How to joint/dowel a window frame

[racingtadpole]

Greetings..

Have a question for the woodworkers amongst the group if you'll indulge me.

So I've decided to have a go at altering one of my bedroom windows from a hinged casement to a vertical sliding affair because, well I'm just having one of those moments where I'm going about things the hard way.. And this is Garage Journal after all..

I need to make a new window frame, no drama, I can route a rebate into some timber and then mitre it and glue it together to form a rectangle window shaped object.. Thats all simple enough, so my issue is...how do I put some strength in the corners?

So firstly I need to point out..
I have not much else than a compound mitre saw, two routers (a 1/2" and a 1/4") and a pretty random selection of bits for both, along with some blunt chisels and a home made mallet that looks like it was crafted by a five year old using an angry beaver..
I have no interest in learning how to make fancy cabinet joints by hand (I do but not for this project)
And...the corners must absolutely be mitred, because I dont want to see the end grain..

So the two easiest (yes Im being construcively lazy because I want to have this knocked on the head by the end of the weekend) methods I can think of to add some strength to the joints are..

Shoot a couple of brads (yes I have a 2nd fix nail gun too) through the joint once its set in place at 90* to the mitre and hope thats enough given its going through end grain on both pieces

Drill a dowel hole through the joint at 90* to the mitre and knock a dowel all the way through until it is poking through both sides and clean it up from there

Anyone got any better ideas or thoughts on the subject that might stop me turning a hundred dollars worth of Tasmanian Oak into saw dust?

 

[gungatim]

I made a few windows out of 2x4 for a rental, I used Skotch jointers on them. but that was a rental...

real window frames would be mortised and tenon'd. just like a cabinet door frame, you would not mitre the joints. make 2 rails, 2 styles, and mortice the stiles. you normally have an angle cut on the lower stile to match the drip edge of the frame.

ok rereading it you don't want a fancy joint. so get a jig and use a "Beadlock". it is basically a sliding tenon, the mortise is made by drilling multiple holes with the jig in both pieces. super strong, easy to do, and hidden.

 

[RonnieC]

I usually nail each of the four strips independently to the casing rather than first building a picture frame.

 

[gungatim]

http://www.rockler.com/3-8-beadlock-basic-starter-kit

 

[racingtadpole]

That loose tenon kit looks the business..but its not going to find its way to Aus in the required time frame sadly (although I am going to buy one and one of the router bits in the not too distant future).

The comment about incline matching the lower edge of the frame has just caused me to realise I need to look at that in the morning, I may have to alter the frame slightly to ensure water drains correctly.

 

[Professur]

Biscuit joint? It's only a window frame ... not kitchen cabinets that are gonna get banged shut 12 times a day.

 

[EdT]

I made a bunch of "picture frame" exterior window frames for my shop. I used biscuits and glue for the joints and built them on the bench, let them dry, finished them and then installed. This makes nice, tight, square corners w/o the gaps and unpleasant offsets one often gets with a frame assembled from pieces on the wall. You need to be very careful with your measurements. Too small and you have to start over. I have another project coming up and I think I will use pocket screws on the corners. They work great for face frames and the window frame is the same thing.

 

[MoonRise]

Greetings..

Have a question for the woodworkers amongst the group if you'll indulge me.

So I've decided to have a go at altering one of my bedroom windows from a hinged casement to a vertical sliding affair because, well I'm just having one of those moments where I'm going about things the hard way.. And this is Garage Journal after all..

I need to make a new window frame, no drama, I can route a rebate into some timber and then mitre it and glue it together to form a rectangle window shaped object.. Thats all simple enough, so my issue is...how do I put some strength in the corners?

So firstly I need to point out..
I have not much else than a compound mitre saw, two routers (a 1/2" and a 1/4") and a pretty random selection of bits for both, along with some blunt chisels and a home made mallet that looks like it was crafted by a five year old using an angry beaver..
I have no interest in learning how to make fancy cabinet joints by hand (I do but not for this project)
And...the corners must absolutely be mitred, because I dont want to see the end grain..

You are doing the window trim here (the "casings"), and not the actual window structural frame (the part that holds the glass and supports the moving window sashes, the "rail" and the "stile" for the sashes, or the "jambs" that the window sashes move within or the actual window frame structure), yes?

http://www.wonderfulwindowsandsiding.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Window-parts.jpg

http://www.pella.com/glossary/window-anatomy/

So the two easiest (yes Im being construcively lazy because I want to have this knocked on the head by the end of the weekend) methods I can think of to add some strength to the joints are..

Shoot a couple of brads (yes I have a 2nd fix nail gun too) through the joint once its set in place at 90* to the mitre and hope thats enough given its going through end grain on both pieces

Pretty standard way of doing the window trim.

Drill a dowel hole through the joint at 90* to the mitre and knock a dowel all the way through until it is poking through both sides and clean it up from there

Overkill in effort and depending on the dimensions of your trim millwork, often not even possible. Will also leave the exposed dowel endgrain visible (not esthetically desired for most trim work, except in certain 'styles' such as Craftsman, Greene & Greene, Arts & Crafts, Mission, Gustav Stickley, etc, where the dowels will often be of a visibly contrasting wood for, well, visible contrast. ).

http://www.arts-crafts.com/archive/acarchs/greene-greene-1.shtml

http://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/1622797/list/so-your-style-is-arts-and-crafts

http://www.missionmotif.com/


http://www.voorheescraftsman.com/

http://www.voorheescraftsman.com/category/095/Greene & Greene

http://www.voorheescraftsman.com/category/090/Gustav Stickley

Anyone got any better ideas or thoughts on the subject that might stop me turning a hundred dollars worth of Tasmanian Oak into saw dust?

Measure twice and cut once..

Also, you can sometimes assemble the rectangular trim on a work bench into a frame assembly and then install that to the wall. As long as the wall isn't too far out of wack.

If you are actually making the window unit itself, the window sashes in a wooden window unit are usually make with variations of **** joints or half-lap joints. Sometime reinforced with variations of dowels or mortise and tenon (of which you can have floating tenons or biscuit joints).

 

[kbs2244]

Biskets?
But lacking that....
I made a whole house full of replacement storm windows with simple over lap joints held in a jig with brads while the carpenters glue dried.
Current day glues will give all kinds of strength while the glass will provide racking resistance.

 

[jd_1138]

I'd probably use a Kreg pocket hole jig.

 

[ez-duzit]

...I have not much else than a compound mitre saw, two routers (a 1/2" and a 1/4") and a pretty random selection of bits for both, along with some blunt chisels and a home made mallet...

Sooner or later you'll have to get a table saw.

With your router and a slotting bit, you could fit splines within the miter joints, as shown in the top image. With a table saw, you could fit a slip feather, as shown in the bottom image.

I make the slip feathers the full depth of the miter, with the grain at 90* to the miter.

 

[MarkG]

I'd use biscuits and a good wood glue. Of course, you can make joinery as complex, showy, and tedious as you wish, but I know this works for me.

 

[R6 Racer]

Get one of these...











I use it a LOT! Its so simple to use too.

Steve

 

[ez-duzit]

R6--those work well. And work best with brad point bits.

 

[Nor'Easter]

You could assemble the sash frame with glue only. After it's dried up, drill corners at a 45 degree angle and install a pin with grooves, so as not to squeeze all the glue out.