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Loosened corners on a wood picture frame
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Picture frame corners are generally secured in one or more of four different ways. There are more ways, but these are the most commonly found. Art work contributed very generously by our resident artist, yours truely.
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 Although a lot of picture frames are joined with only glue they most generally will have at least one brad, about one inch in length inserted through one frame member into the other.
If a corner is only glued it will come completely apart when the joint loosens, so you just have a handful of frame pieces.
Wood picture frames with one brad
If the corner joint has at least one brad in it it will usually stay together and you will have to pull the joint apart. After the joint is apart, take some pliers and push the brad out so that you can grip the head and pull it out. It's best to pull the brad straight out rather than prying against the frame, as you might mar the frame.
 The two brad system is pretty secure.
Wood picture frames with two brads
I've worked on frames with two brads that the glue was completely crystalized and the corner still held, although it did the hootchy-kootchy when you wiggled it.
The two brad picture frame repair is a little more difficult to do than the single brad. The easiest way to start the frame joint coming apart is to put a dowel or pencil on the table and place the joint right over it and press gently on each side. The joint will usually separate enough that you can see at least one of the brads.
Use a hack saw and saw one of the brads in two, being very careful not to remove any wood from either frame piece. After you saw the brad in two you can proceed the same as the single brad method.
It's best to leave the cut brad halves in the frame, since they shouldn't cause any problems and you might mar the frame, or break it, trying to remove the brad halves.
Wood picture frames with spline joints
 The other two common ways to hold the frame corners together are both splines. One is an end spline and the other is a full length spline. If only one side of a spline joint loosens up it's best to not try to force the other side, because the spline may break and then it can be the dickens to clean out without damaging the groove.  If the joint is difficult to separate you can use a screwdriver in the joint groove on the bottom side and give it a careful twist to help the joint come apart.
Another type of spline joint uses a metal spline and it's sort of an H shape. With that type of spline it's necessary to slide the frame halves rather than pull them apart. It you try to pull them apart or separate with a screwdriver big chunks will inevitably break out of one or both frame pieces.
Clean the old glue from the wood picture frame joint
After the picture frame joints are separated it's necessary to clean the old glue from the frame pieces. If there are big chunks of crystalized glue that will come off easily, then a quick scrape will work good. Heat will generally soften old glue so it can be scraped off. Try a soldering iron or an old clothes iron (glue will get on the ironing surface and can be hard to clean off) to soften the glue, but be careful not to burn the wood. Whatever method you use be careful not to remove any of the wood.
If you were to remove 1/32 of an inch from each frame side of each joint, that would be 1/16 of an inch for each joint, so after the first three joints were glued it would leave the fourth joint 3/16 of an inch off - - almost a quarter of an inch. That can be very difficult to compensate during picture frame repair.
Next we go to Assemble the frame or back to Cleaning and other procedures.
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