Its all in the details

photo copyright Karin Corbin 2009

I have been busy the last few minutes sorting through the digital photos I took a couple of years ago in the Normandy region of France. What I was looking for were the details on real life windows from colombages buildings also known as Pan de' Bois, timber frame, half timber. If you do an image search on any of those words you will find a great many photos that people have posted on the internet of this type of structure.

I am going to do very simple muntins on my windows. Muntins are the strips of wood, steel or lead that divide up the panes of glass in doors or windows. The muntins will be glued directly on top of a single piece of glass both on the inside and outside. My task today is to cut the lumber, age the strips, paint them, let the paint dry and then cut and glue them onto the door.

I will also start assembling the wood casement windows for the cottage.

photo copyright Karin Corbin 2009

I like the lead flashing over the sill, I saw that detail on many old wood framed windows in France. I have on hand enough thin lead from the old wrappers that covered the corks on wine bottles  to recreate this look in miniature.

photo copyright Karin Corbin 2009

Of course I also need hinges for my casement windows, this pintil hinge is so very beautiful, but it might be a little too wide of a design to fit my cottage window frame pieces. I would need to make 16 of them and that is a lot of work. Maybe if the new metal cutting blade I got for my scroll saw works out I can stack cut them in batches. I have been meaning to try that out anyway. If only I had a pancake blanking die for them it would be not nearly as difficult. But I don't have the steel material on hand to make the dies or the jig to hold the saw at a set angle to cut the die. It is something to think about trying but that list of things I want to try is longer than a lifetime at this point. Actually  I have been thinking about this for 20 years and visited an artist studio to learn how to do it. Still not at the top of the list for purchasing the needed items, will it ever be? Maybe I will order the steel for it, I need to put in a order of steel to create metal spinning tool rest. Might as well toss that item in with the order.

You can see a pancake die in the photo of this etsy listing, click HERE

As long as you have one straight edge on your part design you can quickly make thin metal shapes using the die and a press. My workshop mate Don has a press I can use so exactly why am I not doing this? Not a clue other than I need to order an adjustable saw frame holder and they are expensive.