dip the ends of the louvers in heated liquid bee's or canning wax w/ Carnauba... Carnauba is a hardener after the wax cools and solidifies...
clean excess wax off the surfaces to be painted w/ paint thinner..
or paint your pieces and then wax the louver ends and mortises..
you will have plenty of free movement and water proofing...
it's worked for hundreds of years for timber framing joints w/ great sucess
Weldbond adhesive for the frame..
WB is a PVE adhesive and won't plasticize in the sun like PVA (Titebond) glues will...
clean excess wax off the surfaces to be painted w/ paint thinner..
or paint your pieces and then wax the louver ends and mortises..
you will have plenty of free movement and water proofing...
it's worked for hundreds of years for timber framing joints w/ great sucess
Weldbond adhesive for the frame..
WB is a PVE adhesive and won't plasticize in the sun like PVA (Titebond) glues will...