Cutting Timber Venetians

[Timmo]

Gday all,

I've just picked up a heap of cheap timber venetians which of course are all an inch too wide.


Rang around and it seems noone is willing to touch them, so I'm going back to the idea of cutting them myself.

My first idea was to clamp them between 2 bits of timber and cut them in the drop saw (sharp blade of course) but had a bit of a change of heart when my neighbour said his all split when he tried it. He suggested doing it by hand but not convinced.

Any suggestions / experiences?

[Sprog]

Here is how I did mine with no problems whatsoever.

I cut mine on a table saw with sliding table but no reason a drop saw will not perform the same task.

Make sure the blind is closed as tight as possible
Align the sides of the slats then bind with masking tape to keep the slats together. Make sure the masking tape overlaps the place where the cut will be made.
Mark the width required. Share the waste equally on both sides.
Make the cut from the bottom to the top of the blind.
A tungsten tipped blade will cut right through the metal case at the top of the blind.
If the edges will be visible, lightly dab on a suitably coloured stain.

[BobL]

I did mine exactly like Sprog says.

Tape the wooden and metal bits all in one. Cut through the whole lot in one pass.

Only other piece of advice, you should make sure you are not going to cut any of the blind titling mechanism tucked inside the metal section but you should easily be able to remove 1" or 1/2" either side, from them without a problem.

[tcns]

cut mine one at a time in the drop saw with no clamping, my nice sharp blade ate them for breakfast.

Tom

[tcns]

one thing I did mean to say was I pulled one slat out and test cut it first to make sure it wouldn't tear out or look ordinary, I always have spares as I end up taking out the excess slats in the drop so they look more like custom made ones and are easier to turn

Tom

[Timmo]

All cut and in, even removed the excess slats.

Good excuse to buy a new sliding combination saw too, even though it was just a GMC jobby which the laser lens was cracked from the box.

Anyway thanks for the input.