Comments about Masterpiece Heavy Duty Stretcher Strips:

The Stretcher Strips are great, very sturdy and I had an easy time getting them to square up. They might be overkill for smaller canvases, very thick sides. Probably perfect for medium pieces because they don't really need a brace for 30" or less spans.

They would be amazing for large canvases EXCEPT the braces that go with them didn't fit properly for me. They were just a hair long and kept throwing my canvas out of square. GRR. A double bummer because they're one of the few I've found that don't have plastic parts or aren't composed of wood that's been glued together. If I were going to make some large canvases I would go to the trouble of shaving down the cross brace to get them to fit into the width nicely.

If they fixed the issue with the brace, I'd use them all the time.

Comments about Masterpiece Heavy Duty Stretcher Strips:

The frame members are stout and unlikely to warp easily. They fit together nicely and they do the job well.

Comments about Masterpiece Heavy Duty Stretcher Strips:

Very disappointing quality. All 4 bars were quite splintery out of the box, lots of chips and chunks out of the joints; the immediate impression was 'cheap', surprising considering that these are the most expensive of the solid wood bars that Blick sells.

Assembled, 3 of the 4 corners were uneven - the top edge of the tapered lip wasn't flush, neither was the back - the cut was that far off. The worst two were over 1/8" off - it would definitely have been visibly wonky under the canvas. I bought these to create a painting that won't be framed, so an uneven corner isn't acceptable.

I also bought Masterpiece straight braces for this canvas: one was far too loose (it slid around freely in the groove of the bars), and one was far too tight (it would have needed to be shaved down considerably for the correct fit).

I am returning these. The quality issues aren't even remotely acceptable, considering the high price point.

Comments about Masterpiece Heavy Duty Stretcher Strips:

Good solid stretchers, made of solid wood, not glued of shorter strips, no knots. If the size of the intended picture is less than 30x30 inches, consider lighter stretchers (they also usually cheaper). If the size is more than 48x48 concider cross bars. I work with these stretchers every day and love the thick, unbending feeling of them. I mean you make a picture 18x18 inches and it's an object to look at from every side. Then again it's a solid wood it might warp. So assemble the stretcher as soon as possible to make sure every thing is nice and straight. If not, replace warped strip(s)immediatly.

Comments about Masterpiece Heavy Duty Stretcher Strips:

You can find this same product at a very well-known (to be named) retailer for less than 1/2 the price offered here and no shipping. [...]