Sash bar dimensions for historical windows

UKworkshop.co.uk

Help Support UKworkshop.co.uk:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
This is a bit of a conundrum really as once your moulding and glazing rebate are done, your corner lines for hand cutting with a tenon saw are gone too. There’s no ideal way to do it.
The tenon shoulders on ready moulded sash material are cut using mitre blocks which have a 90 degree slots in them allowing for a right angled cut. You can obviously buy pre moulded stock for windows and the method for fabricating windows using this are outlined in chapter 5 of Charles Hayward's, Woodwork Joints
 
Rod
You need a tape measure, combi adjustable square, an ordinary set square nothing fancy, rubber, pencil sharpener.
No pens - it needs to be erasable. 2H pencil best
There's a pencil technique for accuracy and keeping a nice conical point on it - you spin it slightly as you draw a line so that wear is even all round
Wait until you see this gizmo I have coming this afternoon. You will be immediately overwhelmed with jealousy and rush out today to buy one.
 
The tenon shoulders on ready moulded sash material are cut using mitre blocks which have a 90 degree slots in them allowing for a right angled cut. You can obviously buy pre moulded stock for windows and the method for fabricating windows using this are outlined in chapter 5 of Charles Hayward's, Woodwork Joints
Or just freehand to a mark and undercutting very very slightly.
 
Ready for it….
Should have got the size down really.

IMG_4324.jpeg
 
Ready for it….
Should have got the size down really.

View attachment 166695
Oh right! Daft gadget! 🤣
I guess it will do what any combi square will do but with more difficulty and at greater expense.
The idea is that you buy a thing like this which won't live up to its promise and then buy another one which might be better! Selling two tools is better than just one. Or three even, before you give up and get back to basics!
Couldn't find it on the web - do you have a link so that I can pour scorn on it?
You can get madder ones than that anyway - this is a good one Amazon.co.uk just needs laser technology adding and the astro navigation attachment :unsure:
PS it's reduced!
 
Last edited:
Oh right! Daft gadget! 🤣
I guess it will do what any combi square will do but with more difficulty and at greater expense.
The dea is that you buy a thing like this which won't live up to its promise and then buy another one which might be better! Selling two tools is better than just one. Or three even, before you give up and get back to basics!
Couldn't find it on the web - do you have a link so that I can pour scorn on it?
You can get madder ones than that anyway - this is a good one https://www.amazon.co.uk/Starrett-C434-12-4R-Combination-Reversing-Protractor/dp/B00002254L just needs laser technology adding. :unsure:
Not the same thing! Mine has little holes in it 1/16” apart which allows me to rapidly draw accurate lines on a MDF shelf with no adjustment, plus, it was £9, not £414.
 
Not the same thing! Mine has little holes in it 1/16” apart which allows me to rapidly draw accurate lines on a MDF shelf with no adjustment,
Yep, all that adjusting is so tedious! Does it do metric as well? Or 1/32"s?
plus, it was £9, not £414.
That's OK then you can afford to bin it when no one is looking. 🤣
 
There's a pencil technique for accuracy and keeping a nice conical point on it - you spin it slightly as you draw a line so that wear is even all round
Alternatively, try using a mechanical pencil. I like a 0.5 or 0.7 mm diameter pencil with a 2B lead - the lines are always a consistent thickness. Anything above H is too brittle I find around a workbench and wood.

Having said that, I've also always got a few wooden pencils in my pinny, including a big chunky rectangular carpenter's pencil, all usually sharpened with either a chisel or a penknife I carry in my pocket. They all have their uses with, for example, the carpenter's pencil mostly used for marking big identifying letters on parts to be joined, e.g. tenon A goes to mortice A, B to B, etc, and for putting face and edge marks on squared material. It's hard to miss those big fat lines.
 
Funnily enough that’s pretty much exactly what I did. I did several franked joints, loads of glazing bars, coping etc. I’ve done enough projects and wasted enough wood to know that it won’t work first time unless you have some idea what you’re doing.
I see.

I don't think the wood is wasted if you've learnt something. Did you try using the untreated 9" C24 joists that I mentioned earlier?

It costs about £7 per meter and is very cost effective for practicing with.
 
Douglas fir for sash windows? Is pretty rot resistant for a softwood and not crazy price. In our house they're all pitch pine which have stood up for 100 years apart from the bottoms where neglected for decades! But don't think can get pitch pine these days of comparable quality to the old stuff.
 
Back
Top