Homemade 8×10 Picture Frames

Today’s short article and build video is the making of a few picture frames for my wife’s dutiful children picture series. In the video I talk about making 3 frames but actually I believe I made 6 with only  a 50% success rate!! Terrible  I know; one I cut the miter on the wrong side, one I cut everything too short and another was just a flat rate terrible clamping job….practice makes perfect though. The three good frames (last three of the six) came out really, really nice.

These frames are very simple with no detailed routering since my wife did not want to have a busy frame to take away from the picture. Check out the build video below and let us know what you think!

Some pictures and short write up below.

Started out with a piece of 8/4 poplar that has been laying around forever and cut to 1″ width and 3/4″ thick on the table saw.

Once I had the proper dimensions for the frame boards I cut the angles on the miter sled, first cut both boards on the “A” side (Left side of the miter I labeled “A” and the right side I labeled “B”), then cut to the proper length on the “B” side flipped back to the “A” side and carried on until I had all the pieces to the proper length that we needed for the frames.

The first time through I measured each piece and cut free hand on the miter sled but for the other frames I clamped a stop block on the “B” side of the sled so that I was very consistent for all cuts…would definitely recommend the stop block.

And a quick test looks pretty good!

Cut rabbit grooves into the back of the frame for the glass to lay inside.

Glued and clamped together using a bunch of f-style clamps. Tried a strap clamp at first but the cheapo clamps that I have tighten up too much with each “Ratchet” and torqued the frame to one side or the other. I don’t know if good quality bessy strap clamps have the same issue but I highly doubt it.

Quick run over with the sander, sprayed with cheap white paint as a primer and then finished with quality blue and green paint to give nice contrast to the rooms these are going to be hung.

Marked where the nail holes are needed to hold the picture backing in place. Am sure there is a better method for fastening the back in place but this was the quickest DIY method I had laying around the shop. Drilled 1/16″ holes and everything fit real nice.

Measured to center and put a hanger in place.

And the finished frames!

At this point I only glued the miters but someday I would like to make a spline jig and put splines across the corners to provide extra wood grain for a really strong glue up. They are just picture frames so I am pretty sure these three will be just fine!

Thanks for looking and we will see you next time!