I'm starting a set of 3 arched top storm windows for a client this week. A while back a few Creekers asked me for pics of some I made last fall and sadly I had none. I thought I might try to post a brief chronicle of this set for the front of the house (last fall I did the back) in case there is any interest.
I started by buying the lumber, 6/4 African Mahogany, pattern grade with perfect vertical grain and no figure, end of last month. Windows, particularly the styles, require very stable wood. I like to let the wood acclimate for at least a few weeks in the shop. They may move a bit in time, but I need the stock to stay flat and straight at least long enough to get it shaped and glued up!
These storms are paint grade to finish at 1 1/8" thickness and the bottom pane of glass will be 'convertible', which means it can be removed from the inside and replaced with a screen. Both glass and screen will be held in aluminum storm channel frames covered with a thin wooden frame. These storms will reside on the third floor dormers of a georgian colonial and protect beautiful arched prime sashes with gothic bars. The client doesn't want to climb a 45' ladder to change from storms to screens, can't say I blame him, so we designed these for convenience.
I started by cutting the parts oversized 1/2" to 3/4" in width, 6" over in length and then flattened and planned to 1/8" over final thickness. Now I'll let the parts relax a bit. When going from 6/4 to 1 1/8" I like to give things a few days to settle down before proceeding. Next I'll reflatten and plane to 1/16" over final thickness the day I'm ready to shape and glue. I prefer this part happens in one day, or by the next morning so things can't move too much.
This will be my first use of the Laguna Platimum Slot Mortiser, so I guess a working review of that machine will be wrapped into this thread. So far I have found the base to woefully insufficient to support the post and table in terms of rigidity and have a problem with the top rails which create lateral movement being warped. Due to the warped rails I either have to loosen the set screws which snug the bearings and remove slop to the point that everything is a bit sloppy, or deal with a table that is very hard to move side to side. Thus far Laguna CS has been polite but unhelpful. Seems they don't have ANY parts for this machine, so what good is a warranty if no parts are available? I hope they will resolve the situation shortly. Oddly, even given the sloppy table, test pieces have created fairly accurate slot mortises. Hmm?
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