Weather Proofing

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...

Hey, Stuart; are the shutters in the rain shadow of the roof overhangs? Mine hardly ever seem to get really wet. The odd wind blown spray on occasion but never really long-term wet.
I don't do anything with mine other than keep them maintained...a fresh coat of solid colour stain every couple of years. the joints are well protected (by the coating) and the vertical-ness of the shutters just sheds any moisture that gets on them.

I used Fir, since it is more resistant to rot as long as it can dry out between rain storms. I also primed the raised panels and their dados before shutter assembly and then applied primer to the whole shutter after assembly. I also made aluminum caps with a 1/4" overhang that fit tightly to the top of each shutter that I attached with a silicone caulking bed and two aluminum nails driven through two holes in the cap. Then I applied the final coats of paint to the whole shutter and cap.

Some or all of these steps should make your pine shutters last much longer.

Charley

@CharleyL...
silicone caulk will ''eat'' aluminum...

More to the point, if the wood does absorb moisture, the silicone will let go. Urethane caulk/sealant works even if the wood does get damp.

NOT Latex based sealants!

Stick. I'm making raised pane shutters (no louvers)

Dan. The rain hits the front of my house so the it hits the shutters.
I bought LePage Quad it's to be used where expansion is needed like where the panel fits into the stiles.
Thanks again guys
Stuart

pusserboy said:

Stick. I'm making raised pane shutters (no louvers)

Stuart

Click to expand...

you can still wax the panel edges..

One extra measure you might consider...basically just a bit of insurance...drill a couple or three vertical holes up from the bottom of the bottom member all the way into the dado. If water does get into the frame it would provide a drain back out.

Mind you, Mason bees love those kind of opportunities to make their homes. They're beneficial insects and don't do any harm, but they'd plug up the drain holes pretty quickly if they discover them.

DaninVan said:

Mind you, Mason bees love those kind of opportunities to make their homes. They're beneficial insects and don't do any harm, but they'd plug up the drain holes pretty quickly if they discover them.

Click to expand...

short piece of cotton braided rope solves the keep the drain draining issue...

Stick:Thanks I'll keep it in mind