Board and Batten Shutter Advice

[Tindal Hart]

Good Morning. I am new to Sawmill Creek and could use some input on a board and batten shutter project that I am working on for my house. The shutters will be made from cypress 1 x 6s for vertical boards and 1 x 4s for horizontal battens. They will be painted.

The first questions involves the edge joint between the vertical boards. A couple of online demos that I've watched recommend glued tongue and groove joints between the vertical board. Is the tongue and groove really necessary if the edges are properly jointed? I have a Veritas Small Plow Plane and don't mind adding the conversion kit with the tongue cutter if the t&gs are advisable, but I'd rather not spend the money or the time if it's not going to add to the soundness of the shutters. Either way, should this edge/t&g joints be glued?

Second question is with regard to the battens. All of the videos that I watch recommend gluing the the face the horizontal battens across the faces of the vertical boards and then applying screws. Gluing across the grain strikes me a possibly a bad idea that could lead to cracking as the wood expands and contracts, but I could definitely be wrong.

In case it matters, I'm located in Charleston, SC, so its pretty humid here now.

Thanks in advance,

Tindal

[Mel Fulks]

Welcome. Many times people want the look of tongue and groove with bead and bevel ,if you don't ,jointing and gluing carefully will be fine. I would use no glue on the battens. Unless you have some real heartwood cypress I would paint all pieces before assembly and consider a copper naphthalate treatment first,especially if your wood has any light colored sapwood edges.

[Jim Koepke]

Tindal,

Welcome to the Creek.

There are likely as many correct ways to do this as there are to bake cookies.

One thing for T&G joinery without glue there is a little play for movement caused by humidity changes.

jtk