Sunday, April 26, 2020

More from the Workshop

Frank and I are continuing to make progress on windows for the 18 at home.  Here's the next frame, almost ready for painting.


It's nice that in this case I was able to save all of the original molding strips.  And for now I left the original mottled paint on the inside surfaces of the channels.


The one after that looks just as good:



...or maybe not.  One of the old windows we removed from the car had a piece of plexiglass, which we don't want.  But it makes a usable temporary replacement, since I think I've run out of spares from the 318.  So this will be going back into the car as we run the other window frames through the shop.   And I can get my local hardware store to cut a new piece of plate glass, so all will be well.

While we're here, let me show you the special frame for mortising.  The brass lift tabs on these windows are mortised into the rails, and this is the only difficult part of the design.  A slight mistake would be expensive.  The frame was made from scrap wood, so it doesn't look like much, but it gets the job done.  There are two rectangular spaces, sized just right for my hand-held router with a 3/4" straight bit.


The lower rail fits snugly into the frame.  (The upper rail needs some wedges).  Then in a matter of seconds, the mortises are cut into the wood.


The commercial version will be appearing soon on late-night TV ads.  Makes a great gift.

2 comments:

Ted Miles said...

randy,
how many of these window sashes do you have to repair?

Ted Miles, IRM Member

Randall Hicks said...

That's a good question. As with almost any restoration, we will want to remove each one and at least repaint the exterior. I really don't know yet what condition they're in. On some of them it may be enough to replace just the bottom rail.