Walnut Picture Frame – Part 6…COMPLETE!

Once the glue was dry on the splines I could flush trim them.  I used a paring chisel to get them close, then a combination of the shoulder plane and rabbet block plane to finish the trimming.

I also flushed up my miter joints at the same time.  After trimming and flushing, the gaps that I noticed before aren’t readily noticeable, so I’m going to go ahead and leave them be.  I’m liable to make them worse if I try anything!

After doing some smooth planing to the sides, top, and back, the picture frame is all ready for finish.

I want a real natural finish that won’t detract from the contents of the frame.  I decided on just one coat of 50/50 low gloss tung oil/mineral spirits.  It should also dry quickly, which is nice because I needed it the following day.

The first step was to clean the surface with mineral spirits.  Once clean, I flooded the surface with the tung oil mixture.

I let the mixture soak in for about 30 minutes, re-applying oil to the spots that started to dry out.  After about 30 minutes I wiped everything off with a clean rag and let the frame dry overnight.

I think it came out great!  The oil gave it a nice rich depth, without coming out too glossy.  The oak splines also give it a really nice contrasting detail.  There is a small crack that came through on one of the corners, but not really a big deal.  It doesn’t go all the way through, and I think it gives it a more rustic look.

While I was doing all the woodworking, my sister was working on the matting.  She used to be a professional framer, so was able to do most of the work without the frame, luckily.  Here is the completed frame with mat:

She used the same stepped design from the frame, on the mat.  I think it turned out great.  The stepped frame and mat work really well together and give a nice zoom effect, which fits with the panoramic satellite subject picture.

If you missed the first few parts, here are some quick links back to them, enjoy!

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5