Thursday, January 12, 2012

A Guide to Buying a Better Quality Stretcher Bar

If you are an artist or a professional framer, or somebody who often finds himself having to work with canvas, you are probably not unfamiliar with stretcher bar products. Often misspelled as stretcher bar, these ingenious products are used to stretch and frame pieces of canvas sheets for easy usability and maneuverability.

Buying a stretcher bar is not a difficult proposition as they are widely available across most stores selling artists’ supplies or similar products. They can even be ordered online from sellers selling such products on the Internet. However, they are available in a wide range of qualities and you should be sure that you are getting the best product for your money.

One of the most common complaints regarding stretcher bar products is what is known as dimensional instability. In other words, it is their proneness to getting warped, bent or even broken over time due to the extreme amounts of pressure they are usually subjected to. Even if you use heavy duty stretcher bars, the problem persists. This is why, some manufacturers have started using short splines to make their bars, a technique that improves the strength of the frames manifold and makes them more resistant to warping and bending.

With this simple yet effective engineering ingenuity, modern day stretcher bars are ensuring a better level of satisfaction among their users. So if you have a really large piece of canvas to stretch, insist on heavy duty stretcher bars that have been constructed using shorter splines for added strength and durability. It’s the best way to ensure that your canvas remains taut and stretched as long as you would like it to.

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