Easy-to-Make Wooden Picture Frame

We’re assembling the frame with butt joints so you’ll need a way to put those joints together. You could use dowels, biscuits, dominoes or screw pockets. You won’t see the back of the completed frame, so screw pockets work fine.

The rabbet for the picture is created using an outside corner, available as a molding from home centers. The outside corner needs one leg ripped smaller. The exact dimension of the cut will depend on your material. Applying the molding needs to create a step in the frame that’s deep enough for the glass, picture, a backer, and fasteners to keep it all in.

A really easy way to fasten the molding is to use a 23-gauge pinner. The heads of the pins are tiny, so they’re very easy to hide.

It’s a good idea to start by buying the glass you’ll need. Dimension the frame so that it’s slightly larger than the glass.

Screw pockets get drilled into the short horizontal pieces. Once you have all the holes drilled assemble the frame using glue and screws.

The outside corners must be cut to fit the frame you’ve already assembled. Do this by transferring the distance from inside corner to inside corner directly to the molding and then cutting to length on a miter saw. Make sure the miter saw is set to 45-degrees, and use a sacrificial fence on the saw to prevent splintering the delicate molding.

Once you’ve cut all four molding pieces to length fasten them to the frame with the 23-gauge pins. If you don’t have a nailer you can glue and clamp the molding pieces in place.

Sand and seal the frame, then place the frame good face down on a work bench. Insert the glass, picture and backer.

A framing tool is a great way to capture the glass, picture and backer in the frame.