interior window shutters

[Newshound]

Anyone ever see plans for making interior window shutters. These things are enormously expensive to buy. The crappy vinyl things in standard sizes are not too bad, but the real wood, custom sizes are near $100 per sq. foot installed at Lowes, and they won't sell them without the installation.

Thanks

[FriscoSoxFan]

Chock this up to another project dreamed about but not undertaken...

I bought these plans:

were very well written and easy to follow. Definitely took away some of the intimidation factor.

[ripntear95]

Go to

. shows you the ins and outs of this undertaking. I'm building some myself right now. I opted to get custom knives made for my jet planer/molder instead of using their router bit set to mill the louvers. You can order the plastic louver pins from I'm using pn ossp-101 shutter pins from their catalog. It's on page 43 from . It's sold by the thousands but really cheap. You need lots of patience if you haven't done this kind of thing before, but it's really worth it. Good Luck

[Phisherman]

Norm made a louvered door built using a jig with a template that had slanted slots, in which the collar of a router fit to cut the slotted holes. Quite clever. This is not exactly a shutter with movable slats which would be a bit more difficult to design. I bought my shop shutters and installed them flush with the window. Painting them was somewhat tedious.

[Newshound]

Thanks to all responders. I think these free plans are good enough for me. What kind of wood are you using? I need some painted white, but if they turn out good I will need some natural wood finish too. The nice ones I've seen claim to be made out of basswood. I'm not sure what other woods would be good. What are you using and why?

Thanks.

[Lowell Holmes]

Woodsmith No. 151 covers the subject completely including jigs required. They call it Shop-made Louvered Shutters.

[Newshound]

Thanks, I just subscribed a couple of weeks ago so I expect that will be my

1st issue.

[Lowell Holmes]

No 151 is an old one. You will have to order a back copy from the publisher. Try their web site. If I were to undertake building shutter blinds, I would use their technique.

[ripntear95]

I'm using basswood, but watch out for moisture content. It has to be below 8% (with a moisture meter). The lumberyard will usually let you use theirs when picking out stock. I also resaw my stock and leave it alone for about 2 weeks in my garage to let it settle before I mill them. I haven't used poplar but I've read it's another type of wood you could use.