more windows, i think i've made them as complicated as possible...

[Neal Clayton]

well, without getting into mortised diamond pane sashes or other such mental punishment, anyways.

improving on my previous design, i figured i could integrate the interlocking pieces of the upper and lower sash, rather than nailing strips on afterwards. turns out that's half possible, it can be done on the lower, but not the upper, due to the fact that you run into the shaper/router spindle.

i suppose a single end tenoner could do this, but i don't have one (or room for one) .

these are traditional windows (chain, pulley, counterweight, metal weather strip, etc.), the lowers are sitting in the new frame, which was also a challenge of sorts since i didn't count on the fact before starting with new window replacement in new walls, that new walls aren't as thick as old walls. in new walls 2x4s are more like 1.5 x 3.5, and even though i have plaster it's plaster over blueboard on the few new walls i'm dealing with, rather than plaster over 1/2" lath, basecoat, etc., and the exterior is siding in this case, not stucco or brick. so the result is a window frame on a new wall is only about 4.5" thick, which creates a problem.

1 3/8" window, plus 1 3/8" window, plus 1/2" parting bead offset 1/2" from the outside, plus 1/2" parting bead on the inside, equals 4 1/4". where does the sill go? nowhere? no that won't work . the best solution i could come up with was putting the outside bead flush by dadoing the outside edge, and gorilla gluing it to make sure it sealed when nailed in.

anyways, the finished product and sketchup plans...

eliminated a muntin cause with 4 it looked too much like jailhouse bars, otherwise pretty accurate other than the cut in the side for the interlocking wedges, in hindsight it was easier to make them square rather than angled, so they are square, and the corner joints are bridle joints so the each board is the full length of the whole.

[Neal Clayton]

...and a closeup of the joinery

the finish is garnet shellac, sprayed, followed by waterlox satin on top after buffing the shellac down with some steel wool. the wood is cypress, which unfortunately i can't get in high quality form locally, so i import it via family members from back home in new orleans (robichaux lumber in raceland, for anyone down there interested. price is about 3.75-4.00 per board foot for 8/4 rough, clear of knots). you can't see from the painter's tape and paper but they are glazed with reproduction rolled wavy glass too, to create the appearance of an antique window.

the outsides are painted with an oil enamel, same color as the frame in the second pic.

[John Keeton]

Neal, this is a labor intensive, and critically detailed project! Very good work, and an even better process. The cypress really finished nicely, too.

I admire your willingness to tackle this one! How many have you done so far, and how many to go?

[Neal Clayton]

this is the second set of eight total. the first were 1 3/4 thick to match two original frames that are in pretty good shape. these pictured above unfortunately need to go in an opening that houses a frame that's entirely rotted, so they got a new frame too.

there's one more 1 3/4 thick one to go for the master bedroom, and then three sets of three for my office, that are about the same size as these. the three sets of three can all be of identical size, so i shouldn't have too much trouble mass producing them all at the same time with 9 sets of parts.

the two 1 3/4s were the only ones that were original (other than some diamond pane casements, that's to be continued...), previous owners had thrown the other old ones away and replaced them with vinyl. so i'm building them all to match the style of the original 1 3/4s. the only downside of the original 1 3/4s were they had too much paint on them to hold any more paint, and had been painted shut. i tried to strip them chemically, but they were so dry from weather exposure that the chemical badly frayed the wood, so they weren't salvageable.

and for the grand finale, a set of three diamond pane casements in the front of the house that look out from my upstairs study. those will be a challenge, but i'm saving them for last after i've all but perfected the process from building the others. i actually don't really need to replace those since they're in pretty good shape, they could be carefully stripped and saved, i just want to build mortised diamond pane sashes because they're the most difficult thing i can think of to build that i could actually use in the house .