Premium High Quality White Oak Louvered Oak Wood Shutters
Solid Oak Shutters from Estate Millwork
Estate Millwork’s collection of oak exterior wood shutters is the finest around. Our green harvesting techniques and durable, old-world craftsmanship put our wooden shutters at the top of their class.
No wood is wasted when we make your oak shutters. If we can’t use the wood in the shutters, we’ll use it to make doors or cabinets, or burn it to heat our plant.
Unlike competitors, our company uses only the finest genuine hardwood to craft our wooden shutter sets. Our handsome oak shutters contain no particle board or compound fillers, so they’re better suited to withstand all kinds of weather.
Why Choose Oak Exterior Shutters?
Oak wood comes in two varieties: red and white.
White oak: This type of wood is very strong without being stiff. White oak shutters show excellent water resistance, stain well, and have smooth, luminous surfaces. White oak can be steam bent into special shapes if harvested correctly.
Red oak: This wood is more common than white oak. Though red oak does not show the water-resistant properties of white oak, and has a rougher finish, it can be easier to carve and to work with. Many people prefer red oak’s wood grain pattern and natural salmon-pink color, too.
Oak is graded as a hardwood, with a high level of cellular density. Oak is a tough wood, especially suited for withstanding rough weather, so it’s a natural fit for our exterior shutters.
Explore Your Oak Exterior Shutter Options:
Raised Panel Oak Exterior Shutters
These gorgeous pieces feature expertly carved, raised center panels surrounded by solid frames that we build using mortise-and-tenon joinery. The rich grain surface of our genuine oak shutters adds beauty to the rectangular construction.
Flat Panel Oak Wooden Shutters
These gorgeous shutter sets feature recessed center panels, which highlight the handsome grain of pure oak wood. Flat panel exterior shutters are extraordinarily versatile. Your oak shutters will look handsome stained or painted to suit your decorating tastes.
Bermuda (Bahama) Oak Wood Shutters
The Bahama shutter (or, Bermuda shutter) is an innovative, versatile style well suited to hurricane-prone climates. Rather than opening from the center and swinging sideways, Bermuda shutters are top-hinged to swing up and away from the house. Estate Millwork’s sturdy oak craftsmanship ensures that your home or condo will be protected from high-speed winds, heavy downpours, and scorching sun.
Board and Batten Oak Exterior Shutters
Select a set of board and batten oak shutters, and you’re choosing traditional, quality construction. The board and batten style consists of flat wood panels, cut to expose the oak wood’s handsome grain. Two large wooden slats are laid horizontally across the top and bottom of each shutter piece. Whether you opt to stain your shutters to highlight the grain of the oak wood, or prefer to paint them, these colonial throwback pieces will add rustic beauty to your dwelling.
Louvered oak wood shutters
This wooden shutter style consists of multiple slender wooden slats housed in a snug rectangular frame of solid oak. The slats can be adjusted so you can control the flow of air into your home. Louvered shutter sets complement Victorian homes and Frank Lloyd Wright-style architecture alike. Our durable oak shutter construction ensures excellent interior climate control.
Estate Millwork oak shutters are gorgeous and durable. Explore our site and learn more about your other fine hardwood shutter options.
Solid Wood Mortise and Tenons
True Tenons
Our premium quality shutters are carefully constructed using a time consuming and precise operation. Whereas other lower quality shutters are made using screws, nails, dowels or biscuit joints, each of our exterior wooden shutters has a minimum of 4 hardwood tenons. The end of each rail is painstakingly machined to have a 1/2" X 1 7/8" tenon by a custom built tenoning machine that Estate Millwork developed so that we could continue to provide the best quality joinery in the industry, at an attractive price. We gave up the cost, but not the quality.
Deep Pocket Mortises
Each stile is precision machined with a minimum of two deep pocket mortises, and these mortises perfectly fit the associated tenon. Again, Estate Millwork has used precision automation to preserve the quality of our products, while reducing the cost. We have software that connects our website directly to the machines in the plant, and when a customer places an order with us, all of the precision programs for machining the mortises into the stiles are sent to the plant for automatic execution. The mortise tenon joint, is the strongest joint in millwork, and adds tremendous strength, even without the use of glue.
Hardwood Dowels
Once the tenon and mortise have been machined, the parts are put together and a hole is drilled through the mortise and the tenon. A slightly oversized hardwood dowel is driven into the hole, locking the tenon into the mortise for the life of the shutter. Even though glue is not required, Estate Millwork takes the added step of gluing the tenon into the mortise, and gluing the hardwood dowel into the stile.
Hand Assembly
In our commitment to preserving the best of quality millwork traditions in each wood shutter, we have automated much of the drudgery of some of the operations, but assembling a shutter is still something very much in the realm of craftsmanship. After all the parts of each wooden shutter are manufactured, one of our skilled craftsmen fits them together in a specialized jig for dry fitting and final assembly. We do not use pneumatic or hydraulic clamps as they can damage or over-stress the wood. The craftsman uses his innate feel for the materials to set the appropriate clamping pressure prior to drilling and doweling. Each wooden shutter receives the individual attention of craftsmen all along the way, but the final assembly is where the shutter comes together the first time, ready for years of service on your home.
Precision Crafted Louvered Shutters Using State of the Art CNC Machinery
Solid Louvers
Each louver in our louvered shutters is precision machined in a 5 head moulder that can be configured to mould any of our 3 standard production profiles, or custom profiles as specified by the customer. We offer 1/2" X 2 1/4", 3/8" X 1 3/4", and 1/4" X 1 1/4" bullnose profiles, but also have tooling for chevron, beveled, and other louver profiles. Whether the louvered shutter is to use fixed louver or operable louvers, we can even create custom tooling to match existing millwork, or to provide the ultimate in personalization and detailing.
True Louvered Shutter Mortises and Louver Mortises
Each louver in a fixed louvered shutter is seated in a 7/16" deep mortise in the shutter stile. Our CNC machining equipment be instantly programmed to program any variation of louver size, profile, pitch, and spacing, that gives us unlimited flexibility to match historic millwork, or to create custom louvered shutters to a precise specification in terms of louver count, rail placement, and air flow. In the same pass as the louver mortises are being created, our equipment also creates the larger mortises for each rail in the shutter. Unlike many custom shutter manufacturers today, Estate Millwork does not use cheap dowels, veneers, screws, or biscuits. Instead we use old fashioned mortise and tenon joints, even though they are considered by other custom shutter manufacturers as too expensive. Because we have invested heavily in automation, our cost to produce highly custom louvered shutters using solid materials and premium joinery is much lower than other manufacturers, hence: higher quality, lower price.
Solid Tenons
The tenons on both ends of each rail are engineered to give maximum stability to the louvered shutter frame, and when combined with our hardwood dowling, the shutter frame will stay together and be extremely stable, even without glue. But of course we use glue for added strength. For larger louvered shutters, we use a 10 inch baserail that has two tenons and a third feather tenon for additional strength that connects the two main tenons. These tenons are precision machined on a propriety tenon machine that Estate Millwork designed and custom built. Our sophisticated mortise and tenon joinery preserves 100% of the quality of traditional mortise and tenon joinery at a fraction of the cost.
Shutter Options
Thickness, Width, Height
The "slab dimensions" are the size of the actual exterior shutter from top to bottom, left to right, and the thickness. Our default standard thickness is 1 5/16", but that can be varied from 7/8" to 2 1/4" to match existing exterior shutters. The length and height can be specified to the nearest 1/16" inch. Depending upon the style of the shutter, we have made widths up to 20 feet wide, and heights up 30 feet.
Shutter Frame Dimensions
Because all of our exterior wooden shutters are custom built from true rail and stile construction, we have the ability to replicate any component dimension on existing shutters, including rail height, placement, width, thickness, and stile width and thickness. Typically, the bottom rail of our custom shutters is 4. high, and all other rails are 2 1/2" inches. Stile widths are usually 2 1/2" but we have the ability to make them of virtually any width, including different widths for left and right stiles -- sometimes used for pairs of shutters.
Custom Sticking
Out standard products are S4S, or square shoulder sticking, but we have the capability to mould any feasible profile to the inner or outer frame fields. Common choices are ogee, cove and bead, bevel, cove etc. In addition to our stock sticking profiles, we can also custom grind tooling to achieve any desired profile to either match historical wood shutters, or to meet an architects or home owner.s specifications and preferences.
Shiplapping and Beading
For operable shutters, or for decoration, our wood shutters can be machined with a bead on one face of the inside edge of the shutter, and with a ship lap on the other, allowing the shutters to overlap by 3/8" when they are in the closed position - permitting a tighter fit. The left and right shutters are machined as pairs so that in the closed position, each face of the pair has a decorative bead visible.
Panel Profiles
Our raised panel shutters can be raised with our standard scoop profile, but we offer bevels, coves, ogeees and other profiles as well. Additionally, for the extremely discriminating home owner or architect we can create new tooling to match existing historical panel profiles, or to meet with a unique custom requirement.
Louver Styles
Our louvered shutters can be fitted with either our standard bullnose louvers in 3 sizes, or with a chevron or bevel profile as options. And because we are a custom shutter maker, we can also accommodate any special profiles that are specified by the customer.
Cut Outs
Raised Panel and Flat Panel Shutters can have a limitless variety of decorative cut outs machined into the center of the panels. Common shapes are moons, anchors, trees, hearts and we have a large number of stock cut outs which we offer, as well as the ability to match custom patterns that are provided by the customer
Finishes
Estate Millwork can ship our custom wooden shutters in natural, primed, painted or stained finishes. We can match national brand color numbers, pre-tint primers for light or dark finishes, and apply hand rubbed stain finished, even to the time consuming louvered shutters.
White Oak: Timeless Beauty and Exceptional Versatility
White Oak stands as a remarkable domestic hardwood, prized for its widespread availability and affordability without compromising on quality. With its inherent strength and remarkably straight grain, white oak proves itself to be a versatile and easy-to-work-with material, ideal for crafting furniture, cabinets, and wider panels with seamless matching.
What truly sets White Oak apart is its captivating medullary rays, which become strikingly visible when the wood is quartersawn, adding a touch of elegance and character to any project. Once favored during the arts and crafts movement of the early 1900s, White Oak continues to be a preferred choice for furniture building, while its applications have expanded to include a myriad of uses in modern design and construction.
Beyond its aesthetic appeal, White Oak's unique cellular structure lends it exceptional water resistance, making it a preferred option for exterior applications ranging from trim and construction to garden structures. While its appearance may seem unremarkable at first glance, White Oak's true beauty shines through during the finishing process, allowing its natural charm to emerge.
Scientifically known as Quercus alba, White Oak boasts a pale, creamy color with grain patterns characterized by straight lines and distinctive ray flecks, adding to its timeless allure. Whether used for custom cabinetry, hardwood flooring, or refined furniture, White Oak brings a touch of classic elegance to every project. Renowned for its durability and resistance to wear, decay, and rot, White Oak ensures that your investment will withstand the test of time, promising lasting beauty and functionality for generations to come.
Handcrafted with Sustainably Harvested Lumber
At Estate Millwork, we employ a meticulous process to ensure the quality and sustainability of our lumber. Our commitment begins with the careful air drying of much of our lumber, followed by further refinement in low wattage dehumidification kilns to achieve optimal moisture levels.
Every single piece of wood we acquire undergoes thorough utilization in our production processes. Leveraging advanced automated saws and optimization software, we achieve an exceptional yield ratio of 94 percent. This means that nearly all of the wood we purchase is transformed into usable products. The small remainder, comprising mainly sawdust and chips, is utilized efficiently: either utilized as fuel to power our operations, or repurposed by providing bedding and contributing to composting for local cattle farmers.
Our dedication to minimizing waste extends to the sourcing of our materials. A significant portion of the lumber we use hails from Amish farmers within our county. These farmers adhere to traditional practices, utilizing horses for harvesting and operating vintage 1920s sawmills. Such methods not only contribute to the preservation of heritage techniques but also entail lower environmental impact compared to modern industrial approaches.
Furthermore, our commitment to sustainability is evident in the sourcing of our imported lumber. We exclusively procure lumber from plantation-grown sources, thereby ensuring that our operations do not contribute to deforestation or the depletion of natural forests. By prioritizing responsible sourcing and efficient utilization, Estate Millwork strives to uphold environmental stewardship while delivering exceptional craftsmanship.
To learn more about our sustainability practices click here
