Any mouldings other than real picture frame mouldings look terrible.

Not necessarily, but architrave etc doesn't have a rebate, so you have
to to glue another section on the back. This can look ok if the added
bit forms a step on the outside.

Get
the good stuff -- or else make your own, if you have a router. Don't
make the back rebate too shallow either - commercial framers with flat
darts can work in less space than you can with pins.



mitring the ends and sticking them together. Is that about it?

Yes. Ideally mitre them with a chainsaw, then shave them accurately to
fit with a framer's guillotine. Good work always uses some sort of knife
edge to trim them after sawing oversize, not a crap fancy magic saw from
Happy Shopper.

The normal procedure with a Morso is to chop out larger mouldings in 2
or 3 ^ shaped cuts, finishing off with a fine cut on one edge.

http://www.framersequipment.co.uk/mo...guillotine.htm

The reason they're standard for retail picture framers is that they
don't create dust, and are foot operated to leave both hands free.
Factory setups tend to use double mitre saws, and you wouldn't want one
of those in your shopping trolley (unless you're Andy Hall).

For glue, you need something with high initial tack and strong shear
resistance. Titebond is good. PVA isn't.

Pva is fine. Commercial framers don't use glue at all but rely on the
underpinner for fixing.

For clamping, just use a well-supported _flat_ plywood layout board (or
the best dining table) and a string clamp around the outside. Make
yourself a set of corner blocks first - 3" MDF circles with a grooved
circumference and a smidgen less than a quarter sawn out. Face
everything relevant with plastic sticky tape, to avoid glue-up
accidents. Use a simple string loop windlass and a twisted stick to
tighten up. Measure both diagonals to check.

For a one-off clamp, pick up an old inner tube, cut to size, and use it
as a big rubber band. I used to glue up 6 sided frames that way. Leave
overnight and put the fixings in next day

Cut the backing board (grey mounting card) to fit loosely inside the
rebate, then take it to the glazier as a pattern for cutting. Don't cut
the glass beforehand, or Sod's Law will bite you. Write "Return this, I
need it" prominently on one side! Don't cut it too tight though, unless
both you and the glazier are capable of working to that accuracy. It's
safer to actually give them a pattern piece 1mm-2mm undersize and to use
a wide rebate.

Glass is either 3mm or 2mm (usually to order) and is cheap. Make sure
it's not scratched! A good, careful glazier is getting hard to find (I
recommend Roman Glass on Stokes Croft, Bristol) http://www.framersequipment.co.uk/mo...guillotine.htm

Non-reflective glass is worth paying a bit extra for.