Wooden American Traditional stretcher with wooden keys inserted leaning against a white wall.

American Traditional Stretchers

Recommended For

Works of all sizes; large works in particular. This staple in our product line is for any artist looking for heavy duty construction and expansion capacity.

Design

Featuring keyed double finger miter joints for the corners and keyed mortise and tenon joints for the crossbars — a 100% keyable stretcher.

Materials

Basswood or Eastern White Pine with hardwood keys.

Stretcher Bar Profile

Continuous Bevel and L-Shaped.

  • A wooden picture frame with two horizontal bars, leaning against a white wall.
  • Close-up of a wooden corner joint with a sliding dovetail
  • Empty wooden canvas frame propped against a white wall.
  • Close-up of a light wood picture frame corner with visible joint details.
  • A wooden picture frame with geometric cutouts, leaning against a white wall.
  • Close-up of two wooden pieces joining together with a slot joint on a white surface.
  • A wooden frame on a white surface, consisting of two large squares with smaller inner frames, held together by small wooden clips.
  • Close-up of a wooden picture frame corner with miter joint and inlay pieces
  • A wooden frame with internal support brackets, lying on a white surface.
  • Close-up of a wooden picture frame with mitered corners, placed on a white surface.
  • A wooden picture frame laying flat on a white surface.
  • Close-up of two wooden pieces joined at a 90-degree angle with two small rectangular wooden blocks inserted at the joint, on a white background.

What is an American Traditional Stretcher?

Invented in the late 19th Century, the American Traditional stretcher is distinguished by keyed double-finger miter joints for the corners, with keyed mortise and tenon joints for the crossbars— so it’s a 100% keyable stretcher. 

It also features the most versatile joinery, making it easier for customers to assemble the support on their own if they prefer. 

Featuring hardwood keys, Simon Liu’s American Traditional stretchers are handcrafted in either eastern white pine with a continuous bevel or in basswood with an L-shaped, tongue-and-groove profile. French and wall cleats are available for hanging.

Stretcher Bar Profiles

Continuous bevel flat back drawing for a wooden stretcher.
Continuous beveled bevel-back stretcher bar profile.

Continuous Bevel — Flat Back

Continuous Bevel — Bevel Back

L-shaped tongue and groove stretcher bar profile.

L-Shape — Tongue & Groove

Close-up of an l-shaped continuous spline stretcher bar profile for thicker profiles for modern artwork supports.

Continuous Spline —
(For thicker profiles)

T-Shaped design for Simon Liu, Inc.'s American Traditional Stretcher -- made for thicker profiles.

T-Shape —
(For thicker profiles)

(Drawings not to scale)

Features of our American Traditional Stretchers

Simon’s contribution to this classic has been to refine with customized tooling the American Traditional Stretcher joinery in a way that preserves its original design while still improving functionality and strength.

Great for artists, great for conservators, this stalwart art support remains the most popular stretcher in the United States.

Available unassembled in bars with keys or fully assembled with inserted tied keys. French cleats and wall cleats are also part of our product line.

Close-up of a corner joint of a wooden American traditional Simon Liu, Inc. stretcher, with small wooden keys fitting inside for expansion capabilities.