Making a Picture Frame From Decorative Door Casing and Double Mat Photo in a Frame

This is a straightforward build. Instead of buying the really expensive Picture Frame Molding, I opted to cut down some decorative door casing from the big box store. It runs about $15 for a 7’ long stick, depending on the profile you pick.

I started out cutting a dado along the edge of the molding that will eventually become the inside edge of the picture frame. The recess is about a ¼” by ¼”.

The excess that was too skinny to cut a dado in, I just ripped off at the table saw after the dado was cut.

I used my Incra 1000HD miter gauge to make the miter cuts. It works pretty well, with the exception that the indexed head takes up so much space that sometime there is not enough sitting on the table to use it comfortably.

Once I was happy with my miters, I use my adjustable picture frame clamp to clamp it. If you are familiar with this type of clamp, yes I removed the bolt and wing nut normally used to tighten the clamp. That system only limits how big of a frame you can use and slows the whole process down by spinning a wing nut.

To finish it I used black spray paint and sprayed on some clear gloss lacquer using my Earlex spray system.

To cut the glass and matting I used the Logan Matt cutter simplex Plus model 750 and a Pistol Grip Glass cutter.

I cut the matting so that there is a ¼” reveal between the edge of the white mat and the black mat.

The matting I used is the Crescent medium weight mats.

I taped the top of each mat together like a hinge, to help hold it all in place. I use the hing method so if I ever wanted to change the picture it will be easy to remove the picture, and swap it out.

To close it all up and hold the backing in place I use the Logan Dual Points driver to drive the points into the edge of the frame. It shoots a variety of sizes including rigid for permanent installations as well as flexible points that can be used in situations where you may want to bend them out of the way to change the picture periodically.

In the Video, the three pictures where taken on various camping trips with my family.

The two waterfalls are taken along the McKenzie River, not far from the town of Three Sisters Oregon. They are located between Clear Lake, and Carmen Reservoir. You can hike from Carmen Reservoir up stream towards Clear Lake and see both falls within about a half an hour.