Picture Rail Molding, hang paintings

Following the installation of the picture rail molding covered in my last post, came the installation of picture frames on the picture rail.  That required hooks or hangers made specifically to fit the picture rail molding. The next design challenge was to find the hooks to fit the molding, and be complementary to the furnishings of the room. After many phone calls, internet searches and store visits I did locate enough hooks to get a good start with hanging my art works.

picture rail,, or picture rail hanger or hook on the picture rail molding

Art, restoration and antique hardware sites on the internet provided good selections.  Most hardware stores had no idea what picture rail hooks were or what product I was asking for.  After I came into a store with a sample of the hooks and packaging, my search was more productive. It took me a few days to think clearly, but it finally occurred to me that a frame shop in town might have the hangers 

picture rail hanger/hook, on picture rail...look closely for the flurocarbon monofilament  line I used for hanging

because there is a lot of old housing in town, and much of it has plaster walls. Years ago picture rail molding was commonly installed on plaster walls during construction.  Picture rail molding was originally installed for picture hanging because plaster walls crack  when pierced with a nail to hang a picture. If you tried to put a nail in a plaster wall, the plaster shatters. For this reason the picture rail molding can often be found in old buildings. One phone call to the frame shop established that they did have the hooks, so I immediately got in the car and ran down to the frame shop. They had three packages they could sell me, and that started me on the way to fulfilling my needs. I used that package as a demonstration sample in other stores, and before I left town I had about 20 hooks. Bingo! this was enough to start the project.

This is the picture rail hanger ,picture rail hook, I purchased

Picture rail hook I would have preferred, but not for $4 each!

Some hooks-hangers are attractive, and others are pretty unattractive. The slim ugly ones aren't too expensive, you can get about ten of them for $5 at several internet sites. The ones I bought were under $3 for 4 of them. They were not what I had in mind, but I could live with their look. The ones I purchased, shown at the top, I bought at Ace Hardware and the local frame shop. I would have preferred white ones(shown above) but they were way too expensive at over $1+ to several dollars each. I thought I needed  about fifty hooks, but I was able to hang two pictures on just one hook if it was light weight.  The brass hooks I purchased don't look too bad. You can purchase deluxe fancy Victorian style ones (on the net) and fancy cording to hang the pictures with for $20 or more, not my style, nor necessary to meet my needs. Though it is an option if you like the look.

D ring hardware for picture hanging

eyelet hardware for hanging wires

eyelet hardware on frame back

There is some other hardware you do need for this hanging. You need either D ring hardware straps (left) or eyelet screws(right), so that you have something to attach the wire or plastic line to the frame with. The D ring  or eyelet hardware is required to hang. This must get attached to the back of each side of the picture in order to run a wire or line through the rings to hang the picture up.  You will also need wire or plastic line heavy enough to support the frame and art work. I wanted a transparent line, so I chose to go with fluorocarbon monofilament fishing line, 20lb test and I did some crazy knotting I found on a fishing website, to secure the line to the painting as securely as I could. Some of the frames have glass in them, which makes them rather heavy, so they require more than 20lb test. I am going to monitor the work as it hangs to be sure the line is not stretching. The fluorocarbon line is supposed to be more stretch adverse than other lines. To insure your paintings stay on the wall YOU MUST be sure to get the correct line for the weight of your paintings or other artworks. This is VERY important to keep your artwork from falling off of the wall. Do not use sawtooth hangers (below), they are completely ineffective when used with picture rail.

this sawtooth hanger is useless for this hanging job