Thread: Muntins for timber heritage windows.

Hi Andrew

Do you need the muntins and the mullions, or just the mullions.

Reason I'm asking is that the jointing between the two will impact on the pricing.

What type of profile are you looking at ... pics would be helpful for this.

Sizes?

Keep warm up there.

Regards

Rob

Making the muntins or mullions is relatively easy -- but getting the heritage profile less so.
It might be more economical to replace all the muntins and mullions with a near match using an existing router bit or shaper cutter rather than run one or two metres with a custom ground cutter.
Also be aware that heritage glazing bars may be much thinner than what is considered acceptable for contemporary windows. DAMHIKT

Thanks for the reply folks.

Will get back to you on the profile once I have it from our carpenter. The mullions a in good condition and we only need to replace some muntins. However will having damaged muntins nessecitate replacing all of them?

Cheers
Andrew

Originally Posted by Tahlee

Hi Andrew

Do you need the muntins and the mullions, or just the mullions.

Reason I'm asking is that the jointing between the two will impact on the pricing.

What type of profile are you looking at ... pics would be helpful for this.

Sizes?

Keep warm up there.

Regards

Rob

Hi Andrew

the issue is one of how exactly do you want to match the existing profile?
close enough (meaning you can live with small differences in the muntin and mullion profiles) might mean what you need can be made using an existing router bit or set of shaper knives. In turn this would mean that you were only paying for the wood required to make the muntins.
an exact match might mean that you need to pay for the grinding of a set of shaper knives. I recall a semi-recent post from John G where he suggested that grinding a set of knives might cost upwards of $5-600 with the production of the molding itself only costing a "few" dollars more.
It will be up to you, but in consultation with your carpenter, you might decide that replacing all the muntins and mullions with a "close enough" match is more economical than achieving an exact match.

If only a couple of metres is all that is required then hand cutting with a matching old woodie may be more economical than grinding new moulder knives or router bits. It very much depends on the profile. I've purged most of my collection of old woodies, but there will possibly be somebody on this forum that has a matching profile. Getting a good pic of the profile with accurate dimensions will assist a LOT.

making a metre or so with an old woodie is always an option, but it all comes down to how closely the OP wants / needs to match the existing profile.

an exact match is completely different to one that is "near enough".

in the past with architraves, I've gone for "near enough" in one room, to generate enough original material for an exact match in another

Hi Ian, I found by accident that for house doors and windows, near enough is probably good enough. Generally that's a position I don't ascribe to, but on the first french doors I made I got mixed up and ran some of my mouldings along the wrong edge. I only noticed it when I got to assembly. Anyway I continued and once painted the Fuzzette never noticed and I hardly ever noticed myself, unless I went looking for the wrong bars. I don't think it would work on furniture grade joiner though.

There is however a difference between near and a different profile entirely. I also wouldn't be surprised if something suitable was available from Finlayson's in Brisbane.