Kitchen windows

Summer has been a blur. It's hard to believe it is August. I'd rather pretend it is June!

As we wind down the kitchen project, the windows were the last pieces of the puzzle. We had skipped over painting them to match the trim and cabinets due to a couple of problems, mainly that there was significant water/thermal damage. The meeting rail on one window was bowed and rotten such that the sash locks didn't work, and an another, the lower rail was rotten so the handle used to raise and lower the sash would fall off in your hand. Not cool.

Having a fully-functioning wood shop (and an interest in doing things the old-fashioned way), I set out in mid-June to build new wood windows. I'll spare you boring details of cutting, planing, and routing these pieces. It's pretty much the same process as making cabinet doors! Lots of time at the router table. The results are below:

A cart-load of parts, ready for drilling and gluing

I did cheat a little when I made these parts. The router bit manufacturer's instructions were to make integral tenons. I wasn't impressed and instead chose the floating tenon method, using BeadLOCK.

Clamped and ready to drill

Drilling time!

Routing for sash ropes. I'll still use a nail to retain the sash rope to the sash itself:

Gluing up the first of six new sashes:

Looking more windowy.

To reduce drafts, I also installed bronze metal weather stripping on the upper sashes (and may do the same on the lower), in addition to putting bulb-type seals where the sashes contact the top and bottom of the window frame. Also, new ropes were installed. Probably due, after 90 years!

Metal weatherstripping. Period appropriate and very functional.

Bulb-type weatherstripping

After waiting weeks to get the glue-ups finished, I set out to fit-up and fit glass into the new sashes this weekend. Working in 90+ degree temperatures wasn't the most fun, but the glazing is done! 

Definitely looking like a window.

We're in the home stretch now. Just need to get paint on these and then make the final adjustments. It would have been so much faster to buy replacement windows, but I like a challenging project!

More to come, after paint and install! Soon, I'll be able to do fun projects (like building tables or gifts) in the workshop rather than "must do" projects!