Figuring out how to build these shutter pockets

So far, I haven’t done much. In the 1920’s or 30’s someone redid all the woodwork downstairs and put deep sills right over the original 19th Century sills. I stripped these, trimmed them to fit in the slightly modified openings, and added little blocks of wood to get them level. Look how crooked the original is!

I did the same thing at the top, but here I had to install plywood because the openings are so deep. I don’t like working with MDF. (I cut one of these wrong so I’m going to need to redo it before I install these permanently with spray foam.)

From here on out, we need to talk about exactly how to build shutter pockets. So the high end company that I could have hired to make very expensive reproduction shutters gave me some great customer service including this section drawing for the shutter pockets. I marked it up a little.

So, at one time I thought I was going to build  all this, plus the sills and the wood at the heads of the window in the shop (aka the basement) and slide the whole thing in as one perfectly built unit. Then I remembered that I don’t have a professional wood shop. So instead I’m going to make sure every step is right, then install it. Here’s my best imitation of that section view.

What you’ll notice here, besides how little I’ve actually done, is that these aren’t actually pocket shutters. One issue is that the edge that the hinges are supposed to be mounted to (where the panel that is marked 33 touches the window) is beveled the wrong way, so I’m going to have to run these through a table saw to fix that edge, then mortise hinges into them all over again.

Also, see how the 2 panels fit together with a tongue and groove? The actual pocket shutters are rabbeted so the panel in the back fits completely behind the front one. I’m going to have a bit more of a gap between the shutter and the woodwork than would be ideal, as seen below.

And I decided not to care for a few reasons. One, you don’t really see this unless you stick your head in and look at it head on. Two, I’m going to keep the shutters stained and I think the dark wood will kinda hide it. And three, that larger than ideal gap is what allowed me to have Victorian pocket shutters at a price I can afford. You don’t know how excited it made me just to do that little mockup for the photo.

Anyways, I’m putting the cross section below to help you follow the rest. Once the shutters are cut down to size, I can install the hinges on them and mount them to Board A, which is temporarily stuck in place because Tito hates seeing the spray foam. Then I’ll shift Board A in or out so the shutters close right. The reveal is marked as an inch but that’s not critical. Before I install Board A, I’ll mount Board B, which will be thin plywood because my clearances are tight. Then Board C will go onto the face of Board B, not the edge, and I’ll swing the shutters to figure out exactly where it can go. And Board D gets scribed to the irregular depth of the drywall and I’m ready for casings.

Pretty simple, right?