How to Build a Shadowbox Frame

so hopefully you've already seen the video where I make the wooden owl wings this week I'm going to finish up that project and build a shadowbox frame for them [Music] [Music] so what I have here is a s4s 1x5 of maple so that means that it's three quarters of an inch this way four and a half inches this way I've done some measuring and I figured out that I need a frame is four inches deep the only problem is that my table cell only has a three-inch rip capacity so I can't stand this thing up on its edge and just rip out the channel for it I'm gonna have to dado out a section to get down to that three inch mark and then I can rip out the channel so first off I'm going to cut this down into more manageable lengths [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] this is my spline jig it's very simple basically just a 90 degree angle it rides up against the fence it has plenty of room for clamping frames too and it's an m4 Michael [Music] [Music] so for years I tried to cut splines back-handed so you know this is the natural way this is an awkward way to do it and you always end up cutting into the wood somebody told me just to flip something over flip it upside down and then you can cut from the same side [Laughter] there you go [Applause] [Music] so I've got the creeps into 120 and since I'm using water-based finish I'm going to wet the entire frame then sand it to 220 this will prevent or lessen the amount of swelling that the grain will go through when I applied the water-based finish if you use an oil-based finish you don't have to worry about this step [Music] so with this finish I like to do the first three coats with a foam brush and then I do the last coat with a rag the foam brush builds up layers so the rack I just have a little more control and then I'm sanding in between each coat with 320 grit sandpaper so spend 24 hours and the frame is completely dry the last step that I like to do on a finish like this is burnish it so I take a piece of heavyweight cloth this is a piece of canvas and run along the surface of the frame with steady pressure it just kind of shines it up just a little bit more and it's hard to describe it kind of firms up the finish and if you were to rub up against it it's less likely to get just noticeable shiny spots it's a little detail [Music] [Applause] so this is plexi cleaner don't use glass cleaner on plexiglass it'll scratch it this stuff is designed for this it also cuts down on the static that happens after you pull the plastic sheet on it so it's really good to do before you insert it just to make sure it's not attracting you know sawdust so you'll notice I only made three of these and the reason for that is that I want a nice tight fit on the last one to want it once the first one inserts flush to edge to edge the next one butts up against that one this one butts up against that one and then the last one inserts really tightly in between the outer ones the reason you do that is because you can press this edge flush up against this side and even if there's a little bit of gap here it gets covered by the next one and then and then the next one covers that one so it makes it so you only have to cut one precisely as opposed to cutting four of them precisely [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] hey thanks so much for watching and if you got any questions about this project feel free to ask them in the comments down below the one thing that I did want to mention is that if you don't have a dado stack for your table saw it's it's no big deal you can still make that cut you just have to make a series of passes with a single blade the other thing I wanted to say is that this channel has been growing a lot lately and it's really exciting so thanks to all my new subscribers and if you want to continue to support this channel I've set up online store so you can pick up a t-shirt the other thing is I'm really active on Instagram so if you don't follow me already give me a follow you get to see everything that's going on behind the scenes in the shop and what upcoming projects I'm working on so yeah thanks a lot guys and I'll catch you the next one [Music]

Channel: Michael Alm

Views: 125,268

Keywords: shadowbox, frame, how to, diy, wooden, woodworking, deep, shadowbox frame, cutting, plexiglass, framing, art, inset, maker, custom frame, custom, interior decorating, fine art, museum, quality, maple, splines, splined miter, splined miter joint jig, art handling, prep, diy shadow box picture frame, shadow box picture frame, shadow box, shadow box frame, how to make a frame, how to cut splines, how to make a custom picture frame

Id: xTJ-rWe7xpc

Length: 12min 54sec (774 seconds)

Published: Sat Dec 01 2018