Method for fabricating molding or slotting boards such as shutter slats, molding for carpentry or for construction and apparatus for practicing this process

Apparatus for making slats having opposed profiled edges from board stock, said apparatus comprising a planar table having means for advancing the board stock in a given direction, a first milling unit mounted for rotation about an axis parallel to and beneath the plane of said table and perpendicular to said given direction, a second milling unit mounted for rotation about an axis parallel to and above the plane of said table and perpendicular to said given direction, and drive means for driving said first and second milling units in rotation, said first and second milling units each comprising at least one milling tool, each said at least one milling tool comprising a pair of spaced parallel rotary cutting blades and a profiling tool mounted between said pair of rotary cutting blades and having a lesser diameter than said pair of blades, each said at least one milling tool being so dimensioned that its pair of cutting blades will cut at least half way but not all the way through a piece of advanced board stock and its profiling tool will profile the adjacent surface of said piece of advanced board stock, each said at least one milling tool of said first milling unit having its pair of cutting blades disposed coplanar with a pair of cutting blades of said second milling unit, whereby a plurality of slats having opposed profiled edges may be formed in a single pass from a said piece of advanced board stock.