Picture frames for old Admiralty charts?

[KeithMD]

Just been looking through a stash of Admiralty charts dated 1996, and not corrected since.
So they are well out-of-date.
The best of them (the least used, without pencil lines, coffee stains etc) might look good in a frame.
42" x 28"
But where to find frames that big, and not a frightening price?
Any suggestions gratefully received.

 

[Supertramp]

I stuck one without frame or glass on a sheet of ply cut to size. It was a 70's chart with stuck on updates and marks from passages. Irreplaceable piece of personal history.

 

[Fr J Hackett]

Just been looking through a stash of Admiralty charts dated 1996, and not corrected since.
So they are well out-of-date.
The best of them (the least used, without pencil lines, coffee stains etc) might look good in a frame.
42" x 28"
But where to find frames that big, and not a frightening price?
Any suggestions gratefully received.

You make them

 

[AntarcticPilot]

At that size, the choices are probably a) go to a framing shop and have one custom made (expensive!) or b) DIY - you can buy frame materials easily enough and it's basically 4 mitre joints and a frame clamp. Buying the tools might well be cheaper than having a frame made! The glazing is cheap if you take the frame to a local glazing company; they'll probably cut the glass while you wait. If you ask around locally you may find someone whose hobby is making frames - there used to be a guy like that where I lived (long passed away).

Should have mentioned - ready-made frames are either photo sized (6x4, 10x8) or the A paper sizes. Your chart isn't a A size (the sides are always in the ratio 1:√2)

 

[Chiara’s slave]

At that size, the choices are probably a) go to a framing shop and have one custom made (expensive!) or b) DIY - you can buy frame materials easily enough and it's basically 4 mitre joints and a frame clamp. Buying the tools might well be cheaper than having a frame made! The glazing is cheap if you take the frame to a local glazing company; they'll probably cut the glass while you wait. If you ask around locally you may find someone whose hobby is making frames - there used to be a guy like that where I lived (long passed away).

Should have mentioned - ready-made frames are either photo sized (6x4, 10x8) or the A paper sizes. Your chart isn't a A size (the sides are always in the ratio 1:√2)

We find Amazon has a huge variety of frame shapes and sizes, we frame our favourite Beken calendar pictures, 2 locally owned boats are opposite each other in the dining room. But for a chart, it’s DIY. I use acrylic sheet rather than glass at that size, as it’s so much lighter and less prone to breaking.

 

[Adios]

Had the same dilemma recently for A0 size prints. Its actually not easy or cheap to do properly as you'd probably like it. Huge pieces of glass are heavy and dangerous, needs more than just a frame and the usual back board, needs to be braced.

I just needed them on the wall so ended up getting some black Snap Frames and Aluminium Poster Frames from stock (snapframeswarehouse.co.uk)

The black ones look ok for what i needed. I incorporated a border into the print (around the image) so it looked sort of mounted. Again standard mount board would be costly for that big.

The snap frames can't hang though, they must be screwed on the wall with 4 screws. Actually maybe they could just about be hung but they are very flexible when not screwed on. They come with a thin sheet of plastic instead of glass that has an antiglare side which when not pressed perfectly on the print makes it look out of focus. And it wont be perfectly on it across something that big. I ended up having the print stuck to a cheap backing by the printers, maybe £20 per A0 sized print, and using it without any glass.

 

[ChromeDome]

If you can trim it to 70 x 100 cm Amazon can do from £ 27 (poster frame).

Probably not the worlds finest, but inexpensive in comparison

 

[Adios]

Beken

I picked this beauty up at a car boot sale for £30 I didn't haggle. Actually not Beken but a current photographer continuing the tradition.

Framed very nicely by a company called Trowbridge in London. God only knows what that quality of framing would cost for chart size but it would be a fine thing to behold

 

[srm]

There is a bar in Stromness with charts pasted directly on to the walls, probably with wallpaper paste. Cheap but possibly not for the home.

 

[FWB]

Anne Plumber, artist does nice work using charts as a background, I have a couple of her paintings.
Anne Plummer - Art for sale

 

[Poignard]

Just after WWII, when things were in short supply, my father used to mount pictures using a technique he called "passepartout".

The picture was laid face down on a sheet of glass the same size, and black adhesive tape (like Duct tape) applied to cover the edges and hold the pieces together. He mitred the joints in the tape at the corners. I can't remember now but he probably used a backing piece of hardboard as well.

 

[Wansworth]

Personally I would go for mounting the chart o say half inch board ans fixing to the wall with screws.Frames unless you go very wide look very thin

 

[Thistle]

I have sandwiched OS maps between sheets of hardboard and clear acrylic, keeping the sandwich together with folding bulldog clips. The clip handles on the front were removed; those at the back retained in case future re-mounting is required. A local plastics supplier cut the acrylic while I waited.

 

[Stemar]

There is a bar in Stromness with charts pasted directly on to the walls, probably with wallpaper paste. Cheap but possibly not for the home.

That's what we did in our loo - the local chart

 

[Goldie]

If it’s worth doing…. Especially if the chart has a significance to you. I was gifted this (pic below) by colleagues when I retired - I think they wanted to make sure I was really going . No idea on the framing price, but I think it looks fantastic.

 

[boomerangben]

If you happen to (I know it’s a long shot) live on the Isle of Lewis, I do picture framing for my wife and a couple of other local artists. If they are full size charts, shipping for a couple is likely to be prohibitively expensive. As Antarctic Pilot recommends, ask around locally and you might find a home based framer who can do it

 

[DownWest]

Thinking about doing a couple of frames at the mo.
A while back I used to do stuff for a G/F's poster framing gallery, so well aquainted with all the methods.
Local B&Q has assorted wooden sections for the frame. Another one cuts glass to size, while you wait. €65/mtr squ. for 3mm, so a bit less for 2mm, the normal for pictures.
Bit of hardboard for the back, job done.
DW

For the gallery, having set a date to open it, worked like maniacs to keep to the date.... Framed 2,500 pictures in just over a week. All hours of the day and night.

 

[Wansworth]

7

Thinking about doing a couple of frames at the mo.
A while back I used to do stuff for a G/F's poster framing gallery, so well aquainted with all the methods.
Local B&Q has assorted wooden sections for the frame. Another one cuts glass to size, while you wait. €65/mtr squ. for 3mm, so a bit less for 2mm, the normal for pictures.
Bit of hardboard for the back, job done.
DW

For the gallery, having set a date to open it, worked like maniacs to keep to the date.... Framed 2,500 pictures in just over a week. All hours of the day and night.

did framingforButlins,wonderful mitre cutting machine and nail gun………worst bit was delivering to Butlins with all the lewerd jollity……….was17

 

[DownWest]

7

did framingforButlins,wonderful mitre cutting machine and nail gun………worst bit was delivering to Butlins with all the lewerd jollity……….was17

Part of lifes rich pattern, Butlins huh?
We had a Morso mitre machine and an under stapler to put the frames together. Put wavy little bits of steel in the corners to hold the them . Very quick.

 

[johnalison]

Unless you want them to look smart, you could hang them with those plastic hanging thingies that just consist of a strip that grips the top with a hanging cord and another strip along the bottom to keep it fairly flat. I use them for things like posters.