Scrap Wood Art Frame

Using leftover or scrap wood is always a priority for me. It's entertainment, practice, and learning opportunities.

Find your wood and find your art and measure both. Though the canvas board claims to be 8x10 it's actually about 1/8" short on each measurement. Because why not? Why sell anything with the actual measurement being the actual measurement? The board itself was somewhere between 1/8" and 1/4" thick. The wood is 1.5" x 3/4".

Using my old Craftsman tablesaw I used an 1/8" wide blade to cut a 3/16" deep channel. I made two passes so that the groove matched the width of the canvas board.

The slide miter on my table saw cuts a better 45 degree than my old cheapo compound miter saw. Measure the length of the inside of the channel and match that do the length of your canvas board. Always estimate and cut longer than necessary. You can't add wood as easy as taking it away.

Dry fit your pieces together and adjust as needed. I had to shave a little off of all of them to get a decent fit.

Give it a little flare. The square sides were boring so I added a beveled edge all around.

Glue and nail the corners. A 90 degree corner clamp is nice to have. Add some wood filler were necessary.

I permanently secured the painting in the frame and then taped a piece of paper over it to protect it during sanding and finishing.

I sanded the wood filler and made the frame a respectable smoothness.

My son picked a stain and we wiped it. Then spilled it and wiped it all into the work table.

I added some black paint to the inner part of the frame near the painting with an art brush. After all of that dried I added one thickish coat of urethane.

And that's pretty much that. We'll find a spot somewhere in the house to hang the kid's picture.