CLARKS GREEN – The proprietor of Summit Frameworks & Fine Art uses various pieces of specialized equipment during the normal course of business. Charlie Sandercock is a certified picture framer. He has a double miter saw which simultaneously cuts both angles on the two pieces of molding that are joined for a corner of a frame.
He also has a chopper, a heavy machine made of cast metal painted green and featuring guillotine-type blades. The chopper was already an old piece of technology when Sandercock used it to cut molding after opening the store in the early 1980s.
There is a computerized mat-cutter, purchased in 2004. Electronic commands are sent to the blades that slice with precision through matting held atop a large, angled table.
Sandercock, sharing a framer’s secret, said one of his most important implements is a spray bottle of glass cleaner. The solution removes smudges and other materials that can distract a customer from admiring the shop owner’s latest work.
“People don’t want to look at the thing and see little pieces of wood in there or fingerprints,” Sandercock said on a recent Saturday afternoon. “They want it perfect.”
The building at 111 N. Abington Road has hosted various retail establishments over the years, including a hardware store that was a longtime occupant. Summit Frameworks & Fine Art is now the sole commercial enterprise. Sandercock uses the upstairs, which was formerly an apartment, as his office.
“There was other retail space in here when I started, but over the years I kind of took over the whole building,” he said.
Samples of frame molding are mounted to a wall behind a counter in the front of the store. There are many dozens to choose from, with different widths and finishes and base materials.
“A decent amount of it is still made in America, mostly the wood frames with wood finishes,” Sandercock said. He keeps the raw molding stock in a building on Fairview Road and brings cut pieces to the store when needed.
“The gold and the gilded and the fancier finishes and all – is molding made in China, Indonesia, the Far East,” Sandercock said.
Fine Art remains in the store’s name, and Sandercock still carries a few posters and limited-edition prints, but this part of the business has shrunk from the levels of 20 years ago. He blamed the contraction on the dot-com crash of 2000 and changing cultural tastes.
“Younger people are not into the same kind of aesthetic as Baby Boomers,” Sandercock said. “Everything is on their phones and they’re not into collecting art as much.”
The late 90s were the store’s best sales years when Sandercock had three employees. He now employs one person. Revenues, according to the owner, are down about 30 percent from the heyday.
“Business still seems to be going down, but it’s not a lot,” he said. “It’s fairly stable now.”
The store’s website, summitframeworks.com, is only to provide general information about available services as Sandercock does not do online sales. Most of his work is walked through the front door by customers who then return in a few days to collect the completed order. Patrons are local people, but some former residents bring him work when they are visiting the area.
“My average ticket is about 4140,” he said, “but there’s a huge range in pricing in framing and it all depends on the size of the piece.”
Sandercock has put frames measuring a few inches by a few inches around some items, and also made frames four-feet wide by eight-feet tall.
In 2002, about 20 years after he opened the store, Sandercock took out a loan, purchased the property and moved into the larger part of the first floor. His former space is now used for storage.
“I would say my overhead went up when I bought it,” he said. “The way things had worked out, my rent was pretty reasonable. Now, I pay all the property taxes. The school taxes are high on this building.”
Sandercock has been framing in Clarks Green for 37 years. Yes, he said, the business has changed even if the borough has changed less drastically, but he still enjoys the work.
He walked over to the section of the store where the big mat-cutter is installed. The machine was covered, but nearby a frame leaned against an easel. A customer had commissioned a reframing job on a print, and requested the store owner come up with something unique.
“This is a little bit different,” Sandercock said. For this project, he did not pull molding from his stocks. The frame was constructed from quarter sawn oak.
“I made it from scratch,” he said. “That’s all hand-finished. This had to be made from lumber.”
