Heavy Duty Canvas Stretcher Bars

The larger the canvas, the more important it is to have it supported by a professionally made stretcher. Large canvases are prone to twisting and sagging and only by using a fully keyable, heavy-duty stretcher is it possible to maintain rigidity and proper canvas tension over the life of the painting.

As many artists have discovered, it is very difficult to make a straight stretcher bar longer than 8 feet out of solid wood. The longer the bars, the more likely it is that the wood will bow or twist and make the stretcher frame unusable. We have found that the only reliable way to make long stretcher bars strong and straight is to laminate two or more lengths of wood together. Every heavy-duty bar we use in our large frames has been glued and set in clamped jigs to produce very strong, straight and stable stretcher components.

Upper Canada Stretchers  specializes in making very large stretcher bars and we have extensive experience with frame dimensions over 30 feet across! Our  extra-strong, laminated stretcher bar profiles and sectional, easy-to-assemble splice joints that make it possible to create fully keyable stretchers of any size.

Read More About our Extra Large Stretcher Frame Design Features