Repairing wood blinds?

Question

Can wood blinds that are 1/2 inch too wide, be repaired or cut to fit?

Answer 1

I almost gave you some wrong advice here, because you said those blinds are "1/2 inch too wide." I think you mean the width of the entire unit, or set of blinds, and not of each individual slat! If that's the case, then yes, they can be cut. But there's more to it...

If you don't care about a sloppy job, I could tell you how to do that, but I won't! I'll stick to the clean job! Keep in mind that unlike plastic, wood can and will splinter or crack.

Best way is really to take the blinds apart, then cut and sand off each blind individually. Of course, that's a lot of string, and a very long, tiring job just messing with the strings and cords. You can do a pretty decent job of it if you first open the blinds (pull the cord) as far as possible. Once they are all squeezed together tight, mark off the 1/2 inch you want to remove, and cut through all of them with the sharpest and finest-toothed saw available. If you have a bench saw, all the better. With a fine-toothed or plywood blade, set the ripfence to 1/2 inch. Feed the work slow and easy, to prevent splintering. Whatever saw you use, you're going to have to sand off the edges of each individual blind slat. There's not much of a way around this. Get one of those sanding sponges, made by 3M and clones, then give each slat a quick going-over along all the edges of the cut. The blinds are probably painted, right? Get a can of matching color spray paint, hang the linds completely opened, and give all the cut edges a quick going-over. Wait a minute, then give them another spray.

This should do the job, and hopefully, when you hang the blinds, you don't find that the other side needs 1/2 inch taken off too!