Bi fold interior Shutters

[david]

Hi everyone

I'm new here & fairly new to a lot of woodworking, although I've done some small stuff and small projects over the years. I've been asked to make some bi fold internal shutters for a Window and a Door - both 7' high x 40" wide which are set into a wall about 2' thick - each alcove has been lined with wood & it's all part of a Farmhouse restoration.

I'd like to do 2 sets of bi folds per Window / Door with each comprising 2 raised panels rather like oversize Kitchen cabinet doors and lightly stained in an Oak colour to match the Doors in the room.

Hardwood is out due to cost and weight and my query is, what type of wood / finish and style of construction is suggested?

I have part time access to a full workshop to do this but I haven't quoted any cost or deposit yet until I come up with a firm idea of what I may be facing!

David

[jfc]

Mortice and tenon construction would be best . You could use a scribe joint which is quicker if you have the tooling but not as good .

[engineerone]

don't understand why you should think that hardwood will be too heavy, or indeed too expensive. and you have not thought about the hinging yet either.

mr mdf will be almost as expensive as for instance ash, and probably as heavy. if the rest of the wood around the windows is hard wood, then anything else will look out of place.

paul

[mrgrimsdale]

If at all traditional these would be done in redwood - light, easy to work, cheap. Better painted than stained.

cheers
Jacob

[jfc]

mr mdf will be almost as expensive as for instance ash

Have you just taken your pills Paul ;D

[david]

Sorry - left w/o logging off; Saturday night you know!

Would you explain the Mortice & tenon as opposed to Scribe? The M & T joint ok, but what do you mean about the Scribe?

The Window alcoves are now clad in painted pine roughly 1/2" - 3/4" thick and that is where the hinges will be fixed - hence the perceived light weight.

MDF of whatever type is out I think as it's almost certain, the shutters will be stained. The entire wall and alcoves are an off white/cream paint apart from the Chocolate Sauce colour of the Window & Door frames.

Proper Redwood was my initial choice, but I'm concerned about the staining procedure and how, if that's what they decide. Painting I think would give too much blank empty appearance on the wall when the Shutters are closed.

David
As an afterthought, I think it may well be possible to do away with bi folds and have simple single Shutters each side as the walls are about 26" thick and slanted out in the Alcoves, so there should be plenty of room.

[engineerone]

i don't need the tablets now jason ;D well not for that anyway

but you would need to do window shutters in mr, were you going to use mdf, and then there is the raised panel.

being the old cheap skate i am, i would look for offies of the length in mind, and then you have to joint the raised panels to get the width.

so seems a number of sheets to cover the door and the windows.

but then you always under price

paul

[jfc]

You get 16 2.4 m 75mm rips out of a sheet of MDF , thats about 38m of material as rails and stiles for less than £20 .


The scribe joint as i use it is done with a set of router or spindle moulder cutters . Its a stop tenon that fits into the rebate the same size as the rebate for your panel . The cutters do the work for you so very easy to use .

[mrgrimsdale]

Yebbut they'd collapse under their own weight. MDF isn't that stable in a vulnerable situation such as this - dry room heat on one side, cold and damp on the other.
REDWOOD - also known as scots pine, widely available in a wood-yard near you. I'd paint and persuade your client to paint the other stuff too - it's much more traditional. Chocolate brown - sh** colour!

cheers
Jacob

[jfc]

How would you know , you dont use it ;D

[mrgrimsdale]

True but I just sort of feel it in my bones

[engineerone]

you mean the paint or the mdf ;D

paul

[spud]

I use this redwood all the time, and love working with it. I buy it in 9x3's and 20ft lenghts and dimension it myself.

That is what a lot of the original shutters up here are made from, some are pitch, but mostly Red Deal.

I have an old shutter here somewhere that I am going to use for a pattern, when the time comes. Definately Mortice Tenon.

[david]

Sorry I've been away for a while - I appreciate all the replies and advice. I think I'll be trying for Redwood and a stain to start with (if they insist on that)

Otherwise it'll be painted Redwood. They seem to want a traditional approach on everything when it comes down to it, although the final choice is theirs