plantation shutters... a new day has dawned!

[frank shic]

building plantation shutters has long been a fascination for me but when i looked at all the jigs that were required in norm abram's video i put the idea on the shelf until recently when rockler's came out with a new plantation shutter jig system which allows you to just use a electric trill and a set of three self-centering drill bits to bore the plantation shutter stiles, louvres and control rod fairly painlessly obviating the need for jigging up a drill press or a pneumatic stapler. despite the ease with which the jig allows you to perform these tedious tasks the real star of the show are the control arm fasteners which allow you to insert them into the louvres and control arm with just a pair of needle nose pliers.

i ordered the pre-milled shutter blanks and basswood directly from rockler and they arrived in approximately 2 weeks time fairly flat along with the 3 1/2" plantation shutter jig, control arm fasteners and shutter pins. the online rockler calculator gave me excellent measured diagrams. i discovered that apart from drilling the holes on the stiles you don't really need to clamp the control arm or the louvres to the jig and that you can brace them for the most part against your own body although for those of you that are hardcore enough to actually mill the louvre slats yourself i would recommend drilling the control arm holes before milling so they don't wiggle as much in the jig. building the mouse hole jig took a little bit of time but rockler's should be releasing a jig for that step soon.

i primed the louvres, the stiles and the rails and the control arm prior to assembly with festool dominos. afterwards i trimmed the completed shutter to fit using the excalibur sliding saw attachment and then chopped the hinge mortises by hand. my wife was pretty impressed with the end result and i feel confident enough now to try building them for the rest of the house... at my own snail's pace lol.

i haven't figured out how to finish them that efficiently yet though. i had a disaster trying to spray with a wagner airless 404 plus spray gun but that was mostly due to keep the pump clean after multiple latex paint applications. i resorted to buying a graco contractor's gun that cost over $200 at the ace hardware down the street only to discover that the gun wasn't primarily at fault at which point i pulled out my fuji hvlp and reminded myself quite painfully that this was not the optimal tool to spray latex... i will also never try alkyd oil based paint again - the clean-up was murder and i'm sure people are going to stare at my arms at the gym and wonder what skin disease i've contracted!

http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w316/frank_shic/3480ce50.jpg

[Cary Falk]

The shutters look great. Shutters have been on my list for a while now. I am impressed with the Rckler system. It looks pretty easy and the software they have online to do the planning makes it look very easy. It is probably the route I am going to go with when the time comes.

[frank shic]

cary, the feeling you get after assembling one of these shutters has got to be a high point in woodworking... kind of like building your first raised panel door or dovetailed drawer! let me know if you have ANY questions.

[Brett Bobo]

Frank,
That turned out beautifully! With the considerable progression in wood (and faux wood) blinds as alternatives to shutters, there's nothing that compares to shutters in my opinion. Of course, it carries a hefty price tug, which has always been a hard justification for me to splurge on. This appears to be a reasonable alternative so aside from jig and setup costs, how much did that shutter cost you in material and what is the size?

Also, is it possible to save money on the material cost by not only milling up the rails and stiles yourself but also the slats? For example, could you use 1/4" MDF as a stable material with a bullnosed edge on each side for a painted shutter?

Thanks for the insight!

[frank shic]

go figure i can't find the original receipt but i believe the lumber was <$70. the size was approximately 22" x 33". yes, you could mill the slats yourself but they're a pain unless you have a milling machine otherwise you would have to make FOUR router passes on each slat. you could probably use just mdf with a bullnosed edge but you might get more light gaps. i'll take more pictures next time to show everyone just how easy it is to build one of these puppies... finishing on the other hand... anyone got any bright ideas on how to get alkyd glossy paint off of a plantation shutter?!? if not i'm going to become best friends with my ROS for the next couple of nights :(

[Matthew Joe]

Just did a Google search and it looks like Woodline has a plantation shutter router bit kit for $69. I'd think you could save quite a bit of money by dimensioning and milling your own slats...probably could get a couple of slats out of every board. Gotta admit that the cost savings are tempting...I think the going price for plantation shutters is about $20/sf.

Frank, your shutter looks awesome. How much shop time did it take you to build it, start to finish? If you were to build, say, five shutters at a time, how long do you think it would take?

[frank shic]

5 shutters would probably slow me down quite a bit not necessarily because of just the cutting, joinery and assembly but trying to keep track of all the respective parts ESPECIALLY the slats depending on what size you pick. i intentionally picked the largest size to minimize the amount of work i had to do. btw those slats are a pain to assemble when you've got the glue setting on the dominos lol. it took me at least 4-5 hours to do perform all the steps but it shouldn't take as long next time because i've got the routers all set up (beading bit, chamfering bit, 5/8" straight mouse hole bit) as well as the mouse hole jig. i'll probably build a hinge mortising jig in the future too. there's definitely a tradeoff between saving money and spending time in the workshop but that's why we got into this hobby, right? :)

[Matthew Joe]

I hear ya. I'm going to shelve the idea for now (lucky for me I didn't mention it to the wife) and continue to focus on things that I want to build for fun, not to save money. If I were to make one, I'm pretty sure I'd end up making them for every window in the house.

[frank shic]

the rest of my windows will get plantation shutters.... eventually!!! we're talking the 10 year plan rofl

[BOB OLINGER]

Hi Frank,

Great job on the shutter! FYI, I completed 29 made out of red oak from scratch. I pretty much used Norm's directions. Now, I'm in the process of making about 35 from poplar which will be painted for a daughter. We're just about ready to paint the prototype in this set. My wife is the painter. I don't think she's realized the challenge coming up. I know Norm sprayed his, but we don't have a sprayer, not that we wouldn't buy one, but we really don't have a good place to spray paint. So, brushing will be the first try. I found making plantation shutters required great accuracy, likely the most challenging job(s) I've tackled, but a great feeling of satisfaction. Let me know if any questions - I'd be happy to share any aspects or pitfalls.

[Mark W Pugh]

building plantation shutters has long been a fascination for me but when i looked at all the jigs that were required in norm abram's video i put the idea on the shelf until recently when rockler's came out with a new plantation shutter jig system which allows you to just use a electric trill and a set of three self-centering drill bits to bore the plantation shutter stiles, louvres and control rod fairly painlessly obviating the need for jigging up a drill press or a pneumatic stapler. despite the ease with which the jig allows you to perform these tedious tasks the real star of the show are the control arm fasteners which allow you to insert them into the louvres and control arm with just a pair of needle nose pliers.

i ordered the pre-milled shutter blanks and basswood directly from rockler and they arrived in approximately 2 weeks time fairly flat along with the 3 1/2" plantation shutter jig, control arm fasteners and shutter pins. the online rockler calculator gave me excellent measured diagrams. i discovered that apart from drilling the holes on the stiles you don't really need to clamp the control arm or the louvres to the jig and that you can brace them for the most part against your own body although for those of you that are hardcore enough to actually mill the louvre slats yourself i would recommend drilling the control arm holes before milling so they don't wiggle as much in the jig. building the mouse hole jig took a little bit of time but rockler's should be releasing a jig for that step soon.

i primed the louvres, the stiles and the rails and the control arm prior to assembly with festool dominos. afterwards i trimmed the completed shutter to fit using the excalibur sliding saw attachment and then chopped the hinge mortises by hand. my wife was pretty impressed with the end result and i feel confident enough now to try building them for the rest of the house... at my own snail's pace lol.

i haven't figured out how to finish them that efficiently yet though. i had a disaster trying to spray with a wagner airless 404 plus spray gun but that was mostly due to keep the pump clean after multiple latex paint applications. i resorted to buying a graco contractor's gun that cost over $200 at the ace hardware down the street only to discover that the gun wasn't primarily at fault at which point i pulled out my fuji hvlp and reminded myself quite painfully that this was not the optimal tool to spray latex... i will also never try alkyd oil based paint again - the clean-up was murder and i'm sure people are going to stare at my arms at the gym and wonder what skin disease i've contracted!

http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w316/frank_shic/3480ce50.jpg

I know this is an old thread, but do you still endorse this product (shutter jig from Rockler)? I've looked at it, but I want to make sure it works as advertised without a lot of adjusting this and that.

Thanks