Pin board commission
- May 7, 2017
- 3 min read
This is my first commissioned work, and I'm very excited about it. The client asked me to create three pin boards. My client knew my experience level, so I asked her if I could experiment with the frames. She agreed to let me experiment with some different styles for each frame. Each of the three frames will have different joints and be in a different style.
Part 1: Finding the Wood
I am currently in New Jersey working on a house and was commissioned to make three pin boards. The client lives in a farm house, so I decided white oak would fit the house.
Boards and Beams is a large hardwood dealer in Fairfield, New Jersey. Their prices are reasonable and the selection is great. While digging through the stock, I found this beautiful board of quarter sawn white oak. The board was clear, flat, straight, and the I loved the figure.
When I brought the board back to my shop, It took a lot of control to not surface and create the frames immediately. I left the board for a week so it could acclimate. Then I got to work.
I Surfaced and dimensioned the board, allowing me to really see the beauty of the rays.
Splined Miter
What is a Splined miter? The splined miter is a strengthened miter joint. On conventional miters the the pieces are cut at 45 degrees and glued together forming a right angle. The problem with Mitered joints is the strength. The glue joints are an end grain to end grain bond, so there is little surface area for the glue to adhere to. A solution to this problem is a splined miter. a grove is cut across the miter and filled with a piece of thing stock, the spline. The spline creates face grain glue surface on both sides of the miter, thus strengthening the joint.
For the first frame I decided to use this joint. The frames style is very simple, with chamfered interior and exterior perimeters. To put my own stylistic twist on it, I chamfered the miters as well. My thought was that they would give the simple frame a lighter more contoured look. I used mahogany for the splines. To finish the board I used danish oil and sanded between coats.
The pin board core is made from cork. Since this one was the most influenced by my style, I wanted to differentiate it from other two frames. I found some floral fabric I liked, and covered the cork with it.
Mitered Half Lap
What is a half lap? It is just as it sounds. Cut off half of the thickness on each piece of wood. When joined they will be lapped on top of one another. Forming a strong and flush joint. The large face grain gluing surface area forms a very strong joint. A mitered half lap adds a mitered joint to the front side of the joint, creating a more seamless look.
The second frame in this series employs mitered half laps. This is my second time using this joint, the first being Emily's frame (Project No.03). This time it went more smoothly, and I was more confident. This frame was made out of the most figured strip of the board. I love the rays, it makes the simple look of the frame stand out. To break the sharp edges, I created a light chamfer with a block plane.
The pin board is made of 1/8" cork tiles with 1/16" cork matting to cover the seams.
Bridle Joint
What is a bridle joint? A bridle joint is a type of lap joint. Is consists of a tenon and a a double walled lap. It is similar to the half lap joint due to the face grain gluing surface. However, the incased tenon creates the torsional strength of a mortise and tenon joint. The joint is very popular in Arts and Crafts style joinery.
I used this joint for the third, and final, frame of this commission. I made a couple practice joints before I moved on to the work piece. With crisp joints and simple profiles, the frame is inspired by the Arts and Crafts movement. I don't have a rebate plane, so I made the recess with chisels and a rasp. This was very slow and delicate process, the recess is only about a 1/16" deep and 1/2" wide. I chamfered the outer edges.
The pin board was made the same way as the mitered half lap frame. Overall, this is my favorite frame out of this project. I was really excited to make bridle joints, they are one of my favorites so far.
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