Equipment Needed

What tools are required to make a frame?

The amount of tools required depends on what results you want to achieve. You can scrape through the very basics with some cheap and cheerful gear, but this often causes frustration.  Adapting tools to jobs they are not specifically designed for often fails to do the job properly.

 

However the right investment at this stage can leave you with not only very professional results, but tools that will continue to help you make really great frames. At this point it must be pointed out that DIYframing has a vested interest in your success, because we believe that the more professional the results you manage to achieve, the more of a chance there is that you will continue to frame other work.. Therefore, in turn you will come back to us time and time again to buy supplies.

You only need very few tools to get started, but what you purchase is very important. Over the following pages we present a list of tools that will help you get started at whatever level you wish to begin.

Choosing a saw  
Now it is critical that you choose a cutting device that won't let you down. Here we profile three, a simple mitre saw, a mitre trimmer and a professional mitre machine. 
 
1 Mitre Saws  
Choosing a mitre saw is not as easy as you might at first think. To begin with, what features actually make it a good saw? We receive numerous emails from people who have bought cheap mitre saws and have real problems.  Quite often, these saws are designed for cutting skirting board, architrave or coving and not delicate framing mouldings. When buying a saw check that:

• you are able to attach it firmly to a base to stop it from sliding around;
• the saw swivels from left to right, to allow you to cut the 45 degree angle.  Make sure the part that swivels locks into place and does not move at all;
• the blade arm moves backwards and forwards freely, without snagging and that the blade is thick enough not to flex from side to side;
• you use the correct blade, starting at 18 teeth per inch (tpi) for larger mouldings over 50mm; 24 tpi for medium size 20-50mm mouldings and 32 tpi for smaller delicate mouldings.