Make the wooden stretch frame

We have a framing shop so some of the tools we use may not be accessable to you . If this is the case please post a comment or mail me and I can discuss alternatives for use in a home workshop environment.
We use a molding made out of "Obeche" wood which has a number of useful features:

• It is profiled so that the inner edge of the frame will not display an outline through the canvas in later days
• it is quite strong with a fine wood grain and few knots (if any)
• it is soft enough for a hand staple gun to be effective
• so far as I know it has fewer issues with warping or buckling in humid environments than, say, pine
• it is relatively cost effective

Our canvas shrinks a little bit because of our water based varnish. Please remember to give it a slight "pull" when measuring for the frame, especially when you have to take your image to the edge of the frame. We like to wrap the image over the sides but it is not to everyone's taste and it sometime upsets the composition of the picture.
Remember that the canvas does not have to be " drum tight" as the image is already on the canvas! Fine artists like blank canvas tightly stretched so that they can paint on it but that is not the case here. If you are going to embelish the print (say with acrylic paint) please comment and I will discuss another approach.
We cut our molding corners on a guillotine, then glue and pin, then sand off sharp edges and corners. We then check it on a flat surface to see that none of the corners lift - a badly mitred join will cause one of the corners to stand away when it is hung on a wall - now is the time to fix this !
I will discuss large frames (say + 1 metre) which need reinforcement in a later post. Other methods of displaying canvas:

• Frame without glass in an attractive moulding
• stretch over a board (say 6mm MDF or 3mm masonite)
• glue to a backing board (some people ask us to "block mount" canvas
• hang between rods (our varnish causes the canvas to curl - watch out)
• punch eyelets and string to exterior frame
• glue directly to wall - please let me know how this works - I don't know what glue to recommend