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Author Topic: Stretcher Bars - source, and thickness recommendations  (Read 2269 times)

Roscolo

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Stretcher Bars - source, and thickness recommendations
« on: May 11, 2010, 02:10:24 pm »


Best source for stretcher bars in USA? And what dimensions (wood thickness) can you recommend for sizes 8x10 to 20x24?

I'm doing an outdoor arts fest this summer for the first time, and I figure I probably need to keep things in the 8x10 to 20x24 range for that. I don't want them to be too flimsy, but not oversize either as people will need to be able to carry it around for a while. Any ideas on packaging these to protect them after someone purchases and needs to carry it around for a while? It will be very hot and very humid (I'm in the south).

Printing on Sunset Select Matte. Still trying to figure out what to coat the prints with. Never done an arts festival before, and I'm doing it as much for self-promotion as for sales.

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ghaynes754

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Stretcher Bars - source, and thickness recommendations
« Reply #1 on: May 11, 2010, 07:51:42 pm »

For stretcher bars I really like the products from John Morris (Mounting and Laminating Supplies http://www.earthstores.com/Mountinglaminatingsupplies/)

Johns bar use a unique 'key' in the ends rather than the tongue/grove of more traditional bars.  I've used bars from Best which I liked but John's are exceptionally easy to use.  He is also the inventor/seller of the Tensador stretching machine.

You will get lots of opinions on finish.  I've used both Glamour II and Eco Print Shield.  Standardized on the Print Shield since I spray with an HVLP gun and the smell/odor is almost non existent.
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markdfink

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Stretcher Bars - source, and thickness recommendations
« Reply #2 on: May 12, 2010, 06:04:59 pm »

Do you have a working URL for John Morris' site? I can't find him via Google either.

Thanks,
Mark
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John.Murray

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Stretcher Bars - source, and thickness recommendations
« Reply #3 on: May 12, 2010, 06:40:16 pm »

just remove that trailing ) from the link.... effectively

http://www.earthstores.com/Mountinglaminatingsupplies/

hth... -john
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fdi

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Stretcher Bars - source, and thickness recommendations
« Reply #4 on: May 13, 2010, 08:05:39 am »

One of our large photo lab customers wanted to improve their canvas efficiency so we started manufacturing and selling stretcher frames. Solid wood that is permanently glued and nailed with near perfect 90 degree corners. You don’t have to worry about filtering out the bad sticks and you don’t have to worry about them collapsing when you stretch the canvas. As far as depth goes it depends on what you want to do with them. If you plan to eventually put them into a traditional frame then you want to keep them less than 1 inch tall. If you plan to use them as unframed gallery wraps, then around a 1 1/2 inch depth is nice.

Cheers,
Mark
« Last Edit: May 13, 2010, 08:06:32 am by fdi »
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Mark Rogers
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