George Vondriska

Making Picture Frames Without Using Miters

George Vondriska
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Duration:   16  mins

Making picture frames is a great way to take advantage of your woodworking skills and, as you make them and give them away, your friends will love you for it. They’re a great gift. If you’ve struggled with making picture frames (or haven’t even tried it) because the prospect of cutting miters makes smoke come out of your ears, we’re here to help. This picture frame is miter-less, and very easy to make.

Tools required

We’ll do the lion’s share of the work using a table saw and router table, including jointing the edges of our frame pieces using the router table. Since butt joints wouldn’t suffice for strength, we’ll be using pocket hole joinery to hold the corners together. You can learn more about pocket hole joinery in this video on screw pockets.

More easy projects

You’ll find that making picture frames is very easy using the techniques we teach in this instructional video. We love to help keep you working in the shop, so check out more of our easy woodshop projects and gift ideas.

More on table saws

The table saw is key to this project, as it is to many woodworking projects. It’s important to have a good understanding of how to safely and correctly use this important machine, and WoodWorkers Guild of America has lots of information for you that’ll help you learn how to use a table saw.

More info

For more info on the Triton WorkCentre visit www.tritontools.com

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10 Responses to “Making Picture Frames Without Using Miters”

  1. Alec

    If you want to use half lap joints how would you change the dimensions?

  2. Carl

    I dislike pocket holes, rather use dowels. Anddddd I dislike to be prick teased by showing half of a video and say '' if you want to see the rest of the video become a member''' lol

  3. Anthony

    Video Freezes at 09:33 ??

  4. ROBERT A TOWLE

    This is dumb. Anyone who owns the equipment that he is using to show us how to do this, does NOT need this video. This type of video should be done on equipment more basic like most of us own.

  5. Dax

    I am very glad I came across this site. I got hired at a cabinet shop a few months ago because of somebody I know. I have literally no experience with woodwork. I didn't even take woodshop in school. This site has been extremely helpful and informative with helping me understand what some of the tools and machines do. Everything is explained very well. Thank you for this. It has been so helpful. Keep up the great work!

  6. Al Ro

    What do the purists in the Art World think of your Butt joints, rather than diagonal 45 degree joints? Could yow not make your 1/4 in. @ 3/8 in. Cuts on full length planks, before cutting frame sides to length? A thought.

  7. JimE

    George, Good info with a question. You made the boards a consistent width with parallel sides on the table saw and then jointed one edge which does not guarantee the sides are still parallel any more. Did I miss something? JimE

  8. Rich Archambault

    Nice video but no mention of how to hold picture/glass in place.

  9. Denis Lock

    The test piece is routed (jointed) in the right direction: with the grain. The first project piece is routed against the grain!

  10. Steve

    This video seems to promote a particular brand of table saw and router table? How many people truly have this brand? I love woodworkers Guild of America. However this seems to be sponsored by a particular brand of equipment that many words workers do not own.?

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