humm sounds great,
now for us that don't know duddy or have any commercial equipment, here's how I do it.
put your pattern on the wood before you cut it to size.
now cut an inch and half around your pattern. so if your pattern is let's say 9x9 you will now have a 10 1/2 x 10 1/2 square. ( you get the point)
from here you have a choice:
if you have a bench sander you will need to turn your board over and draw the 1" and half square on the underside as your guide for sanding. sand all sides with an 80 grit so this only takes you minutes. I leave a little on the edges so the are not sharp and your corners will look nicer.
with that done, cut your patter as you would, when finished now cut out your frame with the square lines you made on the front, your frame will come out perfect. separate it from the cut piece.
so you now have a perfect frame in your hand, you can take it back to the saw if you want and cut threw the corners to cut it in four pieces if you want it to look like it was made from four pieces like a real frame, or just leave it in one piece.
finish it the way you want.
I found hard construction paper works best for the backing, I glue it to the back with gorilla wood glue, after I give the frame one last good hand sanding with a finer grit. then I spray my frame and backing inside and out with krylon acrylic paint. I found felt to just be a dust collector and more expensive and a pain to put on. finish your pattern piece with what ever finish you are going to use, let both dry, put your piece back in the frame with gorilla glue on the underside and edges, spray completed with of few coats of clear polyurethane.
your other options are:
no sander, no problem just find a video about cutting angles with your scroll saw and angle the edges with the saw first, but now you wont have the square on the underside, so make sure you cut the angle on the outside of the line, because you will need the inside of the line to cut out the frame.
THE BEST WAY IS:
just use a router on the edges to shape your edges first!! but still have that boarder line from your your pattern to cut it out after wards..
for a real sweat perfect frame.
that simple. I'll be happy to answer any questions and you can go to my face book page to see finished pieces, just mention Steve because I don't just let any one be my friend.. my face book is peterpaulding
