Andrew Lenz Jr.
Frequent Poster
I've been doing this for a long time. I started framing in the 1970s as a wee lad. I've seen Alphamat invented, acid-free foamboard invented, regular matboards become buffered, UV glass invented, computerized mat cutters invented. There have been a lot of great innovations and trends in the framing industry/trade.
BUT . . .
Not all is well.
Back in the day, it was common to see "1 foot allowance" and "1/2 foot allowance" stickers on sticks of moulding. Someone actually took the time to look for flaws. Now, you almost never see such markings—defective segments are left for the framer to simply pay for regardless and stumble across.
These days, it's problem, after problem, after problem. Yes, we're very picky. But should we really have to be returning obviously warped sticks of moulding? And cutting around multiple flaws—specks in the finish, visible finger-joins, severe knots, dents that were painted over, etc.—on sticks of moulding?
And I'm not talking one company. It's manufacturer, after manufacturer. Larson Juhl, Studio, Nurre Caxton, International Moulding, etc. It seems like a race to the bottom in terms of quality. Yes, I'd pay an extra $1 (or more) per foot to have stick completely usable. But a higher price doesn't always mean that the moulding will be defect free. As it is, it's costing us so much in labor to cut and recut and return and recut again.
We still cut our own frames from stocked length in our warehouse. Maybe we're dinosaurs. I'm really tempted to switch to chop and just return bad frames and let the distributor deal with them.
Has anyone found a moulding supplier that is an exception to the rule and has very few problems with their length moulding?
Andrew
BUT . . .
Not all is well.
Back in the day, it was common to see "1 foot allowance" and "1/2 foot allowance" stickers on sticks of moulding. Someone actually took the time to look for flaws. Now, you almost never see such markings—defective segments are left for the framer to simply pay for regardless and stumble across.
These days, it's problem, after problem, after problem. Yes, we're very picky. But should we really have to be returning obviously warped sticks of moulding? And cutting around multiple flaws—specks in the finish, visible finger-joins, severe knots, dents that were painted over, etc.—on sticks of moulding?
And I'm not talking one company. It's manufacturer, after manufacturer. Larson Juhl, Studio, Nurre Caxton, International Moulding, etc. It seems like a race to the bottom in terms of quality. Yes, I'd pay an extra $1 (or more) per foot to have stick completely usable. But a higher price doesn't always mean that the moulding will be defect free. As it is, it's costing us so much in labor to cut and recut and return and recut again.
We still cut our own frames from stocked length in our warehouse. Maybe we're dinosaurs. I'm really tempted to switch to chop and just return bad frames and let the distributor deal with them.
Has anyone found a moulding supplier that is an exception to the rule and has very few problems with their length moulding?
Andrew