Barn Wood Picture Frame

[oldhudson]

I know this isn't a scroll saw project but you never know where you'll come across a brilliant idea.

 

I took a project and its different than anything I've done before thus I'm looking for thoughts and suggestions about how to proceed.

My customer lost her grandparents who were farmers. In the settlement of their estate the property went on the auction block and the buyer choose to tear down the house and barn. As a last minute thought she decided she'd 'salvage' some barn pieces for a memento. She asked me to make 3 - 5 x 7 picture frames from this - one for her and one each for her two siblings.

I've made my share of picture frames but they were always with nice stock, straight with parallel edges. Even if it was re-purposed it's been good stock.

As you can see I've begun to layout how I can get the pieces I need. To be successful I need to keep as much of the "natural" edge as I can. The two things I'm most concerned about is not having a nice edge to place against a fence to cut miters and having the corners reasonably meet up.

Thanks for reading and giving this some thought.

[LarryEA]

There are other type picture frames than the ones that you cut to match corners.

Old barn wood picture frames commonly are four pieces where the corners overlap.

Don't know proper terms. The corners have protruding edges.

Each side of the frame extends past the corner by an inch or so.

Where the two pieces of wood overlap, you miter each piece to mesh together.

Old wood and over lap to me go well together.

[Multifasited]

If ,they are for rustic appearance ,Larrys got it nailed ,if there for dress rememberance ,of actual barn wood ,you could cut best piece at very long angle w/ a cheater board to get your straight edge ,rip strips the width you WANT .following that angle ,giving you all the stock you need & want and make the conventional way ,yes the grain will be angled ,but plenty strong ,cross the angle on the sides and top and bottom to there best effect !

 best way I know of to get lot of usable wood out of rough& small amount of wood ,

[Phantom Scroller]

Hi Berry.

               I would cut the corners as a puzzle joints then glue up and router notches all around the outside of the frame, spray the edges with black paint and then plane of the excess so the black would stay in the routed notches and coat the frame as required. Roly.

[Fab4]

Hi oldhudson:

My first thought after reading your post was why do you have to miter the corners

The reply from Larry seems to be the way to go

Then again Roly has a good idea also

Whichever way you go I'm sure it will look awesome

Would like to see the finished product when you're done

Thanks

Fab4

[Clayton717]

I agree with Larry, but Roly's idea sounds interesting.

[amazingkevin]

Tack on something ,maybe stiff card board or a piece of 1/8" wood under or on top of the irregular piece of wood you want to cut to act as a straight edge for you so you can cut it like you want against your saw fence.

[oldhudson]

I wanted to thank everyone for your comments and suggestions. I found them helpful. It’s great to be part of such a helpful group.

 

Here are pics of the project and steps.

 

Given that the object was to preserve and show as much of the barn wood I decided to make the sides 3â€.

 

I removed the nails and laid out the rough pieces on the back side of the stock. I used a cross cut sled to rough cross cut all the pieces. I used the straightest edge of each piece to register against the back of the sled.

 

Next, I marked the stock for a 3.125†rip and used the sled pictured to rip the stock preserving one original edge, to be on the outside of the picture frames when completed and the straight cut edge could be marked and be the reference edge when cutting the half-lap joints.

 

I cut a 4.5†x 5.5†gauge that would be the open area of the frames and could then lay out the four pieces of each frame to: a) trim to final length and b) to mark for the joinery.

 

Cut the joints creeping up on the fit.

 

I cut the .25 x .312 rabbit on the router table.

 

Glued it all together. On all the cut edges I used a couple of things to “age†the newly cut wood. I made a batch of white vinegar and steel wool. This darkens the wood but doesn’t gray it. So I mixed up a bit of acrylic paint to make a gray and wipes it on with a damp rag. You can see the inside edge with the fresh rabbit next to the “aged†stock. 

 

I added the nails back in when I finished assembly.