Shutters attach to the building with hinges and pintles. Hinges and pintles act together to secure the shutters to the structure and provide the proper swing and movement of the shutters from the open to closed position.
Hinges attach to the shutters and swing on the pintles. Selection of hinge style is just that – picking a hinge shape and size you like that’s appropriate for your installation. Any of heavy strap hinges will easily hang a door or shutter.
Pintles attach to the structure and provide a pivot point about which the hinges swing.
The key to a successful and easy installation is in the selection of the proper pintle. It’s the pintle that has to install securely on the mounting surface and material available on the structure. The wide range of building materials and dimensions has prompted us at Brandywine Forge to develop the largest selection of heavy pintles you’ll find anywhere…. pintle selection is at the heart of configuring the best shutter installation solution for your project.
Notched hinges and pintles were a common historic approach. Very functional and easy to install, original existing pintle can be used to re-install your shutters.
Hinges and pintles are priced and sold separately. This allows you to choose the most appropriate pintle to mate with the selected style of strap hinge to provide a hinge and pintle package that will install most easily and function properly on your home.
Since we make what we sell, custom-configured hardware is always an option for your particular situation.
Heavy Shutter Strap Hinges > Overview
Strap hinges are the oldest and most commonly used shutter and door hinges. Strap hinges have been in continuous use from Roman times through the present because they work well and last just about forever.
Strap hinges were generally sized to span from one half to two thirds the width of the shutter. Our hinge lengths represent that portion of the hinge which actually sits on the shutter when installed.
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700 Tapered Strap Hinge – Tapered profile, no hand finishing. 1870’s-today |
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701 Beveled Strap Hinge – Hammered bevel, typical of the 1700’s |
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702 Tapered Strap Hinge – Hand forged termination on hinge. 1820’s – |
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705 Storm Strap Hinge – Plain, functional, affordable strap hinges, 1850’s on. |
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706 Beveled Storm – Straight hinge with hand bevel, early approach. |
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708 West Port Strap Hinge – A Brandywine original, definitely not colonial. |
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Heavy Shutter Pintles > Overview
Our goal is to provide hardware that is easy to install. Pintles are the key to an easy installation that works with your construction. Too often I’ve seen beautiful moldings that have been butchered to accept cheap hardware, or original windows nearly destroyed to remove existing pintles.
That’s a lot of time, effort, and money spent only to destroy the integrity of the structure. Selecting that pintle which works most easily is the primary consideration in planning any shutter installation.
All pintles are priced by the pair, enough to hang one shutter. It takes two pairs of heavy pintles and hinges to hang a normal pair of shutters on a window. As noted, the heavy pintle pins match the heavy hinges. All have ½” diameter pins and the length of the pin is mated to the hinges which they’ll hang.
301 Drive Pintle – The earliest pintles. Intended for installation into timber framing. |
302 Plate Pintle – A very common early form, probably most commonly used. |
303 Narrow Plate – One inch width makes this pintle fit on narrow mounting surfaces. |
304 – A Brandywine exclusive, specialty pintle to move pivot point to side of pintle. |
305 Jamb Pintle – Mortises to the window frame, acts like door hinge. |
306 Lag Screw Pintle – The screw shank is 1/2″ dia. Strong, clean piece looks like drive when installed. |
Our heavy duty shutter stap hinges are all made of 3/16″ thick steel, simply because I’ve never seen a shutter hinge in that weight of material fail. All are priced by the pair (enough for one shutter) and include the “standoff.”
Strap hinges Item numbers reflect the characteristics of the hinge. The first numeric value relates to the profile of the hinge, the following “N” means a narrow hinge – 1-1/2″; a “W” means wide – 2″, the length of the hinge then the hinge “standoff” complete the number. A “705-N-12-1″ is a 12″ long storm strap, 1-1/2″ wide with a 1″ standoff.
The pintles attach to the structure and provide a pivot point on which the hinges swing. All of heavy pintles are fitted with 1/2″ diameter pins that mate with heavy strap hinges. Our standard pintle offsets are 1″, 1-1/2″, 2″ and 3″. We can provide other fractional offsets as optional configurations.
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An “N” in the pintle number indicates the pintle will mate with a narrow hinge and thus the pin height is 1-1/2″. A “W” means the pintle is fitted with a two inch high pin to mate with a wide heavy strap hinge. The pintle to the left is a 302-W-1, the pintle to the right is a 302-N-1. Both have a rectangular profile with four fastener holes, 1/2″ diameter pins, and a 1″ offset – but the “Wide” pintle has a backplate that’s 1/2″ taller to match the 2″ tall pintle that will mate with a “Wide” hinge. |
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Notched Barrel Strap Hinges > Overview
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The pintles were fastened to the window frame before it was installed in the opening. When the shutters were last lifted off, the pintles remained. If you have such existing pintles on your home you’re in luck. All you need are notched strap hinges and shutters and you’re about done. Notched barrels are on available on any of strap hinge patterns. The notched straps have a ½” diameter pin welded in the hinge barrel. That diameter fits most remaining historic pintles. |
Many historic shutter strap hinges (1820-1900) were notched barrel with integral pins and mated with a female pintle. This approach resulted in a very effective yet simple installation. Many homes – neighborhoods, actually – still have the pintles in place even though the shutters and their hinges are long gone. Original Pintle |
 307 Notched Female Pintle |
 Notched 705 –W Hinge & 309 Female TEE Pintle |
See Below
705 Notched shutter strap hinges installed with 307 female pintles. The advantages of the notched strap hinges on contemporary construction can be seen in these home owner’s photos.
The pintle fasteners are moved from the edge of the backbrick, two fasteners ease installation.
The open shutters lie close to the face of the building and the hardware is barely visible.
The closed shutters show the straight-line fit of the hinges and pintles, and they really are iron-bound.
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Brandywine Notched Hinges Installed on Early Pintles
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