Nate Secrist
02-14-2017, 5:20 PM
Louvers - Buy from Rockler or Make your own?
The louvers for one of my windows are 18-5/8” long.
Costs - Buy Louver Stock From Rockler
3-1/2 louver stock from Rockler is 58” - $8.99 + .72 sales tax = $9.71
58 / 18-5/8 = 3 louvers per stick - $9.71 / 3 = $3.24 per louver
Note: Something to keep in mind - the Rockler louver stock becomes much more expensive if you have louvers that are > 19", because you will only be able to get 2 louvers per stick and will have alot of waste!
Costs - Make my Own
Using 5/4 Basswood, you can resaw and get 2 louvers from the 5/4 thickness - with very little waste
5/4 Basswood is $3.10/bd ft + Sales Tax = $3.32/bd foot, from my local hardwood dealer
So - from a 5” wide x 96” long of 5/4 Basswood - you get 10 louvers at 18-5/8”
4.2 board feet in this board x $3.32 = $13.95 / 10 louvers = $1.40 per louver
Total Costs for 8 Windows
The plantation shutters I am making for the 8 windows in our house have 426 total louvers in various widths…..
For all but 2 of the windows, the louver lengths are about 16".
Other Costs to Factor In: Rockler Louver Bit - $52.99 I already had one Double Featherboard - I needed one more - $29.99
Buy from Rockler: 426 louvers x $3.24 = $1,380.24
Make my Own: 426 louvers x $1.40 = $596.40 + $85.00 (Router Bit & Featherboard) = $681.40
I found that I could lower the cost for the Rockler Louver Stock by online ordering about 150 sticks - no sales tax and about $75.00 for shipping, so the overall cost dropped to about $1275…
One thing to note: Over the Christmas holidays, I saw that Rockler had the 3-1/2” louver stock on sale for $4.99 each - so this would make the comparison a lot closer!
Summary
If you are building large quantities of louvers, you can see that it is much cheaper to mill your own shutters, if you have time on your hands for the additional manual labor required. I wanted louvers that were 7/16” thick, and I was concerned about the quality of the Rockler louvers - many of the sticks I saw in the bin at the store were warped. As several others have pointed out - you must have a router table equipped with featherboards on both the infeed and outfeed side of the fence, and I made a special push shoe just for this task! The quality of each louver was very good - not too much chatter from the bit. Basswood mills nicely, so there were only a few that had tearout - usually this occurred when I was trying to run the stock too fast over the bit.
Be prepared to many, many hours of labor - Each louver needs to run over the router bit 4 times!
And then you have lots of sanding to do (80, 120, 150, 220, etc) - some of which you would also have if you purchased the louver stock from Rockler…..
In short - there is a certain amount of satisfaction in building your own; However - this isn’t a job for the faint of heart! It isn’t the quickest way to get the job done, but it will be worth it in the end!
As they say - "Your mileage may vary!" -YMMV
Comments and any questions are welcome
Nate
The louvers for one of my windows are 18-5/8” long.
Costs - Buy Louver Stock From Rockler
3-1/2 louver stock from Rockler is 58” - $8.99 + .72 sales tax = $9.71
58 / 18-5/8 = 3 louvers per stick - $9.71 / 3 = $3.24 per louver
Note: Something to keep in mind - the Rockler louver stock becomes much more expensive if you have louvers that are > 19", because you will only be able to get 2 louvers per stick and will have alot of waste!
Costs - Make my Own
Using 5/4 Basswood, you can resaw and get 2 louvers from the 5/4 thickness - with very little waste
5/4 Basswood is $3.10/bd ft + Sales Tax = $3.32/bd foot, from my local hardwood dealer
So - from a 5” wide x 96” long of 5/4 Basswood - you get 10 louvers at 18-5/8”
4.2 board feet in this board x $3.32 = $13.95 / 10 louvers = $1.40 per louver
Total Costs for 8 Windows
The plantation shutters I am making for the 8 windows in our house have 426 total louvers in various widths…..
For all but 2 of the windows, the louver lengths are about 16".
Other Costs to Factor In: Rockler Louver Bit - $52.99 I already had one Double Featherboard - I needed one more - $29.99
Buy from Rockler: 426 louvers x $3.24 = $1,380.24
Make my Own: 426 louvers x $1.40 = $596.40 + $85.00 (Router Bit & Featherboard) = $681.40
I found that I could lower the cost for the Rockler Louver Stock by online ordering about 150 sticks - no sales tax and about $75.00 for shipping, so the overall cost dropped to about $1275…
One thing to note: Over the Christmas holidays, I saw that Rockler had the 3-1/2” louver stock on sale for $4.99 each - so this would make the comparison a lot closer!
Summary
If you are building large quantities of louvers, you can see that it is much cheaper to mill your own shutters, if you have time on your hands for the additional manual labor required. I wanted louvers that were 7/16” thick, and I was concerned about the quality of the Rockler louvers - many of the sticks I saw in the bin at the store were warped. As several others have pointed out - you must have a router table equipped with featherboards on both the infeed and outfeed side of the fence, and I made a special push shoe just for this task! The quality of each louver was very good - not too much chatter from the bit. Basswood mills nicely, so there were only a few that had tearout - usually this occurred when I was trying to run the stock too fast over the bit.
Be prepared to many, many hours of labor - Each louver needs to run over the router bit 4 times!
And then you have lots of sanding to do (80, 120, 150, 220, etc) - some of which you would also have if you purchased the louver stock from Rockler…..
In short - there is a certain amount of satisfaction in building your own; However - this isn’t a job for the faint of heart! It isn’t the quickest way to get the job done, but it will be worth it in the end!
As they say - "Your mileage may vary!" -YMMV
Comments and any questions are welcome
Nate