"Stephen M" wrote in message
...
You make me think about it, but I lived in a house before that had
painted
shelves at each window and it was fine. So I'm thinking I'll still go
with
clear wood, and if there gets to be a problem over time I still have the
option of painting. If I avoid water based finish and use something like
Thompson's Water Seal maybe it'll fare better. I've used Swedish
penetrating oil in the bathroom and never had a problem there, either,
and
I've got lots left. Mind you we only stayed in that house another five
years after putting in the pine panelling. My wife is not averse to
putting
a piece of glass over it either, but now we're talking more trouble than
I
want right now.

I would think that you want a film finish...TWS ain't that. IF you go
glass,
just make sure you put a little bead of clear silicone around the
perimeter
to precent water from wicking under.

FWIW the finish failure that I observed was where screwed the sill down
and
used a tapered plug. The plug was tight but somehow that plug resulted in
a
fine crack/seam in the finish.

That said I think the sill design is quite nice. perhaps it will give you
some ideas. I'll post tonigth to ABPW.

-Steve

Looking foward to seeing it, assuming I can access the binary newsgroup. My
ISP will give me permission if I ask for it, but until now I've not
bothered.

The sliding dovetails will allow me to remove and replace
if the need arises, which it will when we paint the walls.

Oooh ....hold on a minute; this is supposed to be carpentry not FWW.

By the time I'm done FWW, it's usually carpentry. But I try my best...

As much as I think a sliding dovetail ais a very cool concept, if that
board
wants to cup after installation (not that it will, because it will be held
in place by the "sliding pins") but I could very easily see it not wanting
to come back out.

just a thought.

Good point. Leaving some slop in the joint wouldn't be such a bad thing,
since the majority of the force will be downward most of the time, not away
from the wall. But if the board twists a bit I wouldn't want it to rock,
either. The bracket won't extend the entire width of the board, maybe only
half of it. (There's the drywall thickness to get past, and I will stop it
before reaching the front.) Maybe I could cut the middle out of the
dovetail so it would be just two 1" dovetails at each end of the slot.
Basically I'm trying to avoid too many screw holes in the bracket.

I just had an idea how to attach the brackets to the wall. I can make a
decorative plate, attach the bracket to the plate, attach the plate to the
wall. That should spread forces around enough to be strong.

Thanks for the tips so far!

- Owen -