How to Make a Float Frame without a Table Saw

today I'm going to make a simple float frame the idea behind this project is it's really aimed at the beginner woodworker or the artist somebody who doesn't have a table saw the nice thing about the material I'm using is you can buy this right off the shelf at your home store it measures a half of an inch by an inch and a half and it's perfect for small float frames the tools that you do need are a chop saw you can get a decent chop saw for $100 the one that I've been using for the last 10 years for most of all my frame work is a small Itachi and I saw a similar model at the home store there was $99 so you have to spend a little money there and the next tool that's going to save you a lot of time you'll probably use it a lot more than you think is a nail gun this is an 18 gauge nail gun and you want to buy the combination kit it will come with the nail gun the compressor the hose and a couple of nails so let's go ahead and make a small float frame this is the painting that I'm framing it was a Christmas gift given to me by my daughter and the first measurements you need are the width and the height and you'll add a half of an inch to those measurements and that will give you a quarter inch reveal all the way around the painting and it makes the painting appear to be floating that's why it's called a float frame the first step is to cut a 45-degree angle on one end of the molding when I'm making frames I always write down the inside measurements so I have two pieces at ten and a quarter and two pieces at eight and a quarter and when I measure for the inside measurements I pull the tape an inch past the inside miter it just seems to be a little more accurate than holding the tape at the miter so I'll hold the tape at one inch on the inside miter and add an inch to my measurement so instead of putting a mark at ten and a quarter I'll put a mark at eleven and a quarter [Applause] now I'm going to take the offcut this is the piece that fell off and I'm just going to clean this mitre up a little bit make sure it's perfect this is the piece of molding that's cut to size and this is the piece that I just clean the mitre up on and I'll hold them together make sure I'm nice and flush here and I'm using the first piece of molding to measure the second piece because they both need to be the same size [Applause] now I'll hold them right next to each other to make sure they're exactly the same size I'm flush on this end and over here I'm a little bit heavy so I'm just going to take a little bit off okay and that's right on so now just repeat the process for the other two pieces of molding okay so now I've got the top and bottom of the frame they're both exactly the same size and I've got the two sides of the frame and the next step is to nail them together for nailing the miter joint I'm using one inch nails in the nail gun I'll put a little wood glue on the miter some people put it on both sides of the miter on I don't generally and then I've got a wet rag here I'm gonna squeeze this rag it'll make my hands a little wet and help me to grip the molding hold the mitre tight if you're not comfortable holding the molding together with your hands you can use a picture frame clamp and they're easy to find online just google picture frame clamp and then I use the wet rag to clean up any of the glue squeeze-out and you attach the last piece of molding you're going to have to add glue to both minors because you won't be able to get the glue bottle into the space and then put the molding in place again wet your fingers and clamp that mitre together and always keep your fingers back you don't want your fingers in the way of the nail I've got downward pressure on the molding my fingers further than an inch away from where the nail will come out of the gun squeeze and there you go one of those things the more you do it the easier it gets but you can see how easy and fast this frame is going together and that's the first part of the frame okay so now we've got the frame together we can see that the painting fits inside the frame but it drops right down we need something to attach the painting to the frame and again we're going to use the same molding from the home store and we're going to build a frame within the frame so the first step will be another miter cut in this case I'll just hold a long point of the miter against the other side of the frame and Mark for the next cut when I attach the molding to the inside of the frame I need to attach it at the correct depth and the correct depth is just a little deeper than the painting is deep so in this case the painting is 3/4 of an inch deep I'll attach the molding just a little more than 3/4 of an inch I guess that would be 13 16 steep so I'll cut a piece of scrap wood at thirteen sixteenths and use that as a gauge when I attach the molding [Applause] this frame is going to get painted and I'll fill the nail holes with joint compound I also wanted to mention the wood that I'm using is poplar and poplar is a good choice for painted projects I'm using a number eight pre-drill and countersink bit to pre drill and countersink holes in the back of the strainer and I'll use these holes to attach the artwork to the frame with screws well that's just one way to make a float frame and I've been making float frames now for probably 20 years so I've gotten pretty good at it and it's like anything the more you do it the better you get and the more comfortable you get with tools and things like that there's a couple of different ways to make frames like I had said and in this case I attached the strainer this part of the frame is called a strainer and I attached the strainer by nailing through the side of the frame and I did that because this frame is so small I wouldn't be able to hold the nail gun straight to nail through the strainer and into the frame in this case where I've got a much bigger frame I've nailed through the strainer and into the frame and the reason why I did that is this frame is maple and I didn't want all those nail marks on the outside of the frame I also added quarter inch plywood for supports on this frame because the frame was so big now I'm going to bring this frame upstairs I've got another frame just like this I've made two paintings that are exactly the same size I'll add the artwork and then I'll install the paintings in the clients home okay well it turns out that I'm not hanging the paintings this weekend I was planning on hanging them on Saturday which is yesterday but the room that these paintings are going in is under construction and I think it's going to be under construction now for another two or three weeks I will post an image on my Instagram once I do hang the paintings so if you don't follow me on Instagram hopefully you'll check out my Instagram I'll have a link in the description I hope you found this video useful as always thanks for tuning in and I'll see you next time [Music] you

Channel: Jon Peters - Longview Woodworking

Views: 655,969

Keywords: DIY, do it yourself, how to, woodworking, jon peters home improvement tools wood working home projects interior design, float frame, now to make a frame, framing art, nail gun, chop saw, hitachi, 18 gauge nailer, nailer, artwork, how to make a frame

Id: lSU5darREwc

Length: 9min 52sec (592 seconds)

Published: Sun Apr 22 2018