I am considering tackling interior Plantation shutters. They will have movable slats about 2.5 or 3 inches wide and I will paint the shutters. The windows are pretty tall – 84 inches.
Any recommendations on articles, lessons learned, jigs, should I break the 84 inches into two sections, max. width of shutter, and other things that I do not know enough to ask?
What about wood recommendations? Is there danger that the slats will warp? I live in Georgia so lots of sun, heat, etc.
I am looking at the Woodline router bit for shutter slats. It is the only bit I can find for that purpose. Are there others? Is Woodline a good product?
Thanks in advance
Chuck
Replies
I made shutters for my house. They did not have louvers but had solid panels on the bottom with brass mesh in the top. The total window height was about 60" and I split them in half for a total of 4 shutters per window. I hung each side one one hanging strip. I was able to plane each hanging strip to get an even space between the shutters. It was a bear to get them all evenly spaced but once that was done they looked great. I was even able to taken them all down for cleaning and refinishing the windows and put them back up and everything was still perfect. It takes time but it was worth it in the end.
Joe
Use staight stable lumber, and a top rail, mid rail, and bottom rail for strength. I've built over two dozen fixed shutters, though I guess yours will have 1/4" holes in the stiles instead of slat holes.
Width is straightforward; they must cover the window when closed.Stain or paint-grade is up to you. The most difficult aspect I find, is assembly. Good luck.
Norms website said they made plantation shutters on April 19 & 21. These are the dates they shot the show, not sure when they'll air it. Keep an eye peeled.
http://www.newyankee.com/yankeecam.php
Regards,
Ken
"Do as you would be done by." C.S. Lewis
Chuck.
I can't speak to the router bit. The few Woodline bits I used dulled fairly quick.
For a full-height shutter I would use very straight-grain wood with a finished dimension of at least 1" x 3" with 3 - 5" M&T rails. located top, bottom and somewhere in-between. The mid-rail does not need to be in the middle but in the general vicinity depending on the style of your windows. The slats should also be straight-grain and of the lightest wood you can find since they have no structural requirements other than not to warp.
I made mine by first end-drilling all of the slats for the pivot pins, beveling each side of the slats on the table saw (you need the change the blade angle when cutting the opposite side) and then assembling. Pre-drill the stiles. Final shaping and cleanup. Glue the tenoned rails in the first stile. When the rails are set, assembling the slats is easy if you make a jig .125" x 1.5" wide and a little longer than inside length of the stile. Drill out for the location of each slat to correspond to the spacing in the stiles. I slightly over-size the hole depending on the width of the kerf since the jig will be ripped down the middle and then reassembled by hot gluing it back together. Tack the jig on the shoulder of the rail where you are starting leaving the other end free. As I inserted a shutter in the stile I would slip the jig over the opposite pin. When all of the slats are inserted in the stile it is fairly easy to put the other stile on since the gig is holding everything in line. When the pins and tenons are fairly seated, break the hot glue joints and the jig slips aside allowing you to firmly seat the pins and M&T joints. When assembled, I would double-peg each M&T joint since these will be fairly heavy and exerting a significant sheer force.
My experience. Hope it helps.
Edited 6/3/2005 1:34 pm ET by Doug
I would make them in shorter sections.. Mush less wood movement AND if you have to replace one (kid hit a baseball through it?) Easier to fix!
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