Internal Window Shutters
The best wood for building internal window shutters is basswood. The tree can be found from Quebec south to Delaware and the Atlantic coast west to Eastern Kentucky with an average height of 65 feet. Basswood is a renewable resource and careful forest management ensures that the harvesting is done responsibly by balancing the wood growth with wood removal.
Basswood Shutters
Basswood interior shutters are very straight and they also have a fine uniform texture with a very indistinct grain. The wood machines well and is easy to work, screws well, glues well, and it can be stained to a smooth finish.
Basswood shutters do not warp, they are lightweight yet very strong, offer uniform grain for a superb stain finish, and they offer superior gluing and finishing properties.
Oak Shutters
Oak is a very heavy wood which makes for very heavy window shutters. Oak interior shutters will add a lot of weight to window jambs, with screws requiring pre-drilling. They aren’t suitable for painting and the louvers tend to warp over time.
Maple Shutters
Maple is heavy like oak and produces interior shutters that are very heavy. Maple also requires that the window jambs be pre-drilled. The wood louvers with maple are hard to tension uniformly.
Poplar Shutters
Poplar Shutters mill and paint very well. The mineral streaks and green color help make popular wood unsuitable for staining. For shutters, poplar wood is moderately heavy. The wood is widely available and less costly, although it also produces a lesser quality of wood shutter.
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