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8 × 10 Picture Frames[4/4 · 2ft · 5-Pack]
One pack. One build. All 5 boards used. • Makes 5 frames
Shop Black Walnut 4/4 · 2ft Pack Shop All Speciesselect 2' Lengths
How it goes together
Black Walnut
Hard Maple
Cherry
White Oak (QS)
Red Oak
Ash
Hickory
Ambrosia Maple
Sapele*
Padauk*
Purpleheart*
*Exotic — not available for shipment to US customers.
Five solid hardwood frames for 8 × 10 photos, prints or kids' art. Every board is ripped in half, and each strip gives one long and one short mitred side, cut head to tail so almost nothing is wasted. The corners are glued and pinned, then a router cuts the rabbet for the glass. Make a matching set for one wall, or give them away.
Quick Build — for experienced woodworkers
| Part | Qty | From | S4S size | S2S size |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Frame strips (rip first) | 10 | Boards 1–5, ripped in half | 23¼" × 1 15/16" × ¾" | 23" × 1 11/16" × ⅞" |
| Long sides, mitred 45° | 10 | One per strip | 13⅛" × 1 15/16" × ¾" (outside edge) | 12⅝" × 1 11/16" × ⅞" (outside edge) |
| Short sides, mitred 45° | 10 | One per strip | 11⅛" × 1 15/16" × ¾" (outside edge) | 10⅝" × 1 11/16" × ⅞" (outside edge) |
| Glass or acrylic + backer | 5 each | Store-bought | 8" × 10" | 8" × 10" |
Strips: every board ripped in half; each strip gives 1 long + 1 short side, mitred head to tail. The cut diagram draws each mitred piece at its centre-line length.
Corners: 45° mitres, glue + 2 × 1¼" brads per corner (or v-nails from the back, or splines).
Rabbet: ⅜" wide, ⅜" deep (S4S) or ½" deep (S2S), routed after glue-up; corners squared with a chisel.
Finished size: S4S 11⅛" × 13⅛" outside × ¾" thick, 1 15/16" wide face · S2S 10⅝" × 12⅝" × ⅞", 1 11/16" face. Rabbet opening 8" × 10" on both; the photo shows 7¼" × 9¼".
Before You Start
Shopping List
- 1 lumber pack — 4/4 · 2ft (S4S or S2S)
- Wood glue (Titebond II or III)
- 40 × 1¼" brad nails (18 gauge) or frame v-nails
- 5 pieces of 8 × 10 glass or acrylic (a cheap store frame is often the easiest source)
- 5 backer boards, 8 × 10 (⅛" hardboard or mat board)
- 20 turn buttons with small screws
- 5 sawtooth hangers
- Sandpaper 120 / 180 / 220
- Finish: wipe-on oil, hardwax oil or water-based poly
Tools
- Saw for rips (table saw, or circular/track saw with a guide)
- Mitre saw set to 45°, with a stop block
- Router with a ⅜" bearing-guided rabbet bit
- Band clamp or 4 corner clamps
- Brad nailer, or a hammer and nail set
- Sharp ¾" chisel
- Drill/driver, countersink bit, pilot bits
- Random-orbit sander or sanding block
- S2S only: jointer, straight-line rip jig or hand plane
S4S or S2S? S4S boards arrive flat and square on all four sides — cut and build. S2S boards have rough edges you straighten first, and finish ⅞" thick instead of ¾". No jointer? Choose S4S.
Our sizing assumptions: ⅛" per saw cut · S4S boards 23½"/47½" long with ¼" to square an end, 4" wide, ¾" thick · S2S boards trimmed ½" each end and ¼" off each rough edge (3½" clean), ⅞" thick · sizes drawn for the narrowest board in the pack. Wider boards give you a bigger offcut or a wider part — never a shortage.
Step-by-Step
S4S Lumber Pack
Surfaced 4 sides — no jointing
- 1 Rip the strips. Rip every board down the middle with a push stick. You get 10 strips, each 1 15/16" wide × ¾" thick. Pick the best face of each strip and mark it as the front.
- 2 Sand the strips. Sand the faces and edges 120 → 180 grit now, while the parts are long and easy to hold. Ease the outside edge with a block if you want a softer look.
- 3 Set up the mitre saw. Set it to 45° and cut two scrap pieces. Hold them together against a square. If you see a gap, adjust the saw and try again. Tight mitres start here.
- 4 Cut head to tail. Mitre one end of a strip. Measure 13⅛" along the long edge and cut the opposite 45°. The strip end now has a mitre pointing the other way — measure 11⅛" along its long edge and cut. That is one long and one short side from each strip, with almost no waste.
- 5 Match the pairs. Once the first two pieces are right, clamp a stop block for each length so all 10 long sides match and all 10 short sides match. Sort the pieces into 5 frames by colour and grain.
- 6 Glue and pin the corners. Brush a thin coat of glue on each mitre, wait a minute, then add a second coat. A mitre is mostly end grain and soaks up the first coat. Pull the frame together with a band clamp, check that the diagonals match, then drive 2 × 1¼" brads across each corner from the outside edges. The brads hold the joint while the glue sets. Leave overnight.
- 7 Rout the rabbet. Lay each frame face down. With a bearing-guided rabbet bit, rout a ⅜" wide × ⅜" deep rabbet around the inside back edge in two passes. Square the round corners with a sharp chisel. The rabbet opening is now 8" × 10". Measure your glass first: if it is a full 8 × 10, take one more light pass so it drops in.
- 8 Finish. Final sand at 220 grit and fill any small corner gaps with glue and sanding dust. Apply wipe-on oil, hardwax oil or water-based poly, 2–3 coats.
- 9 Fit and hang. Lay in the glass, the photo and a backer board. Hold them with 4 turn buttons, pre-drilled for the small screws. Screw a sawtooth hanger to the centre of the top back, again pre-drilled. Each frame weighs about 2 lb — hang it on a picture hook rated for 10 lb or more.
S2S Lumber Pack
Surfaced 2 sides — straighten edges first
- 1 Prep the boards. Trim ½" off each end to remove any end checks. Joint one edge straight, then rip the other edge parallel (¼" off each rough edge is our planning allowance). S2S boards finish ⅞" thick, so screws and some sizes change — use the sizes in this column.
- 2 Rip the strips. Rip every board down the middle with a push stick. You get 10 strips, each 1 11/16" wide × ⅞" thick. Pick the best face of each strip and mark it as the front.
- 3 Sand the strips. Sand the faces and edges 120 → 180 grit now, while the parts are long and easy to hold. Ease the outside edge with a block if you want a softer look.
- 4 Set up the mitre saw. Set it to 45° and cut two scrap pieces. Hold them together against a square. If you see a gap, adjust the saw and try again. Tight mitres start here.
- 5 Cut head to tail. Mitre one end of a strip. Measure 12⅝" along the long edge and cut the opposite 45°. The strip end now has a mitre pointing the other way — measure 10⅝" along its long edge and cut. That is one long and one short side from each strip, with almost no waste.
- 6 Match the pairs. Once the first two pieces are right, clamp a stop block for each length so all 10 long sides match and all 10 short sides match. Sort the pieces into 5 frames by colour and grain.
- 7 Glue and pin the corners. Brush a thin coat of glue on each mitre, wait a minute, then add a second coat. A mitre is mostly end grain and soaks up the first coat. Pull the frame together with a band clamp, check that the diagonals match, then drive 2 × 1¼" brads across each corner from the outside edges. The brads hold the joint while the glue sets. Leave overnight.
- 8 Rout the rabbet. Lay each frame face down. With a bearing-guided rabbet bit, rout a ⅜" wide × ½" deep rabbet around the inside back edge in two passes. Square the round corners with a sharp chisel. The rabbet opening is now 8" × 10". Measure your glass first: if it is a full 8 × 10, take one more light pass so it drops in.
- 9 Finish. Final sand at 220 grit and fill any small corner gaps with glue and sanding dust. Apply wipe-on oil, hardwax oil or water-based poly, 2–3 coats.
- 10 Fit and hang. Lay in the glass, the photo and a backer board. Hold them with 4 turn buttons, pre-drilled for the small screws. Screw a sawtooth hanger to the centre of the top back, again pre-drilled. Each frame weighs about 2 lb — hang it on a picture hook rated for 10 lb or more.
Why cut the sides head to tail? A 45° mitre leaves a triangle at each end of a piece. Cutting the long and short side head to tail shares one of those triangles, so both sides fit on one strip with room to spare.
Why rout the rabbet after glue-up? Head-to-tail cutting flips which edge of the strip ends up inside the frame. Routing the rabbet on the assembled frame puts it in the right place every time, and the corners line up exactly.
Why brads in the corners? A mitre joins end grain to end grain, and glue alone doesn't hold that well. The brads (or splines) keep the corner tight for the life of the frame.
Make It Yours
- Splines: after glue-up, cut a saw kerf across each corner and glue in a thin slip of a contrasting wood. Stronger corners and a nice detail.
- Mixed set: one frame from each species in a mixed pack — walnut, maple, cherry, oak — hung as a grid.
- Shadow box: skip the glass, deepen the rabbet and mount a small object instead of a photo.
Safety and Care
- Wear eye and hearing protection. Use a push stick for every rip under 4" wide.
- Rip the strips with a push stick and keep your hands clear of the blade — the strips are under 2" wide.
- Clamp short pieces or use a stop block on the mitre saw. Keep fingers 6" from the blade.
- Pre-drill every screw — hardwoods split without a pilot hole.
- Wear a dust mask when cutting and sanding, especially exotics (padauk, purpleheart, sapele).
Frequently Asked Questions
Not for S4S boards — they arrive flat and square on all four sides. S2S boards need their edges straightened: a jointer, a table saw with a straight-line jig, or a hand plane all work. No jointer? Choose the S4S pack.
Yes. For each side, cut the outside length = photo size + 2 × (strip width − ⅜"). On S4S that adds 3⅛" to each photo dimension. A 5 × 7 frame fits easily; an 11 × 14 needs the 4ft pack.
Acrylic is lighter and won't shatter — good for a kid's room or a hallway. Glass is clearer and scratches less. Both are 8 × 10 off the shelf.
Usually the saw is a hair off 45°, or the pair lengths don't match. Check the saw with two scrap pieces, and use a stop block so the opposite sides are identical.
Planned offcuts only: small mitre triangles and about 1" off the end of each strip. All 5 boards go into the frames.
Yes. A 4ft pack makes 10 frames the same way: each 47" strip gives two long and two short sides, cut head to tail.
