Have you built these types of window shutters before?

[Matt Przybylski]

Thanks Nate, those look fantastic! I am a bit worried about the time it will take because I have a ton of other things to do so I'm also starting to explore other options, one of them being smart home controlled blinds. Obviously that is a drastic difference from this and not woodworking related at all, not to mention a totally different look, but I'm exploring ideas of making our new house a smart home and this came up this morning.

[Marshall Mosby]

Nice Job there Nate. I must say if someone is really into wood working, he should really give these kind of windows a shot. It is worth the effort and time. I mean it looks really great. Good Job!

[Jim Dwight]

I made a house full for our last house a couple at a time over the period of several years. I had to add moldings to the edge of the window to move the shutters enough away from the window that they would work. I used construction lumber for the door frames and molding. I had one wood louver in the center that was screwed to the shutter frame and the rest were held from pins. I found a source cheaper than Rockler. I think my bits came from Woodhaven or something like that. My jigs were inspired by Norm. I made most of the slats from 1/2 MDF. It's nasty to work with but it's cheap and stable. I painted them white with Resisthane, a water based lacquer. We liked them but it was a lot of work. I think I actually used poplar for the first few before switching to the construction lumber. Painted up you couldn't tell the difference. I also experimented with more wood louvers but they also took more time and didn't seem to look as good unless I wanted to do a lot of sanding.

This is a jig project. You need a jig for making the pin holes, a couple jigs for the staples that hold the lift bar to the louvers, a jig to cut mortises for the shutter frames, etc.. Once you have the jigs made, if you have a stop for your CMS or RAS, you can spit them out pretty simply. (The stop is so you can cut the louvers a consistent length)

[Lou Ortiz]

I took this on a couple of years back as well and used poplar for the rails/stiles and basswood for the slats. I think it was well worth the effort. i'd echo the other comments and add a few things to watch out for:

-- time factored into the construction was critical for me and these take some time since it's such a large run for more than a few windows; relatively inexpensive if you start with rough cut

-- Norm's jigs are a little finicky when shooting the staples and the slats can readily split if you have the full profile cut,

-- hard to cut the slat profile without a shaper or molder; i have a shaper with a feeder, so that's the route i went, otherwise would have purchased a molder for the job

-- I can't imagine painting these things by hand - a sprayer setup that can handle the latex was essential; if you do this by hand, plan for the extra time; also note that if you do get paint into the pin holes, it will cause them to bind

-- check your windows for square before you start as you may want to build yours into a frame which you then fit to the case. Casings that aren't square are a pain to fit

-- use good quality hinges and latches

[Greg Hines, MD]

My first home had plantation shutters like that, and they add a lot to the value of your home.

I know that Norm did an episode on building them on the New Yankee Workshop. He had a series of different jigs to make sure that your staples end up where they need to be, and to lock the bar to the slats. That said, the Rockler kit is probably a good start, but you might need to modify your technique if you plan to make a lot of them.

Doc