Plantation Shutter Progress

[Tim Malyszko]

In the past few weeks, there has been a lot of talk about plantation shutters. I just started on making some for our house yesterday and figured I would document my progress along the way for anyone else that's venturing into plantation shutters.

The louvers will be made from basswood while all the other components will be made from poplar (purchased from creeker Tom Sontag at Lumber Logs).

My first set of plantation shutters will be made for the following window, which measures 42 1/4" W x 52 5/8" H. For comparisons sake, bids to make a plantation shutter out of "premium hardwoods" to fit this window ranged from $389 to $597 depending on the grade of wood.

http://inlinethumb42.webshots.com/20777/2449197700044853923S500x500Q85.jpg

On Saturday, I got as far as milling the Louvers. I started off with a 98.5" x 22" board of 5/4 Basswood.
http://inlinethumb46.webshots.com/12717/2685120310044853923S500x500Q85.jpg

I first ripped the rough sawn basswood into 3"x40" strips on the tablesaw, jointed and planed them to 1-1/8" thick and then ripped them to 2.5" wide, which is the size of louver I was planning on using.
http://inlinethumb13.webshots.com/22412/2513458910044853923S500x500Q85.jpg


I then resawed each louver board in half, yielding 2 louver blanks from each board.
http://inlinethumb26.webshots.com/32153/2645254880044853923S500x500Q85.jpg

I then planed the blanks to their final thickness - 3/8".
http://inlinethumb26.webshots.com/31641/2230269280044853923S500x500Q85.jpg

Creating the elliptical profile was by far the trickiest part and involved a lot of trial and error until I found the optimal setup. Since I owned all the router bit profiles in the woodline set except for the louver provile, I did some searching and found a similar shutter profile from Eagle America (http://eagleamerica.com/architecturalmolding-cutters/p/174-2805/ Profile O). The bit was expensive at $55, but I am a believer in spending my money on high quality router bits. It however was still cheaper than buying the woodline plantation shutter set.

Here are some pictures of my final setup:


http://inlinethumb03.webshots.com/39810/2764721030044853923S500x500Q85.jpg

http://inlinethumb23.webshots.com/41174/2790185790044853923S500x500Q85.jpg

In order to get a smooth, consistent cut, I had to shim the featherboard so that it would make direct contact in the flat, middle of the louver blank; otherwise, the blank would rock as it was fed though the router, leaving a very inconsistent cut. In addition, finding the optimal fence position was tricky. If the blank rode on the bit's bearing, the louver would come out less than 1/4" thick, but if the bit was recessed too far, I didn't get a good elliptical profile and wound up with simple, rounded over edges. Also, I would suggest not using a small router for this operation because it was nearly impossible to make these in 2 passes and get consistent results. The featherboards were really the key and using a caul to hold the featherboard in place was ideal since it gave me the ability to easily adjust the featherboard's tension as I rotated the blank to make the passes on each side.

Here is the order in which I cut each blank - Side A, then side B, followed by C or D.

http://inlinethumb07.webshots.com/21318/2605576710044853923S200x200Q85.jpg

By the time I finished the louvers, I wound up with approximately 98 linear feet of 2 3/8" wide by 3/8" thick elliptical louvers. I only need 75 or so linear feet for this first window, so I will have plenty of stock to start another window.

Here are a few pictures of the louvers:

http://inlinethumb38.webshots.com/40741/2523550740044853923S500x500Q85.jpg

http://inlinethumb42.webshots.com/26921/2369028680044853923S500x500Q85.jpg

From beginning to end, the milling took approximately 4 hours. When it is all said and done, I estimate that the wood for these shutters should only cost me less than $70 and the hardware/paint another $50 or so - a significant cost savings over the custom plantation shutter quotes.

On the next set of louvers, I plan on making a few changes:

Rip the rough stock into 6" strips instead of 3" strips, to save time on the jointing, planing and resawing.
Use 4/4 stock instead of 5/4 stock. I ended up wasting a lot of material and could have achieved the same results using 4/4 stock.
Cut the blanks longer than 40" - each louver blank has about 1.5" of snipe on each end from the router. I tried shimming the outfeed fence, but could not get good results, so the snipe is something I have to live with. I found 40" blanks very managable and could have easily handled longer blanks. Going with the longer blanks will cut down on wasted material due to snipe.
Make the louver blanks 2 5/8" wide since I lose 1/8" on the blank when I pass it though the router table. This will yield a 2.5" wide louver instead of the 2 3/8" louver I ended up with.As I continue to progress I'll update this thread.

Thanks for looking.

[Tim Malyszko]

Here are a few additional picture attachments.

[Tim Malyszko]

And a few more...

[Peter Quinn]

My wife has been asking me about shutters for years. Looks like yours are coming out great. I told her they were a speciality trade and I couldn't possibly make them economically. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. I hope she never finds this post in a google search! If so I'm dead meat!

We have 24 windows in the house 32"X64". I'm bookmarking your method for 'someday' as the list of priorities in my old fixer upper is long and varied. Thanks for the informative post and the great photos, but please don't let my wife see them!;););)

[Steve Roxberg]

Very cool and thanks for the photo's.

Keep it going.

[Tom Sontag]

Wow Tim, you work fast!

This is one of those projects that lots of us pass on because it does seem a little overwhelming. Your clear post, complete with "here's what I will do better next time" bits, makes it approachable. Nice job.

[Eric Larsen]

Tim, you really shouldn't have posted this, because you're probably going to become sick of my private messages.

This is my next project... I've got about 20 windows to do.

I can't wait to see the jigs you make to staple the louvres.

[Narayan Nayar]

Looking fantastic, Tim. Must have been a great feeling having all those louvers stacked up like that.

[BOB OLINGER]

Hi Tim,

Thanks so much for posting the many pictures of your progress. I have been soaking up all available info on plantation shutters as they are on the to-do list with start date likely this Summer. I think I'm going to spring for pre-made loovers mostly to save time (supplier info from a fellow creeker). Please keep us posted with as many pictures and other info as you feel led. Thanks, again, for your generosity.

[Chris Padilla]

Sweet! Good stuff, Tim! Documenting the process in a thread (blog) on SMC is half the fun some times! :D

[Pat Germain]

Hey Tim, I just saw this thread and wanted say thanks for taking the time to post it and upload pictures as well. I found it very informative and it will be a big help when I finally get up the nerve to make my own shutters.

Looking forward to seeing a similar writeup as you make the frames.

[Greg Cole]

Definately a good post going here Tim. Looks like you're on the way to getting to a point where you can go from R & D to full production....
I do know someone who spend roughly $20K on them about 2 years ago... all basswood stained to "match" red oak and there was a bunch of them & some larger sized windows, but geeze $20K?

Greg

[Norman Pyles]

Great post, and photos.:cool:

[Eric Larsen]

Definately a good post going here Tim. Looks like you're on the way to getting to a point where you can go from R & D to full production....
I do know someone who spend roughly $20K on them about 2 years ago... all basswood stained to "match" red oak and there was a bunch of them & some larger sized windows, but geeze $20K?

Greg

My aunt spent $18K six years ago. She has the same number of windows, so I'm guessing at least $20K.

I'm not even going to send this job out for a bid because I know it's going to be ridiculous. (And I don't want to waste anyone's time.) LOML agreed to let me buy whatever tools I want to do this project, because as long as I come in under $18K, we've saved money.

So far: PM-66, PM-60, Jet JPM-13, Griz 0555, PC nailgun set, LPHV sprayer.

I'm almost done laying down an oak floor. These shutters are next.

I'm basically diving into the deep end -- I don't really have the skills to do this. But how else am I going to learn?

[Guy Germaine]

Tim,
Approximately how much rough lumber did you buy to make these? LOML wants me to start in the dining room. Looks like I'll be paying Mr. Sontag a visit in a week or so.

[Tim Malyszko]

Tim,
Approximately how much rough lumber did you buy to make these? LOML wants me to start in the dining room. Looks like I'll be paying Mr. Sontag a visit in a week or so.

I figured I needed around 15 or so BF of basswood for the louvers for this one window and another 8.5 or so BF of poplar for the rails and stiles. I neded a bunch of poplar for other stuff, so I ended up picking up 64 BF of poplar.

Hopefully today, I can get some jigs built.

[Cary Swoveland]

Thanks for the great post, Tim. I too look forward to the next installment, even though I have no immediate plans to make any shutters.

Cary

[Pat Germain]

I'm seeing a consistent theme here. If we want enthusiastic spousal support for our hobby, as well as blanket approval to buy cool tools, we need to build Plantation Shutters!

[Greg Layton]

Hey Tim! I came across Sawmill Creek when I was looking for staples and pins for plantation shutters, which is my next upcoming project. It was great to see your pictures and I'll be following your progress. Thanks for posting your information. Where are you getting your staples and pins from? Greg Layton

[Ryan Wilson]

Doing a project like this has always interested me. Thanks for detailing your progress.

It seamed like routing the louvers was a bit tricky. Did you think about making a jig to match the inverse of the profile on the out feed?
Just curious if this was something you tried but ran into problems.

Of course you would have to have 2 of the out feed jigs, one for just the bottom and then another for both the top and bottom.

[Jeffrey Makiel]

How did I miss this post last March? Anyway, nice post!
-Jeff

[Tom Sontag]

Time's up Tim. Let's see some progress.

Tom
who took five years to make a chest of drawers

[Gary Herrmann]

Looks really good so far Tim. Waiting for the rest of the pics...

[Tim Malyszko]

Looks really good so far Tim. Waiting for the rest of the pics...


Time's up Tim. Let's see some progress.

Tom
who took five years to make a chest of drawers

Tom and Gary,

The way these things are going, its going to take me 5 years to finish these things. I swear I thought I was going to knock them out in a couple of weekends. School and work just keep getting in the way of woodworking. I just don't have my priorities straight.

Since the weather is going to be rainy here over the 4th, I plan on spending some time in the garage. I'll post some more pictures. Thank goodness that poplar is cheap because I'm getting good at making firewood.

So far, I've recut the rails 4 times and the stiles twice due to stupid mistakes, like moving the TS Fence 1/8" in the wrong direction. This is definately not a project that one wants to rush through since the end product cannot be more than 1/16" off since "mistakes" will become very obvious when they get mounted into the window casing. I'm probably being overly anal on them.


Did you think about making a jig to match the inverse of the profile on the out feed?
Just curious if this was something you tried but ran into problems.


I did not think about doing that, but it sounds like a good idea.


Where are you getting your staples and pins from?

I'm just using staples I had that I picked up from one of the BORGs a while back. The pins came from the following web site:
http://www.profhdwr.com/34500.htm

Make sure you buy the drill bits also as they provide a very tight fit. None of my standard bits drilled the right size hole.

I have a bunch of pics on my camera from the past couple of months, so at a minimum, I will post those along with the write-up.

[Tim Malyszko]

It's been a long few months since I've updated this thread. I haven't had a whole lot of time to work on the shutters and when I have, I've often rushed something and made a mistake. Here is a rundown of everything done since my first post.

The rails and stiles are being made from Poplar. Since they are 1 1/8" thick, I had to start with 8/4 poplar since I could not find reasonably price 5/4 or 6/4 poplar.

First, I cut a bunch of blanks from the poplar, planed and jointed them so I can resaw them on my bandsaw so that I would be left over with extra 1/2" poplar that I can eventually use for drawer blanks or something. I cut them slightly overthick so I could send them through the planer to clean them up after the resawing.
http://inlinethumb11.webshots.com/36362/2218190250044853923S425x425Q85.jpg (http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2218190250044853923dmTNzo)

Next, I resawed each blank (in case you care, the Kreg fence works great on the 12" Craftsman Bandsaw)
http://inlinethumb12.webshots.com/43595/2006557590044853923S425x425Q85.jpg (http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2006557590044853923VVDeQF)

After resawing and clean up the blanks, I cut the rails and stiles. 5 of the 6 stiles are 2" wide and the sixth is 2 1/4" wide so that I can cut a rabbett on the 2nd and 3rd shutter so that the close tightly.

http://inlinethumb31.webshots.com/42974/2861160400044853923S425x425Q85.jpg (http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2861160400044853923snCbtF)

Rails - After doing a dry fit, the middle rails had to be recut since I mis-measured on my lovour spacing. The middle rail ended up being a lot wider than the one pictured here. I will post the new one in the next update. Basically, I tried spacing the lovours 2" OC, but this didn't work out quite right and I had to change it to 2 1/8" OC.
http://inlinethumb16.webshots.com/42575/2998390310044853923S425x425Q85.jpg (http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2998390310044853923VOuvYZ)

Next, I set up a 1/4" roundover bit to add a profile to each stile. Here are the stiles after running them through the router:
http://inlinethumb07.webshots.com/41350/2201867580044853923S425x425Q85.jpg (http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2201867580044853923CeWEnX)
I then added a recess on the rails so that the shutters would close all the way. This was done using a 1/4" radius round nose bit.
http://inlinethumb52.webshots.com/41267/2757547650044853923S425x425Q85.jpg (http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2757547650044853923ylEviv)

http://inlinethumb21.webshots.com/42708/2997276290044853923S425x425Q85.jpg (http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2997276290044853923porFes)

More to come...

[Tim Malyszko]

In order to get a good, tight fit, I had to cut away the profiles created where the rails and stiles meet one another. I ganged the stiles together and made an initial cut on the tablesaw:
http://inlinethumb57.webshots.com/36728/2252995450044853923S425x425Q85.jpg (http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2252995450044853923AWiqrQ)

http://inlinethumb59.webshots.com/43578/2440372000044853923S425x425Q85.jpg (http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2440372000044853923Dzkxob)

Once those cuts were made, I removed the rest of the material using a straight bit in the router table and cleaned up the little bit left with a sharp chisel.

http://inlinethumb13.webshots.com/40844/2000141340044853923S425x425Q85.jpg (http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2000141340044853923pUcNmR)

http://inlinethumb34.webshots.com/15841/2212745470044853923S425x425Q85.jpg (http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2212745470044853923jxSfta)

I then cleaned up the rails by first making an initial cust on the bandsaw and cleaned up the rest with a chisel.

http://inlinethumb11.webshots.com/17098/2456803540044853923S425x425Q85.jpg (http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2456803540044853923kfUzfV)

Next, I started in on the joinery. I was originally going to do it all with M&T joints, but I was fortunate enough to acquire a Domino a couple of months ago, so I used that instead.
http://inlinethumb20.webshots.com/39507/2697003080044853923S425x425Q85.jpg (http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2697003080044853923krbQdO)

http://inlinethumb57.webshots.com/36152/2241281500044853923S425x425Q85.jpg (http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2241281500044853923kAYvch)

http://inlinethumb44.webshots.com/6699/2573227730044853923S425x425Q85.jpg (http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2573227730044853923GHFqWG)

Here are the rails and stiles all dry fitted together:

http://inlinethumb44.webshots.com/41643/2619458160044853923S425x425Q85.jpg (http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2619458160044853923yosepr)

Hopefully, I will be able to make some good progress this weekend.

[Tim Malyszko]

Here are a few pics.

[Tim Malyszko]

And a few more...

[Tim Malyszko]

Here are a few more...

[Tim Malyszko]

While I'm at it, here are more...

[Tim Malyszko]

Finally, the last ones...

[Russell Tribby]

Thanks for the update Tim. Below you can see what I've been doing for about the past month. I had to make shutters for 9 windows for a co-worker of mine. While the process hasn't been difficult it has been very time consuming. I've had some much appreciated help from Mike Forsman along the way. He made some great looking shutters awhile back and has been generous with his advice.
I don't know if I'll ever build these again but if I do there are certainly some things that I'll do differently. I used the "B" sized bit that Norm recommends and it was too small, I'll go with the 1/4" instead. I had to go back and redrill all my holes with the 1/4" bit. The pins fit in the "B" size holes but the louvers couldn't move freely. Each shutter has 19 louvers and I used about 4 sets of the tension pins with each one and that seemed to work well.
Since these are going inside the window frame instead of being mounted outside I should have made them a bit oversized, like inset doors, and trimmed them down.
I primed all the pieces beforehand and that made a huge difference. It's makes for a lot of loose pieces but in order to get a good coat of primer and sand everything I think it's necessary. If I had to do it again I would paint a lot of the stock before I made the cuts to length, it would certainly reduce the number of individual pieces to move around while spraying.
I was able to get a really nice finish on the shutters spraying them while they were assembled. I know that Mike prefinished his before assembly and I thought about doing that. However, I decided to assemble one and paint it to see how it would come out and it looks good (and I'm not very good at spraying). I put two coats of primer on everything and two coats of the finish coat. When I applied the finish coat I had the louvers opened at a 45 degree angle. I used vertical passes, spraying the one edge first and then moved onto the front of the shutter. I sprayed both sides, let them dry and then moved the louvers so that they were 45 degrees in the other direction and repeated the process.
I'd like to say that I enjoyed this project but I really haven't. I got to use my Domino for the first time so that was fun but outside of that it has been a real chore.

[Mike Forsman]

Tim,

Looks like you are making good progress on your shutters. They can take quite a while to build and there are quite a few parts to keep track of.

Russell,

Looks like your making good progress too.

I look forward to seeing the finished result of both Tim and Russell.

Mike

[Tim Malyszko]

This weekend, I managed to make a lot of progress on the shutters. If I don't have too much homework next weekend, I will hopefully finish them up and prep them for Priming...

First, I drilled the holes for the lovours. They were spaced 2 1/8" a part, leaving about 1/8" overlap on each lovour. I first laid out the holes. I found it easiest to measure 1 stile and then copy the measurements to the others since they should all be the same.

http://inlinethumb31.webshots.com/41694/2972890230044853923S425x425Q85.jpg (http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2972890230044853923vEpdAj)

To drill the holes, I made a jig similar to Norm's jig.
http://inlinethumb43.webshots.com/43498/2989140160044853923S425x425Q85.jpg (http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2989140160044853923NhaNIr)

I thought the jig had too much play in it and the guide pin would stick in the drille hole, thus really slowing down the drilling process. I tried making many adjustments, but finally decided to get rid of the guide and line it up free hand. This went much smoother and was much more accurate than using the jig. As long as the pencil marks are accurate, this is the way to go. I noticed that in the DVD, Norm even suggested laying out the holes with a pencil first to make sure that the alignment is okay, which makes me think he had issues with this jig also. The jig actually just slowed everything down. If I were to do it over, I would have bypassed making this jig and instead used a drill press table and fence.
http://inlinethumb26.webshots.com/43161/2555783130044853923S425x425Q85.jpg (http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2555783130044853923ASJzrn)

Here are the stiles with the holes drilled:
http://inlinethumb08.webshots.com/29703/2382759190044853923S425x425Q85.jpg (http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2382759190044853923BvDAvF)

Next, I cut the recess for the Louver bar in the top and middle rail using the following jig:

http://inlinethumb34.webshots.com/40161/2265609720044853923S425x425Q85.jpg (http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2265609720044853923gvLCxC)

This one was super easy to make and basically utilizes a 1" guide bushing and a 3/4" straight bit to cut recesses 13/16" wide by 1" high by 9/16" deep.

http://inlinethumb29.webshots.com/42716/2410427880044853923S425x425Q85.jpg (http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2410427880044853923MNERcy)

http://inlinethumb40.webshots.com/42791/2223097320044853923S425x425Q85.jpg (http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2223097320044853923GmCrWe)

Next, I moved onto the lovours. I first cut them to size - 9 15/16" long. Then I used the following jig to drill the ends for the pin. This too was an extremely easy jig to make:
http://inlinethumb36.webshots.com/28131/2650020420044853923S425x425Q85.jpg (http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2650020420044853923KYBYWr)

Here are 1 set of louvers with the pins inserted:

http://inlinethumb20.webshots.com/10771/2757122340044853923S425x425Q85.jpg (http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2757122340044853923dXIvNf)

After doing a dry fit, I sanded the Louvers to clean them up. I found the easiest way to do this was to mount my Festool RS 2E 1/2 sheet orbital sander upside down in the bench vise and lightly sand each louver with 120 grit paper. Since they are made of Basswood, it doesn't take much to remove the imperfeactions. Using the sander right side up was too aggressive.

http://inlinethumb22.webshots.com/40981/2838496790044853923S425x425Q85.jpg (http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2838496790044853923yOpYAJ)

Before priming, I will sand each louver with to 180 grit using the ROS, but the method above did a great job with the initial sanding.

[Tim Malyszko]

After doing a dry fit, there were a couple of louvers that were just a bit off. In addition, I needed to move the louvers closest to the middle rail 1/8" outward so they didn't hit the rail. I did this by drilling out the existing holes to 3/8" and then using my 3/8" plug cutter to cut plugs from a scrap piece of poplar.

http://inlinethumb03.webshots.com/41986/2548492290044853923S425x425Q85.jpg (http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2548492290044853923AYUUap)

http://inlinethumb44.webshots.com/38635/2089255790044853923S425x425Q85.jpg (http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2089255790044853923uXxFsi)

Once the glue dried, I flushed up the plugs and redrilled the holes. Once the stiles are primed and painted, you won't even be able to see the modification.

Here are the flushed up plugs:
http://inlinethumb10.webshots.com/22153/2136936500044853923S425x425Q85.jpg (http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2136936500044853923ScmXFM)

Here are the redrilled holes:

http://inlinethumb55.webshots.com/40310/2616379470044853923S425x425Q85.jpg (http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2616379470044853923BcMsTQ)

I then reassembled the shutters and did a dry fit just to make sure everything fit.

Here are the shutters in the closed position (no control bar or hinges... That's coming this weekend.):
http://inlinethumb35.webshots.com/40674/2644484950044853923S425x425Q85.jpg (http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2644484950044853923yLSGVp)

Here are the shutters in the fully open position:

http://inlinethumb32.webshots.com/36255/2604409360044853923S425x425Q85.jpg (http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2604409360044853923skEjCa)

Here is a view from the outside:

http://inlinethumb41.webshots.com/40104/2941524900044853923S425x425Q85.jpg (http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2941524900044853923ERkmfm)

Once I glue these up, they are going to fit perfectly. Not to sound cliche, but I finally see a light at the end of the tunnel. Hopefully, I will have these done by the end of July, but I'm expecting the end of August due to school.

My next steps are to make the louver control bars, mortise the hinges, prep and prime the louvers and interior parts and then finally glue everything up so that I can do my final sanding before priming and painting everything.

Thanks for looking.

[Tim Malyszko]

Here are copies of the posted pictures.

[Tim Malyszko]

And some more pics...

[Tim Malyszko]

And some more...

[Tim Malyszko]

Here are the last for this round...

[Michael Weber]

[quote=Tim Malyszko;885171]After doing a dry fit, there were a couple of louvers that were just a bit off. In addition, I needed to move the louvers closest to the middle rail 1/8" outward so they didn't hit the rail.

Thanks for the continuing posts. I'm not clear why your louvers were hitting the middle rail. Could you elaborate? I built some a few years back using some pretty primitive tools and put rabbits in the middle rail front on the lower edge and in the rear on the upper edge for a place for the louvers to go when closed. Was that the problems or something else?
Thanks

[Tim Malyszko]

Thanks for the continuing posts. I'm not clear why your louvers were hitting the middle rail. Could you elaborate? I built some a few years back using some pretty primitive tools and put rabbits in the middle rail front on the lower edge and in the rear on the upper edge for a place for the louvers to go when closed. Was that the problems or something else?
Thanks

It was just a mis-calculation on my part. I positioned the 1st hole 1 1/8" away from each side of the middle rail and it needed to be 1 1/4", so that the louvers would fully close. That's all it was.

[Ben Davis]

Just curious how the project was progressing. I've been lurking on this thread since the get-go. I'm thinking of doing this project myself, but it's starting to look like a PITA and not very enjoyable!

[Tim Malyszko]

Just curious how the project was progressing. I've been lurking on this thread since the get-go. I'm thinking of doing this project myself, but it's starting to look like a PITA and not very enjoyable!


The project is going pretty good. Right now, the insides of the stiles and edges louvers are in the process of being primed since it will be hard to do so once I assemble them.

The project has been fun, but very repetitive. One thing I found in the dry fits is that very small inaccuracies become very apparent when the louvers are in a closed position during the day.

Now that I have the jigs built and optimized, making additional sets for other windows will go much quicker. The Domino helped the most as far as cutting time out of the project. Making 18 M&T joints would have taken considerable time.

Would I reccomend taking on the project? If you really want plantation shutters and you have the time to do it, Yes. If you are limited on your woodworking time and have other projects in mind and the plantation shutters aren't a high priority, do something else. For instance, there is a humidor project that I want to work on, but I probably won't start it now until the fall because I don't think I will be finished with these until the fall.

[Ben Davis]

Any update on the shutters? I'm getting everything ready to start my own build of these. I've ordered the plans and DVD (which is marginally helpful). I'll be constructing one window/set first to work out the details and get the jigs made. After that, I'm tackling at least 4 single windows and 1 double window, possibly more (!).

Does anyone know where to get the moulder profiles for the louvers? I found at site several months ago, but now I can not re-discover it.

[Jerry Olexa]

Tim, I admire your work...Requires much patience. I too love Plantation shutters as yours as well as your reports...Keep up the good work, Thanks

[Tim Malyszko]

Tim, I admire your work...Requires much patience. I too love Plantation shutters as yours as well as your reports...Keep up the good work, Thanks

Thanks Jerry. The plantation shutters are coming along slowly. They are all ready for glue-up after i primed the louvers and interior parts of the stiles, but I haven't had any time to work on them. My sister got married last weekend, I'm in the airport right now flying to Ohio to visit a customer for a few days and then head off to Reno for a wedding on Friday. On top of that, i just started a basement semi-remodel along with my MBA classes again, so I haven't had too much time to work on the shutters. Hopefully, I will get them finished before the end of the year.;)

I now understand why these things cost $$$$.