The next day the whole four pieces can be glued and held together by four hand screws, as shown, until the glue is thoroughly hard. This method, of course, can only be used with plain moulding or that which is square on the outside.
Our boys tried another way that is commonly practised. They nailed oblong blocks to an old drawing board, as shown at e e, and then placed the picture frame in the centre, after gluing the joints, and driving wedges in between the blocks and the frame. Paper placed under each joint prevented the frame from being stuck to the drawing board by the glue forced out by the pressure.
This paper plan was learned by experience, as the first frame the boys tried had to be pried up from the board, and in so doing they broke it at two of the joints, so that it had to be made again.
It is well to remember in gluing mitre joints that end grain absorbs more glue than a flat surface. A priming coat should be applied first, and allowed to remain a few moments to fill up the pores. The second coat should hold fast and make a strong joint, but an excess of glue should always be avoided, as it must be removed after hardening, and glue soon takes the edge from the best of tools.
Very fancy frames should be avoided. A bevel on the outside or inside, or both, is about all the young woodworker should attempt in the way of ornamentation. Depend on the natural beauty of the wood, as a fancy frame draws the attention from the picture, which after all is the main thing. We should admire the man, not his clothes, the picture not its frame, although the latter should be neat and well made.
The finishing and polishing of frames is taken up in [Chapter XLIX].
[XXVII]
MAKING TOILET BOXES
To make a wooden box sounds like a simple proposition; but in making the drawing, the questions of size, proportion, joints, hinges, etc., immediately come up.