Profiling a new sill for the sash window


With the rotten parts of the sill cut out, the most interesting part of the project could begin: making a new sill.


Sketching the target state, even not to scale, was helpful for visualising the process of various cuts that were needed. The drip groove at the bottom stops the capillary effect taking water all the way back.


The length measurement was taken between the bricks behind the outer stone face.


The measurements for the profile of the new sill piece were taken from the rotten piece that was removed.


A few years back I bought a "hobby pack" of oak from British Hardwoods. I used this over pine as I wanted it to be as resilient as possible.


Two pieces needed laminating together to get a blank of the required depth. I used polyurethane glue (Gorilla Glue) as it's more waterproof than standard wood glue.


To determine the best way to layout the profile of the sill, the dimensioned sketch was used to create a cardboard template of the profile.


While the first orientation would be simpler, the latter allows the glue line to sit just behind the drip groove, reducing the risk of water affecting the lamination.


Care had to be taken with the order of operations to ensure there was always both a good reference face and two parallel surfaces for clamping in the vice at all times.


Using a marking gauge, lines were scored along the length of the blank ready for cutting the inside edge of the profile.


Using a handsaw, and staying away from the lines, the inside edge of the profile was cut.


At this stage the other end of the board was not trimmed evenly, meaning the gauge lines didn't extend all the way and the cut had to be made in one direction only, and finished off horizontally.


Once it was cut it took no time at all to plane down to the gauge lines.


The layout lines for the outer edge were extended to allow a gauge line to be struck down the length again.


As the amount to remove was fairly small, I didn't try to saw it off but rather planed it straight down to the gauge lines.

The new back edge was used as a reference for the plough plane to cut a groove in the top.


The purpose of the groove was to achieve this vertical drop separating the two sloped top edges.


The bottom edge was sawn off, staying away from the gauge lines again, but by now I'd squared off the other end, meaning I could saw from both ends and meet in the middle.


Unfortunately I missed the meeting point in the middle.


The disparity was a lot more than it looked at first. It planed down easily enough though it took a long time with my number 4 plane. In the future I'd like to convert another plane to a scrub plane, as shown by Paul Sellers.



A rebate plane was used to take the top slope down to the layout lines.


The rebate plane allowed planing right up to the edge of the vertical groove made previously.


The profile starting to take shape, with just the drip groove left to go


The plough plane was used once more to create the drip groove. Holding the piece in the vice did resulted in the vice fouling the plane's fence, so I propped up the piece using the offcut that matched the angle, and then clamped it down to the workbench.


The profile was now complete.


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