is used for beveling the edge of wood. It can be used to make a top look thinner by chamfering the bottom edge and a thin top can be made to look thicker by chamfering the top. Chamfers are commonly used on legs, tabletops and aprons.

Rabbeting Bit

A bearing guided rabbeting bit allows you to cut rabbets of various sizes. Frames that have already been glued together can have perfectly aligned rabbets cut. The rabbet on the inside edge is cut by moving the router clockwise while the profile on the outside edge is cut moving the router counterclockwise.

Caring for Router Bits

It’s important not to leave bits loose in a drawer or toolbox. If the bits bump each other, their cutting edges can be chipped rendering the bit worthless. Look after bits by returning them to their original packaging after use or stand them in a piece of scrap wood that has had holes drilled or a moulded plastic tidy.

Even when a bit is well maintained, cheap bits don’t last as long as the more expensive ones because they usually aren’t as well made. Buy quality bits that won’t break, chip or dull prematurely. Solid carbide or carbide-tipped is a better choice than high-speed steel bits.

How to Use a Circular Saw - Useful Tips and Cuts

Cutting your wood to the length or shape you need is an important component of any woodworking project. A circular saw is a must-have for most woodworkers. It performs a range of cutting jobs that are time-consuming or near impossible with a hand saw. After finding a circular saw that is comfortable and easy to adjust, choose the blades to match the cuts you intend to make.

Circular Saw Blades

The right blade will ensure you get a neat and accurate cut. Blades with fewer teeth will cut faster but a blade with more teeth will give you a finer finish.

Rip-cut blades are used for cutting with the wood grain. They have an aggressive hook angle and flat tooth for a smooth finish and the longest life between sharpening.

Crosscut blades are used for cutting across the face of the board and have more teeth than rip-cut blades. Look for a blade that has a hardened steel plate body, laser cut and pre-tensioned for reduced vibration. An oversized carbide tip thickness can cut down vibration and extends the life of the blade.

Combination blades can do both rip cuts and crosscuts with groups of teeth which has one tooth for ripping and four teeth for crosscutting.

Plywood blades have many fine teeth for minimal splintering. Framing blades have fewer teeth than plywood blades, so they are faster and better suited to rough carpentry work.

For dados you want a blade that will make clean crosscuts and perfect flat bottoms. These blades are suitable for hardwood, softwood, laminates and veneer plywood.

Circular Saw Cuts

Choose the best circular saw blade for the job and the variety of cuts you can make with your circular saw is almost limitless.

Ripping

To cut, secure your wood on a platform of sawhorses, so it doesn’t sag, align the saw blade with your cutting line then cut slowly while guiding the saw with both hands. To keep the blade from binding, insert kerf splinters.

Crosscutting

To make a crosscut use four-by-two timber on the workshop floor to support the panel you are going to cut. Kneeling on one knee cut steadily while balancing and keep as much weight on the support wood rather than the panel.

Thick Wood

If the wood is thicker than the maximum blade depth, mark a cutting line on one face then use a tri square to repeat on the other three faces. Clamp the wood and then set the cutting depth at slightly more than half the thickness of the stock, make the cut then flip over the wood and re-clamp before cutting.

Angles

First clamp the wood to sawhorses then set a protractor or mitre guide to the angle you want to cut. Place the protractor on the wood and hold its guiding edge against the saw’s baseplate and the fence against the edge of the wood. Hold the saw firmly while cutting.

Bevel

Set the blade to the desired angle by loosening the bevel adjustment knob. Clamp the wood to sawhorses, align the blade with the cutting mark then butt an edge guide flush against the saw’s baseplate and clamp the guide to the board. Cut as you would a standard cross-cut.

Taper

Place your wood on a work surface so that it extends well over the edge. Make sure you can start your cut at the end of the wood then line up the blade with the cutting mark before clamping an edge guide on top of the wood. Make the cut the same as a standard rip cut. Hold the saw firmly particularly when the saw reaches the end of the cut.

Dadoes

Mark the width of the dado on the face of the stock then clamp to a work surface. Mark a depth line on the edge of the wood as a reference point and set the cutting depth of the blade to match. Align the blade with a width mark and clamp an edge guide in place. Repeat for the other side of the dado then grip the saw before riding the baseplate along one guide to cut an edge of the dado. Saw some kerfs between the two cuts before using a chisel to remove the waste.

Plunge Cut

Clamp the wood to sawhorses and align the blade with a cutting line. Clamp an edge guide to the wood against the baseplate of the saw. Set the guide longer than the cutting mark and high enough to guide the saw when tilted up. Retract the lower blade guard with one hand, grip the handle with the other hand then rest the baseplate on the wood and pivot the saw forward to raise the blade well clear of the wood. Turn on the saw and slowly lower the blade into the wood keeping the baseplate flush against the edge guide. At the end of the cutting line, turn off the saw, let the blade stop then pivot the tool forward to lift it out of the kerf. Square the corners with a hand saw.

This Youtube video shows you the basics of making a plunge cut:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rz0OgrP3Zk