Monday, February 10, 2014

I made my first picture frame!

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My wife made a new chore chart for the family out of a piece of 20"x30" foam board and asked me how we should hang it on the wall.  Ive been looking for an excuse to make a picture frame so I told her that I would take care of it.  She had already decorated the board and the writing at the top was all the way to the edge so I had to come up with a way to frame it.  My answer was to make a groove on the front of the board and just inset it in.  This made the job a little harder because I had to make that groove perfect to fit the board.  I just took my time and made several small cuts and inched up on it and I think that it turned out really good.


I used 2 pieces of 1x2 furring strips that I had sitting in the garage.  They only cost 75¢ each so I wasnt too worried about wasting them.

The furring strips were 8 feet long so I cut 2 pieces at 35" and 2 at 26" on the miter saw to have some room for mistakes.


I labeled all the good sides so that I would know which face to use.

I used my router table with a 3/8" straight bit to cut the groove for the foam board to sit in.

I made the groove with several shallow passes.

My wife didnt like how wide the furring strip was so I made the groove wider rather then trying to rip the pieces into a smaller width. 

I cut an extra bottom/top piece just in case and then sanded them all smooth.

I cut the outside edge using a Roman OG bit.  I tried it at a couple of different depths until I found the profile that I liked.  I ended up going with the one on the right.

It looks like a good fit to me!

I try to label everything that I can so that I can keep everything straight in my head.

I made marks on the boards for the mitered angles on the ends to make sure that I cut them in the right direction.

I made all the cuts at a 45 degree angle.

Heres the first cut!

I clamped the 2 pieces together and set the foam board in so that I could check the fit and mark where I needed to make the next cuts.

I put the frame together using glue

and brad nails.

I checked the inside of the frame for square and it looked good.

I also put 2 staples in the back of each corner just to play it safe.

I applied 2 coats of polyurethane with a light sanding between each coat.

I marked the top for center

and hammered in a simple hanger.  (I cant think of the name of it right now)

I used hot glue on the back of the board to attach it to the frame.

Here is the completed board hanging in our kitchen.


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