20 Woodsmith No. 121

PICTURE FRAME MOLDINGSMaking your own picture frame moldings doesn’t require a lot of time orexpensive equipment. Just a router table and few scraps of wood.

WEEKENDPROJECT

s I opened the door, the look onmy neighbor’s face said it all. “I’ve

got a favor to ask.” he muttered, a lit-tle nervously, “My parent’s fiftiethwedding anniversary is coming upnext month.” In his hand he held anold, hand-tinted wedding photograph.The frame surrounding the photo wasa bit beat up. The veneer was chipped,and the glass cracked. I had a prettygood idea what my neighbor had inmind, but I waited to hear his story.

“Iwashopingyoumighthavesometime to help me build a new frame fortheir wedding photograph. I wantsomething nice but not too fancy, andI just haven’t been able to find whatI’mlookingfor.”Ismiledandmotionedhim in, and we headed into the shop.

SCRAP BIN. Our first order of busi-ness was to see what we had to workwith in the way of stock. That’s one ofthe nice things about making picture

frame moldings — it’s a great way toput all those long, narrow cut-offsyou’ve been saving to good use. Wepulled out some of the straightestpieces we could find of several dif-ferent species — cherry, ash,mahogany, and even some walnut.

DESIGN PROFILES. Next came the realchallenge — coming up with someinteresting designs that didn’t call fora lot of fancy router bits. At first Ithought this might be difficult. Butas we started to sketch out someideas, I was amazed at how many dif-ferent designs we came up with usingonly a handful of the most basic routerbits. In no time at all, we had half adozen different designs.

We picked a design that workedwell with the size of the photographand got busy ripping the stock towidth and routing the profiles on therouter table. In just a couple of hours,

we were ready to wipe a coat of finishon the completed frame.

Building that frame really got me tothinking about what woodworking isall about. In a single afternoon, webuilt a project from start to finish. Thefinished frame looked every bit asnice as one that you might find in aframe shop. And since it was builtwith scraps, the cost was next to noth-ing. Finally, my neighbor had the sat-isfaction of giving his parents a spe-cial anniversary gift that he had builtwith his own hands.

All of this made me realize that pic-ture frames would make a goodWoodsmith project. So I’ve includednot only the frame that my neighborand I built, but five other designs aswell. Each of the moldings on the nextfew pages can be made with just afew common router bits. (You’ll needa router table and a table saw to rip thestock to width.)

MITERING. Making a frame is really atwo-step process. First you make theframe molding. That’s what is shownon the next few pages. But once youhave the molding in hand, you stillhave to miter the pieces and put themtogether in a frame. And to help youwith that process, we’ve included aseparate article on cutting picture-perfect miter joints, see page 24.

RABBETS. Before you get startedmaking all sorts of frames, there’sone point worth mentioning. All ofthe frames in this article are shownwith a 3/8"-deep rabbet on the back.This rabbet is designed to hold a pieceof glass, a photograph and a card-board backer. If you are planning ondisplaying a thicker work of art, oryou want to use mat boards, you mayhave to increase the depth of the rab-bet. Keep in mind this may meanusing thicker stock for the frame.

A

No. 121 Woodsmith 21

An easy way to dress up an oth-erwise ordinary-looking frameis to use a contrasting wood asan accent. In this frame, a mush-room-shaped accent strip isglued into a groove that is routeddown the center of the frame.

The main part of this frame isjust a piece of 3/4"-thick stockwith an 1/8" cove routed alongeach edge, see Step 1. Then agroove for the accent strip and arabbet for the glass and pictureare routed, see Steps 2 and 3.

The accent strip is just a 3/8"-thick piece of bullnose moldingwith a “tenon” that fits into thegroove in the frame. This tenonis actually a hair shorter thanthe depth of the groove in orderto prevent it from bottoming outand creating a gap where theaccent strip and frame meet.

Because the accent strip is sosmall and narrow, it would bedifficult (and possibly danger-ous) to rout the profile after theblank is cut to size. To solve thisproblem, just rout the profile onthe edge of a wider piece ofstock, then rip the inlay strip tosize, see Steps 4 through 6.

For a larger frame, the width ofboth the frame and the accentstrip is increased. And to varythe appearance and lighten thelook of the frame, two sizes ofcoves are routed along the edgesof the frame, see Steps 1 and 2.

Placing the larger cove onthe outside edge of the mold-ing gives the frame more of athree-dimensional look. Thismakes it appear less massiveand cumbersome without sac-rificing strength.

Here again, the groove for theaccent strip is routed with astraight bit. But this time, thegroove is centered between thetwo coves. It’s not centered onthe workpiece, see Step 3. Keepthis in mind when setting thefence on your router table.

2On the inside edge of theblank, rout a !/4” cove, using

either a core box bit or a cove bit.1After cutting the frame blank

to width, rout a ! /2” covealong the outside edge.

3The groove for the accentstrip is centered between the

the two coves, not the blank.4 Before starting on the accent

strip, rout a rabbet in theframe for the glass and picture.

5The edges of the accent stripare shaped on a wide blank

before cutting the piece free.

4 Tocreate thebullnoseprofileon the accent strip, round

over both edges of a wide blank. 5Two passes with a straight

bit create the shoulders ofthe “tenon” on the accent strip.

6Switching to the table saw,cut the accent strip from the

blank and glue it to the frame.

1Using a !/4”-dia. core box bit,rout a !/8” cove along both

edges of the frame blank.2Hold the frame blank tight

against the fence while rout-ing a groove down the center.

Accent Strip Frame

Wide Accent Strip

3Before starting on the accentstrip, rout a rabbet in the

frame for the glass and picture.

22 Woodsmith No. 121

When making a piece of furniture, Ioften use “built-up” molding. This isjust two or more simple pieces ofmolding that are stacked together tocreate a wider profile.

The same technique can also beused to make picture frame moldings.But instead of stacking the pieces oneon top of the other, you simply “stack”them side by side.

In this case, I added a simple beadmolding alongside a cove molding. Iused walnut for both the bead mold-ing and the cove molding, see photo.But you could use two different typesof wood for a contrast.

I made the coved piece first by rout-ing a stepped roundover along one

edge and a cove along the other, seeSteps 1 and 2. The roundover createsa shadow line that will help to set offthe bead molding, making it standout a little more. Then the rabbet forthe glass and picture is routed on theinside bottom edge, see Step 3.

To make the bead molding, justrout an 1/8" roundover along bothsides of a blank made from 1/4"-thickstock, see Step 4.

Finally, the bead molding is simplyglued to the cove molding. The trickhere is to keep both pieces flush alongthe bottom. And to do this, it helps tohave a nice flat surface to work onwhile gluing the pieces together. (Iused the top of my table saw.)

Single Bead Profile

Double Bead ProfileFor a larger picture frame, here’s awider molding profile that uses twobeads — one on the inside and anoth-er identical one on the outside of theframe. The bead moldings sandwicha flat, wide piece of wood that makesup the main portion of the frame.

Because of its simple, symmetri-cal design, this frame is verystraightforward in construction. Itstarts as a single blank, cut to width.(I used ash.) A small roundover with

a shoulder is rout-ed along the topedges of theblank, see Step 1.

The next stepis to make thebead molding.This is identical tothe molding used in the frameabove. I chose cherry this time tocreate a contrast between the beadsand main part of the frame, see

photo at top of page.After gluing the beads to the side

of the frame, a rabbet for the glassand picture is routed, see Step 3.

1The first step is to create asmall, stepped roundover on

the outside edge of the frame.2The !/4” radius cove can be

made with core box bit or acove bit with a bearing.

3Before starting on the beadmolding, rout a rabbet in the

frame for the glass and picture.4 The bead molding is made

by routing a roundoveralong two edges of a thin strip.

1Rout a small roundover along boththe inside and outside edges of

the main frame piece.2 To create the bead molding for

the frame, rout a !/8” roundoveron both sides of a !/4”-thick blank.

3After gluing the bead molding tothe edges of the frame, rout a

rabbet along the inside edge.

SHOP TIP

A rubber trowel(used for grout-ing ceramic tile)makes a greatpush block forrouting profileson narrow stock.

Building up a frame out of differentspecies of wood is one way to createa molding profile with a “two-tone”effect. But another way is to simplyveneer the surface of a blank beforeyou rout the edges. Routing the edgesnot only creates a profile, it exposesthe wood underneath the veneer tohighlight the profile all the more.

The key is to select a veneer andwood for the frame that look goodtogether but aren’t too close in color

or appearance. For this firstframe, I used a figured mahoganyveneer on a maple frame.

To make trimming the veneer eas-ier, I glued it to an oversize blank.Then after the glue is dry, rip the blankdown to its finished width. Now youcan rout the coves along the edges ofthe veneered side, see Step 1.

To complete the frame, just rout arabbet along the bottom edge for theglass and picture, see Step 2.

The veneering technique described inthe frame above doesn’t have to beused exclusively on flat frames. Tocreate a frame with more depth, youcan veneer two pieces of wood of dif-ferent thicknesses and then fit themtogether, see photo above right.

To make this frame, simply veneera blank and cut it to width. Then cuta cove along one edge and a rabbetalong another edge for the glass andpicture, see Steps 1 and 2.

The second piece of the frame fitsaround the outside edge of the first.

This piece is veneered and cut towidth. A roundover is routed alongthe outer top edge, and a cove is rout-ed along the inside top edge, see Steps3 and 4. Then a rabbet is routed on theinside of the workpiece to allow it tofit over the first piece, see Step 5. W

2After routing the coves, flip thepiece over and rout a rabbet in

the frame for the glass and picture.

4On the opposite edge of theblank, rout a small cove profile,

using a !/2”-dia. core box bit.5 Finally, cut a shallow rabbet along

the inside edge to allow the pieceto fit over the first frame piece.

1After veneering a #/4”-thick frameblank and ripping it to width, rout

a small cove along one edge.2After routing the cove, flip the

piece over and rout a rabbet inthe frame for the glass and picture.

3 For the second piece, rout astepped roundover on one edge

of a veneered, 1!/8”-thick blank.

Veneered Frame

Two-Piece Veneered Frame

No. 121 Woodsmith 23

1First veneer the face of a wideblank and rip it to width. Then

rout a small cove along both edges.