I think this is a really valuable thread, though we might want to rename it since we have drifted pretty far from Andrew's original question.
I am with Jim on using simple hand tools. I think you should be able to complete a job without electricity. Can you imagine the gratitude of a customer for whom you created a job during an extended power outage?. Talk about positive word-of-mouth advertising. It would be the talk for years.
I cut my first frame--and many thereafter--on a simple wooden block mitre box I bought from a hardware store. I joined with a jig made from scrap lumber. If you are familiar and comfortable working with wood, this is not as challenging as it first seems.
I know there are many framers who still use the Stanley miter box like the one Jim describes. The challenge is to consistently cut the lengths of the rails to the exact size. There are a number of tricks that help with this. (One is to stack the two rails when cutting them.) I have seen some nice set-ups using hand-made stops and guides. I could still make a frame this way, and consequently think anybody can.
Another trick is to keep your hands very steady while making the cut. This is a matter of practice. I found that I still had some variations on some mouldings, but this was easily solved with a "shooter," a jig made of scrap lumber to hold the cut moulding steady while you "shoot" it by a sanding block. I think my corners may have actually been a little better then. (To see this and other useful hand-made tools, look at How to Build Frameshop Worktable/Fix & Jigs By Paul MacFarland, CPF, GCF)
If nothing else, experimenting with these tools and methods will give any framer a better sense of the heritage of the profession. You will learn to know just what is happening when a saw blade isn't giving you perfect cuts or the chopper is breaking out the back of a moulding.
Whether these things are an important part of the test for MCPF exams is something for others to decide. But I think a part of being a well-rounded framer is to understand the basic tools and techniques, and so always encourage folks to try the old ways. In the same vein, I start training employees with a straight line cutter before I let them use the CMC. (I also like my vehicles to have "road feel.")
I like the idea of a graduated exam, similar to the CPA exam. Besides all of the other advantages, it takes away some of the stress. Great craftsmanship and great speed are to my mind mutually exclusive. Some great framers could probably not succeed in an environment that from all reports ramps up the stress to significant levels. While I suppose there is some value in measuring an individual's performance under stress, I think that this stress plays a more important role than it should in the current MCPF exam. But then I haven't taken it so I can't know for sure.
What I do know for sure is that a great deal of thought & compromise went into the creation of the exam, and we have to have faith that it is the best tool we have at present. Revising a testing vehicle is in some ways more difficult than creating it and it is unlikely to change anytime soon. The fact that the credential exists is a giant step forward.
I am with Jim on using simple hand tools. I think you should be able to complete a job without electricity. Can you imagine the gratitude of a customer for whom you created a job during an extended power outage?. Talk about positive word-of-mouth advertising. It would be the talk for years.
I cut my first frame--and many thereafter--on a simple wooden block mitre box I bought from a hardware store. I joined with a jig made from scrap lumber. If you are familiar and comfortable working with wood, this is not as challenging as it first seems.
I know there are many framers who still use the Stanley miter box like the one Jim describes. The challenge is to consistently cut the lengths of the rails to the exact size. There are a number of tricks that help with this. (One is to stack the two rails when cutting them.) I have seen some nice set-ups using hand-made stops and guides. I could still make a frame this way, and consequently think anybody can.
Another trick is to keep your hands very steady while making the cut. This is a matter of practice. I found that I still had some variations on some mouldings, but this was easily solved with a "shooter," a jig made of scrap lumber to hold the cut moulding steady while you "shoot" it by a sanding block. I think my corners may have actually been a little better then. (To see this and other useful hand-made tools, look at How to Build Frameshop Worktable/Fix & Jigs By Paul MacFarland, CPF, GCF)
If nothing else, experimenting with these tools and methods will give any framer a better sense of the heritage of the profession. You will learn to know just what is happening when a saw blade isn't giving you perfect cuts or the chopper is breaking out the back of a moulding.
Whether these things are an important part of the test for MCPF exams is something for others to decide. But I think a part of being a well-rounded framer is to understand the basic tools and techniques, and so always encourage folks to try the old ways. In the same vein, I start training employees with a straight line cutter before I let them use the CMC. (I also like my vehicles to have "road feel.")
I like the idea of a graduated exam, similar to the CPA exam. Besides all of the other advantages, it takes away some of the stress. Great craftsmanship and great speed are to my mind mutually exclusive. Some great framers could probably not succeed in an environment that from all reports ramps up the stress to significant levels. While I suppose there is some value in measuring an individual's performance under stress, I think that this stress plays a more important role than it should in the current MCPF exam. But then I haven't taken it so I can't know for sure.
What I do know for sure is that a great deal of thought & compromise went into the creation of the exam, and we have to have faith that it is the best tool we have at present. Revising a testing vehicle is in some ways more difficult than creating it and it is unlikely to change anytime soon. The fact that the credential exists is a giant step forward.
