Normal Duty Stretcher Bars

John Annesley Company offers wood-keyed stretcher bar solutions in a variety of depths and configurations. All our stretcher bars are made from solid basswood which is a very light weight and straight grain hardwood with an almost neutral PH. What this means is that the stretchers are light, strong, guaranteed to be warp free, and are much less likely, than stretchers made from others woods, to react with paints in any negative fashion. Plus we provide a variety of edge treatments for our stretchers, allowing for a variety of framing options and painting techniques.

Much like a human face, the fabric on stretcher bars is effected by gravity and sags over time. Both linen and cotton duck show their sensitivity to heat and cold by expanding and contracting. This happens twice a day or more in most environments. Over time, the fabric fatigues and begins to loose its resiliency. Traditionally, the wooden keys hammered into the corners of the stretcher bars have been used to further expand the bars and take up the fabric slack. Wooden keys allow conservators the choice of direction in expanding the bars, but can take a painting out of square, or worse yet, damage the painting because of rough handling.

Our most popular normal duty stretcher bars (N3)are strong, museum quality stretchers consisting of a 3/4" thick by 1-3/4" wide, kiln-dried basswood body beautifully crafted to exacting tolerances. These stretcher bars are totally free of knots and other physical defects. All joints are expandable through the use of traditional wooden-keyed system. There are double slip mortise and tenon miter joints in each corner, plus mortise and tenon bracing. Bracing stock is 3/4" X 1-3/4". Standard thicknesses range from 3/4" to 2-1/2".

We build to standard, fractional and metric sizes up to 40 feet!
We offer three types of stretcher bars:

Stretcher Bars Tutorials

Take a look at our training video "How to Stretch Canvas".
We encourage you to check out this wonderful MP4 movie.
Click on one of the following titles to view a "how-to" slideshow:
How to Assemble Wood Keyed Stretcher Bars

Using the Keys on Wood Keyed Stretcher Bars

How to Install and Adjust a Wood Key Stretcher Using a Turnbuckle Adjuster

Normal Duty Stretcher Bars
- Product Details

Normal Duty Stretcher Bars, (N1) 3/8" Bead
This option raises the fabric 3/8" off the stretcher bars and braces giving a total thickness of 1-1/8". It's a good option for the artist who has a light to moderate touch.

$ $ Click here for (N1) pricing. $ $

Normal Duty Stretcher Bars, (N2) 1/4" Bead
This option allows for a wide variety of framing options due to its thin, 1" profile, and was developed specifically for restretching of existing paintings where the commercial stretcher bars have failed. Usually we have limited excess fabric to stretch with or to use as a tacking edge. Same price as N1 stretcher bars, above.

$ $ Click here for (N2) pricing. $ $

Normal Duty Stretcher Bars, (N3) Thin Wraparound
The 1-3/4" deep wraparound option raises fabric 5/8" off the stretcher bars, and allows fabric to be tacked in the back of the stretcher. This means the sides can be painted, and framing is optional. The 3/8" recess in back of the stretcher allows for tacking of extra fabric and provides space for a protective backing, should one be desired. The locking "T" section created by joining the inner and outer pieces of wood together makes an extremely strong stretcher with three times the tensile strength and warp resistance of a single length of wood. Artists who use a moderate to heavy touch should consider using the N3 option in order to prevent the appearance of lines in the paint film which can occur as a result of pressing stretched fabric into contact with the body of the stretcher bars or braces.

$ $ Click here for (N3) pricing. $ $

Regular Stretcher Bars
Providing the thinnest profile available while still maintaining some integrity and strength. Braces require special milling to be thinner than in N1 & N2, but are still mortised and tenon - a wood keyed system.

$ $ Click here for Regular Bar pricing. $ $

Normal Duty Stretcher Bars Kits

We offer these kits because it costs much less to ship the larger sizes when they are disassembled. To prepare the kits, first, all our bars are pre-assembled and each intersection is marked A to A and B to B, etc. Then the parts are disassembled into a kit. The bars and bases will fit perfectly with one another as long as attention is paid to match up the markings.

Don't forget to order the fabric you need. We have a wide range of linens, cotton canvas and polyester for stretching.