FlyinFish Posted November 4, 2014 Report Share Posted November 4, 2014 Got this project from an old issue of FWW. The simplicity and uniqueness just caught my attention and it was perfect for a bunch of wood block prints we have from China. Wood is fir and I finished it with a mixture of flax seed oil and poly. The reason I used flax seed oil is because it's what I had on hand, leftover from making a teething toy. It ended up working quite nicely. The base is glued in. The original design had wedged tenons on the base, but I just skipped the wedges. DIdn't really think it was necessary. The dowels at the top are removable for swapping out the prints. One thing I would change is making the side pieces overlap the mortise just slightly so it covers any sloppyness in the mortise. I still need to either get a piece of mat for the middle or cut another piece of plexi to float the prints. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wdwerker Posted November 4, 2014 Report Share Posted November 4, 2014 Nice frame! I could easily see a cloud lift across the top to turn it into a Greene and Greene frame. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhighlander Posted November 4, 2014 Report Share Posted November 4, 2014 Very nice. Wonder if you could easily fasten the print centered on the glass, so that it appears to float in the frame? That would look awesome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
..Kev Posted November 4, 2014 Report Share Posted November 4, 2014 Nice work! Agree with both comments above. As well, I think those wedged tenons may have looked cool as well. Those are all personal choices tho. Fine looking piece. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wouldwurker Posted November 4, 2014 Report Share Posted November 4, 2014 Very cool, and a great springboard to add your own subtle design elements, especially with all the inspiration of Asian architecture out there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mzdadoc Posted November 4, 2014 Report Share Posted November 4, 2014 Very nice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlyinFish Posted November 4, 2014 Author Report Share Posted November 4, 2014 Thanks guys! I think I may have to make a few for Christmas gifts. Should be really easy to crank out a few at a time. Very nice. Wonder if you could easily fasten the print centered on the glass, so that it appears to float in the frame? That would look awesome. I cut the slots at 3/8" to allow for 2 pieces of 1/8" plexi and then leave an 1/8" to play with for stacking prints and matting. But, it does look really good floating as well, so all I need to do is cut a third piece of plexi and slide it in there. The prints are super thin, so it should all fit. If not, just putting some 1/8" foam core or matting the same size as the prints should easily hold them in place. I also oversized the width a bit, by about a 1/2". Problem was my stop block on the router table fence wasn't too firm and it pivotted about the clamp and ran my slot a bit farther than I wanted it. Lesson learned there. Anyone have any tips for cutting the beveled edges on the long sides? The first cut is easy, but the opposite side is harder because the piece is so narrow and you've now lost your flat edge on the fence side. I tried putting a piece of scrap with the bevel cut on one edge to help support it, but you can see I still burned the surface a bit on the second cut. You can see in the last pic the top piece is missing the nice grain. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Crawford Posted November 4, 2014 Report Share Posted November 4, 2014 Suggest you use Lexan rather than Plexi - it is far more scratch resistant. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janello Posted November 4, 2014 Report Share Posted November 4, 2014 Suggest you use Lexan rather than Plexi - it is far more scratch resistant. Nor yellow... Great little piece. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Crawford Posted November 5, 2014 Report Share Posted November 5, 2014 Thanks for posting this project - I've been searching something to make for kids and relatives for christmas. Needs to be small enough to be shipped. Showed it to my wife and she liked it so I'll be building at least eight. What angle did you bevel the base and top? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlyinFish Posted November 6, 2014 Author Report Share Posted November 6, 2014 I use "plexi" as shorthand for anything not glass. This is museum quality stuff that I got from my dad who owns a picture framing shop. Sadly he's a thousand miles away, but I had him cut a bunch to fit in a carry on bag just for little projects like this. But yes, good clarification for folks who don't have a supply source in the family. The angles were roughly 25 deg off of vertical for the bottom and roughly 15 deg off of the vertical for the top. I cut both the long and short sides to the same angle. A few tips for any newbies like me: Start by cutting the top and bottom oversized and then run it on the router table with stops Then chisel out the mortises Then cut all four bevels on each piece Then cut the sides oversized and run it on the router table Then cut out the tenons with a dado stack or just a bunch of pases with a single blade Leave enough length in the rough cut to have the tenons, top and bottom, be longer than you want Once the tenons fit, cut them down to size on the tablesaw, drill the hole, and then fit the dowel Pretty basic stuff for someone with experience, but hopefully it helps the beginners. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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