Frames - Major Frustation

[Anonymous]

I am a relative novice in the art or woodworking and have started very simply, or so I thought, by trying to make a picture frame.

Problem is I can't get the frame to stay square, at first I thought the mitre joints weren't precisely 45 degrees, but I have checked and they are.

All four sides are exactly the same lenghth but when I line up the mitres the frame dosen't come together.

I cannot work out what the problem is.

Any ideas? :x

 

[Scrit]

Geoff

Exactly how are you cutting your mitres? Also are all the mitres shy on the outside of the frame, or the inside?

Scrit

 

[Anonymous]

Hi

Cutting mitres with a hand mitre saw, shy on the outside.

could this be because boards are not straight?

 

[Anonymous]

Hi Geoff

If your corners are shy on the outside then your 45 degree cut is possibly 44.5 or 44 degrees. If it had been the other way round then your angle would have been too great.

Your stock must be dead square and not in wind (i.e. twisted) - a rough guide is that stock in wind will simply not sit level on a work surface (such as the kitchen worktop at home). Are you sure that your 45 degree mitre is actually 45 degrees (in other words exactly how are you measuring and cutting the mitre) and are you holding your work flat and cutting at 90 degrees in the vertical plane? Finally, how are you clamping up your work for glueing - or are you using a different technique to fix your frame together?

Scrit