The most common shutter dog used on exterior shutters is the “S” scroll.
The scroll shape, a volute, has been used in architecture for thousands of years. Found on the capitals of Ionic and Corinthian columns, scrolls are a comforting contour that nature creates all by herself in fiddlehead ferns, snails, seashells, and in flowers as the petals unfurl into bloom. Maybe it’s this natural subtle sliding (twisting) form that prompted someone long ago to carve them into architectural features including stair rails and in string instruments such as the top of a violin and cello.
Scroll, or “S” curve, shutter dogs have been made for over two hundred years. Hot Iron shaped in two spirals, one reversed mirroring another forming the common “S” design, was an easy to make item for a blacksmith. However, I do understand that it used to be The Blacksmiths Test of readiness since it was only easy for a good blacksmith to make the repetitive “S” shapes that would match.
Eventually casting and stamping steel replaced the Old World Blacksmith’s hand forged “S” curve leading to the number of variations available today.
We sell a half a dozen “off the shelf” cast, stamped steel and cut steel type. While these shutter dogs all share the common “S” shape, the differences in each are in appearance and material :
Below are close-up pictures of each ot the shutter dogs shown above, listed from left to right. All of the shutter dogs below except the first one ( HE7-201 ) are fully functional. The plastic shutter dog is the only design that is for decorative uses only.
If an S-design is not for your home’s style or even your personal preference we offer many other shutter dog designs to choose from – Thirty-seven shutter dogs in all !
A naturally beautiful and renewable choice- Wood shutters and doors by
