Went down to my basement workshop over the weekend to make some picture frames for my kids teachers as a little end of year gift. I enjoy making decorative banding in various patterns and thought they would add some interest to the frames. I usually make a wide blank, much more than I need, then slice off thin strips to inlay and save the rest for future projects. When I looked over my collection of leftover blanks one of the ones I made over the winter had twisted up pretty badly. I suppose I will save it and see if it flattens out next winter. I hope it does because there is a lot left and I don’t think I can cut off strips with it twisted up this badly. Any thoughts?
I also attached a pic of the frame I made with this particular banding the first time around.
Chris
Replies
chris,
you mention it being twisted up badly but your photo says otherwise. i'd bet that if you were to very lightly dampen it and lay it under something heavy and on a flat surface and wait till it dries, you'd get that thing flat.
that black frame, banding and the b&w photo go nicely together. what city is that?
eef
banding blank warping
eef,
Not sure what you consider a bad twist but that blank is about 2.5" wide, 1/4" thick and 30" long and it twists through about 50 degrees over its length. That said, you may be right that with a little water and some weight it would flatten out, at least long enough to slice off some strips.
The picture is the water tower on north Michigan Avenue in Chicago. It was the only building in the area to survive the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. The picture is a wedding gift for a friend who got engaged in front of that building. I got a copy of the photo from the Chicago Historical Society.
Chris
Sandwich
Maybe a decorative banding sandwich? Clamp or screw it between a couple pieces of good flat plywood and then rip off your strips. Once ripped the small strips should be plyable and manageable enough to inlay.
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