In Which We Make A Sapele Storm Window Screen Combo Thingy... Part 2

This post has been backdated to 6/1/2019. So I'm 11 months late... Also my memory of the build is a little fuzzy, so the post will be brief and to the point.

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Routing for Screen and Glass

I used my router insert to take a 1/8" deep, 1/2" wide rabet on both faces. One side will take a 1/8" acrylic glazing insert, the other will have standard aluminum screen frame permanently mounted. I squared off the corners with my Narex chisels and it went pretty well. Some burning and a little bit of tearout, probably from the cheap carbide router bit.

A nice fit.

Sealing and Paint

I accidentally used titebond 1, which isn't exterior rated, to assemble the bridle joints. To try and prevent any water from getting into the joint through the paint, I sealed the screen frame with Smith's CPES, then hit it with  a coat of SW oil based exterior primer. I then tried to add another layer of CPES near the joints, but that stripped the SW primer off (shocker) and I had to go back and do another layer of SW primer. Both of these products take 2-4 days to dry/cure fully, so this part was a bit of an ordeal.

Nice and sealed... I hope.

I used 3 coats of SW Porch and Floor paint, which is blocking resistant, for the topcoats. it turned out quite nice in the end.

The downside of using a hardwood is that this screen weighs 2-3 times as much as a cedar frame of equivalent size. Not a huge deal at ground level, but this screen was destined for the 2nd floor. Luckily, it was an area where I could stand on the lower roof and didn't have to balance on a ladder while attaching the brackets to the house.

I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. Honestly, it looks better than the ones I found in the garage. Too bad making one takes so much work.