Great piece! What's especially humbling is thinking that you were taught something incorrectly, but after researching it, about half-way through you suddenly realize that your teacher HAD taught you it that way. And at that moment you recall how "it seemed liked way too much trouble" to your younger self, and so you ignored it in favor of whatever inferior shortcut you devised. This has come back to haunt me in various amusing ways several times over the years...
Ah, the travails of setting up shop in a new locale, I know them well. When I lived in Mexico I literally had to fly back to the States, sell my house, buy my Pathfinder, pack up my table saw, drive to Guanajuato and set up the table saw on the roof, because you could not get carbide-tipped saw blades there, and even the local carpenter diva, who sexually harassed me, couldn't build an acceptable stretcher.
I can't believe you are stapling the SIDES of your canvas. Staple the back, miter the corners, and tape the edges. It makes framing optional.
I'll get there. This particular stretcher is 48" high so I couldn't quite manage the rear stapling. You'll notice that the Golden instructions recommend as much, securing the edges with 3,000 pushpins, and then stapling the stretcher reverse. Of course by then the sides have a row of pinholes. But if you're going to tape, in my opinion, use two layers and tape the staples. Way easier than trying to keep those edges pretty.
Great piece! What's especially humbling is thinking that you were taught something incorrectly, but after researching it, about half-way through you suddenly realize that your teacher HAD taught you it that way. And at that moment you recall how "it seemed liked way too much trouble" to your younger self, and so you ignored it in favor of whatever inferior shortcut you devised. This has come back to haunt me in various amusing ways several times over the years...
Ah, the travails of setting up shop in a new locale, I know them well. When I lived in Mexico I literally had to fly back to the States, sell my house, buy my Pathfinder, pack up my table saw, drive to Guanajuato and set up the table saw on the roof, because you could not get carbide-tipped saw blades there, and even the local carpenter diva, who sexually harassed me, couldn't build an acceptable stretcher.
I can't believe you are stapling the SIDES of your canvas. Staple the back, miter the corners, and tape the edges. It makes framing optional.
I'll get there. This particular stretcher is 48" high so I couldn't quite manage the rear stapling. You'll notice that the Golden instructions recommend as much, securing the edges with 3,000 pushpins, and then stapling the stretcher reverse. Of course by then the sides have a row of pinholes. But if you're going to tape, in my opinion, use two layers and tape the staples. Way easier than trying to keep those edges pretty.