First go at an operating arch topped window

[Frederick Skelly]

What a great project! I think it looks really good! Congratulations!
Fred

[Tom M King]

Here is a picture that has some of the large mortised glazing bars, from 1796, and my structural change on a replacement. Rotting wasn't the problem, but strength was-especially on the ones that didn't have straight grain.

[Mike Allen1010]

Keith, fantastic work! thanks for posting, I hope you'll post more of your work!

Your window is a gorgeous piece of super functional wood work that anyone would be proud to have in their home. I particularly admire your your ability to execute the curved pieces. As much as I appreciate the aesthetic beauty of the curved elements, all the equipment/skills needed for steam bending (steam box, forms, clamps, lots of muscle power) have always discouraged me from giveing it a try. Reality is I need to man up an not be afraid to try something new.

I confess I don't understand all the terminology (glazing bars?) . Your pic of batch of windows you made is really inspirational. I would love to be able to do something similar as part of renovation for older craftsman style home. Even though I'm comfortable doing most of the interior trim, built ins, etc. myself, windows like yours seems like for me candidate for purchase from manufacturer.

Given the complex cross section seems like a perfect job for high powered shaper? I'm interested in your thoughts about what a " break even" point might be- e.g. what is # of linear feet of mouldings/dividers where it make more sense to transition for hand tools to machines, if at all?

Keith, great work, look forward to seeing more of your stuff.

best, Mike

[Jerry Olexa]

very nice work and results..... THANKS

[Keith Mathewson]

Tom,
I like your change. It never occurred to me to reduce the size of the mortise to increase strength.

Mike,
Thanks. I don't believe you can be more efficient using handtools. I can produce a better product at a faster rate using machines, I do it this way because I'm no longer driven by the profit incentive. When I was I used one shaper for the sticking and one for the coping. Once the machines were set up you could have the most inexperienced person in the shop run them. With curved work there was always some hand work but I tried to keep it to a minimum.

[Tom M King]

I don't know if my terminology is considered correct, or not. We call the long ones, that go all the way, and contain the mortises "glazing bars". The short ones, with a tenon on each end are called "muntins". It works for my crew. Once the sash are made, no one cares.

My break-even point, on whether to order custom cutters, or not, is if I need to make four, or fewer, or more than four. I only make exact reproductions of old ones, and they rarely work out for stock cutters. A set of bits like I use costs about $1800. For just a couple of sash, we'll make them completely by hand, even if it requires a modification to an old molding plane.

[Mel Fulks]

[QUOTE=Tom M King;2962771]I don't know if my terminology is considered correct, or not. We call the long ones, that go all the way, and contain the mortises "glazing bars". The short ones, with a tenon on each end are called "muntins". It works for my crew. Once the sash are made, no one cares.QUOTE]
Im in VA and here it's "bars" and "muntins"

[Keith Mathewson]

Update: Window is now complete and ready for finish. I hide glue chipped the glass for privacy. Hope to install after Thanksgiving weekend.

[Keith Mathewson]

Image quality is very poor on this site, not sure why.

[Jim Koepke]

Even with the poor quality of the image it looks great.

jtk