Frames from Molding, the Dummies Version

how to measure a picture frame for miters

If you look hard enough, there's probably an internet post about how to do darned near anything somewhere out there. Your problem, obviously (at least in our staffers' opinion) is that not all of them can be trusted. The worst, at least accordint to our staffers, are the internet posts that some clueless freelancer has cobbled together after reading something... useful. The result? something useless, like the post "How to Make Picture Frames From Trim Boards"¹ that Cameron Easey has up on OurPastimes.com.

Easey got lucky, sort of, and found a Bob Vila primer on making your own picture frames from molding; though how he got there from "trim boards" we aren't quite certain. Whatever the case, Vila's instructions tell readers to "join two simple molding profiles" in such a way that they "create a rabbet." That works for us; what doesn't work for us is Cameron's crib job:

"Apply a bead of wood glue to the back of one piece of trim. Place the back of a second piece against the first and leave a 1/4-inch gap at the bottom to create a rabbet. "

We have a bit of a problem with those instructions: first, they're ambiguous, and second; a rabbet is not "a hole at the bottom," whatever "at the bottom" means. Easey's later "tip" explaining that a rabbet is "the gap or edge of wood that is created when the two pieces of trim are glued together" sure isn't much help. Neither is Cameron's measuring procedure:

"Measure each piece of trim with the tape measure. Make a mark with the pencil to indicate the length for each piece."

Easey either didn't understand or didn't find important Bob's direction to, "Measure and make cuts on the face of the rabbet that supports the picture..." Cameron's readers may well cut their frame members too short without that warning! More hilarity comes from Cameron's unfamiliarity with joinery, given that he says to,

"Cut the pieces to the required length with the circular saw. Cut a 45-degree angle into the corner of each piece of trim with the miter saw."

Why the two cuts, Cameron? Enquiring minds and all that! Then there's.

"Drill a hole into each corner of the frame with the power drill. Drive a finish nail into each hole with the nail gun."

Easey apparently thought a nail set is the same as a nail gun. Then again, this is the same idjit who says to,

"Join the corners together and wait for the wood glue to dry. Wipe off any excess glue with the cloth."

Shouldn't you wipe off excess glue while it's still wet? We dunno, but we give up. Easey was unable to correctly provide instructions for a single step in this procedure, despite having a quite clear reference from which to work. We have no choice but to hand this bozo yet another Dumbass of the Day award, his fourth. Sheesh.

¹ The original has been deleted by Leaf Group, but can still be accessed using the Wayback machine at archive.org. Its URL was   ehow.com/how_6708275_make-picture-frames-trim-boards.html

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