We are often asked if we can repair damaged picture frames. If the frame is made from pre-made moulding lengths of the type found in most high-street framers then the answer is usually no. These frames are bought in from suppliers in three-metre lengths from various factories, usually in Italy, where they are fabricated on giant machines.
They cannot be easily repaired, if at all. However, if a frame is made from solid wood like walnut or oak, which is predominantly the kind of frames we make here at SohoFrames then these can often be repaired. Most damage happens during house or office moves or even poor packaging when the framer or owner dispatches or swells the frame or artwork ((we build crates and wooden boxes and use specialist couriers).
The most common form of damage is broken glass. As long as the frame is not damaged, we can replace the glass with a new piece of the same or better quality, re-seal and the frame can look like new. That said, often the artwork behind the glass can then be damaged by the broken shards or even tiny chips of glass.
These can leave scratches and dents, particularly if a shard of glass slides beneath the rest of the broken panel. If the artwork is a standard print, like a mission statement for a company office or a photo from a digital file then all good. Easily replaced.
If the artwork is original, whether a photograph or painting, then this can be extremely costly to repair or replace. Repairs to scratches and tears etc must be done by an experienced art and paper conservator.
But let’s get back to the actual frame. The next most common form of damage is structural. Frames can be knocked off walls, and when this happens the corners can break open. Solid wood frames can often be repaired. We can sand and fill dents, re-oil, and re-stain using various products and techniques and the results are usually excellent.
In this case, the client contacted us to ask about the possibility of a picture frame repair. The frame is gorgeous, made from solid walnut with delightfully rounded corners, but it was also very thin. So thin that the original frame maker hadn’t used any structural processes to strengthen it. It had simply been glued and clamped.
Glueing and clamping is fine for joining edge-grain to edge-grain, but not mitre joints, which are mostly end-grain. The joins are weak and must have something else like a pin, nail, routed butterfly piece etc to make the frame strong enough for purpose. Master Frame Maker Curtis O’Dell approached this repair as follows:
1. Cleaned all the broken ends.
2. Re-glued the pieces and clamped the entire frame for 72 hours.
3. Fitted walnut splines as unobtrusively as possible into each corner join.
4. Once dry, sanded all corners flush.
5. Applied a variety of different coloured waxes to blend the repaired areas in as best as possible with the rest of the frame.
We think the finished result looks pretty good and the frame then joined three others in the series back on the wall where it belongs.
Email: Frames@sohoframes.com Telephone: 0207 7340 855 Mobile: 07970 395 537