someone on an old house related site asked for help with window construction and i promised to post pics next time i built one, so i figured i might as well post it here too. information on the 'net is pretty sparse as i remember it as it pertains to window construction, i had to learn by trial and error when i started this a few months ago, so here ya go, might save someone else some trouble...
these were built with some cypress i brought home from new orleans, they were originally 2x8, 16 feet long. these windows are 1 3/4 thick with 2 inch wide stiles and a 3 inch wide bottom rail, so discounting planer snipe and what was lost from the edges in the jointer, it took almost exactly one board to build one complete double hung, minus a couple of ~6 inch squares that were left over.
this is the top sash of a double hung, the bottom sash is a single pane so basically just the reverse of the top.
from left to right...
- the inside of the sash
- the outside of the sash, window rabbet is 1/2 x 1/2
- the top of the muntins with the coped inside face
- the bottom of the muntins
- the muntin mortises
the cut for the sides of the muntin tenons winds up being about 1/8, or, all you can cut without hitting your cope profile with your table saw blade. you could cut more, of course, but that would require handsaw/chisel work.
the muntin mortises are flush with the glass rabbet on the outside, and about 1/8 deeper than the glass rabbet itself. the end of the glass rabbet on the muntins is therefore cut 1/8 from the end to compensate.
since this is a double hung the bottom of the top sash and the top of the bottom sash interlock to form a square middle for an interior turn lock, so the bottom of the muntin in this example is square across, only the top of the muntin is coped. also, to create the same 'reveal' on the inside of the window, the stiles and top rail are a half inch wider than the middle two rails, due to the stiles sliding in a 1/2 inch deep channel on the window frame (old style mechanisms, pulley/chain/counterweight/spring bronze weatherstrip).
the muntin mortises are flush with the glass rabbet on the outside, and about 1/8 deeper than the glass rabbet itself. the end of the glass rabbet on the muntins is therefore cut 1/8 from the end to compensate.
continued...
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), and 'woodwork joints' from 1920, as well as examining older windows that i came across at junk shops, this seemed like the feasible and proper way.
