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Work was kicking my ass the last month. But that finally ended, so I got out to my workshop to finally frame a fun map I got.
The Algorithm thought I would be interest in Lord of the Maps, and I was. Purchased a nice map of my state around Father's Day. But I skimped on the frame. $70 for a frame? Fuck that, I can probably build one at least as good, right?
Took me a month to get around to it, but I eventually did. I didn't do anything too fancy. Milled down the red oak cause I had plenty on hand, I let it get out it's movement in my shop for about two weeks, but it actually didn't move any more. So I cut it to final dimensions. Put a slight 15 degree chamfer on the inside edge because I saw someone else do it and I liked it. Then I worked it with some aged barrel stain. I did also do some splines on the corners to reinforce the relatively weak glued miter joints.
A few things happened. My miter gauge must have been a fraction of a degree off, because the miter joints in aggregate opened ever so slightly towards the outside after I glued the whole thing up. So I guess I'll be recalibrating that. I calibrated it when I got it, but I suppose I didn't do a good enough job. The second thing that happened was the stain was slightly blotchy in a few places where I may have left it on too long. A lot of cleaned up well when I hit it with some mineral spirits, but some of it didn't. Oh well. Next time. In retrospect, I'm not sure I'm pleased with how the splines turned out either, and I might use small dowels next time.
The cost breakdown is insane compared to a store bought frame. I used probably $8 worth of red oak, the 16x20 glass pane was also $8. I used about $2 worth of hardboard for the backing, and then it used pennies worth of stain, glue and brad nails. So about $18 all told, versus $70 ish.
Nice work!
Given how many words there in your description I don't even know the meaning of, I think $70 may be not that wrong as a pricing point. I mean, you sound like somebody who knows what he's doing. So it took you $18 in materials and some time - let's say overall basic cost of $35? Kinda arbitrary but shouldn't be too wrong. Now for somebody like me who doesn't even know what the words used to make it mean, let alone having all the tools and the instruments and the materials and the knowledge of how to do it sitting around - 2x the basic cost sounds like not that bad of a deal. It could be a fun little project if I wanted to take up woodworking - and maybe one day I will - but if I want to just get a frame and be done with it, the price doesn't sound outrageous at all for me.
I can see this. But funnily enough, I didn't get into woodworking for it's own sake. I got into doing what carpentry repairs seemed at my skill level for the house I bought. Because finding contractors willing to do small repairs is borderline impossible because reasons, and the ones that are willing to slum it doing handyman tasks instead of flipping houses want an arm and a leg. So primarily I invested in a table saw for those tasks. Saving $60 on a random frame is a fringe benefit of having built a skill set to save hundreds, if not thousands of dollars on relatively basic home repair tasks.
Same thing here for smaller tasks.
My dad wanted to use mosaic tiling to cover up a 5 concrete structural circular pillars in the new house. Maybe a five hours worth of work for a pro.
It's not the easiest or most approachable affair[1].
Contractors of any kind are hard to find in Slovakia, because the EU policy is to send anyone with IQ > 100 to university. And vocational schools were bad and have been neglected on purpose by the government.
And like in the US, they don't like doing the small stuff.
After about 1.5 years of trying to find someone to do this work.. it had to be youtube videos.
He watched a few on the exact process and we did it together in 2 days and the end result is mostly quite good.
[1]
I'll try to explain he process:
The tiles are tiny - about 1/2" squares of ceramic arranged on a flexible plastic square grid.
You use some sort of adhesive to get the grids to stick to the surface to which they're applied.
Then you apply grout to the grid and push it into the gaps, then you carefully remove excess grout so the grout lines are even.
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