BooTENDS TnRoITIoNAL SuurTERs STEp TooI Box ... - Wood Tools

Traditional ShuttersYears ago, while on a uisit toNew England, I had the goodfortune to haae a tour guidewho is uery interestedhistori,chomes. We couered a lotof territory, and saw sometruly memorable architecture.Among the things that stuck withme the most was the widespreaduse of exterior shutters. Of course,the shutters on these old housesactually served a purpose at onetime. At night, or when bad weatherstruck, they were closed to helpkeep warm air in, and rain, snow,and wind out.Tbday, shutters aren't as common,and when they are used it'susually for decorative reasons only.For a long time I've been consideringadding shutters to myhome. I wanted to steer away fromthe louvered designs that are availableat most building supplystores. Instead, I came up with severaloptions, eventually decidingon a classic frame and raised paneldesign. You'll find two otheroptions that were in the runningon pages 24 and25.Design qnd Wood ChoicesWindow size determines the correctproportions for a shutter'sheight and width. So, except forthe stock thickness, the dimensionsof my shutters will probablybe different from what you build built look right at home with my sawn) cedar lumber that was actuallymilled as premium 5/a deckingfor your house. The techniques 32rlwide windows.and sequence for building them But if I had a wide picture window,material. I splurged on this premi-I would have kept the maxiummaterial not for looks, but forare the same, though.Height is easy - size your shuttersmum shutter width at 16rr. It's a longevity. Compared to plain-sawnso that they are as tall as thewindow opening, as shown in thephoto. But determining theirwidth takes a bit more thought.matter of personal taste, but Ithink that shutters much widerthan that can start to look clumsyand overwhelming.lumber, vertical-grain boards don'tmove as much with humiditychanges. Therefore, paint adheresbetter and joints are less likely toIn theory, each shutter should You'll need weather-resistant pop open. Because of the joinerybe half the width of the window's wood thafs atleast lrrthick. I selectedclear, vertical-grain (quarterommendfeatedinvolved in this project, I don't rec-opening - the l6rlwide shutters Ilumber.20\Torkbench tJune 1997