redwood mantel

[Harold O.]

An old friend lives in an old house, circa 1913 (house, not the friend). He had us come out and reseal the finish on his ancient redwood front door. While there, he asked about building a simple mantel piece to cover the original concrete one. So we did. 

We glued two long redwood 4x6s together then cut them to the 6 1/2-in width needed. Corners are mitered with grain lines intact and there's a 3/8 lip at the top to cover the seam. This piece runs 84 1/2 inches on the inside and 11 to the wall. Weighs about two pounds. Finish is a brown/white dye combination to match the existing house wood. Rather than sand, we rubbed it down with a fine wire brush to create texture. Our fit was almost too precise but we managed to get it on without resorting to major surgery or gluing. 

As simple as this project was, we had some nervous moments when working with the delicate redwood.

[TomFromStLouis]

Well, that is certainly an upgrade. Any idea when that concrete mantel was put there? Who thought that was a good idea?

I hope that smoke on the stones is a relic of some episode long gone...

[jteneyck]

Nicely done; a definite improvement. 

John

[AHill]

Nice job.  Last year, I met a guy who does a lot of construction for a Christian camp in the Sierra Mountains.  He was allowed to cut down some sequoias that had bark beetle infestations.  The Camp was opening a new facility in New England, and they had a massive stone fireplace in their great room.  The contractor remembered his giant sequoia.  He packed it in a large U-Haul truck, hauled it to NE, then used a portable mill to get a slab he used as a very large mantel for the fireplace.  He did a great job planing and finishing it.  The mantle was easily 10 feet wide, 18 inches high, and probably 12 inches deep.  Sequoias are redwoods.

[Harold O.]

The concrete mantel was an original piece from when the stone fireplace was built. My friend told me it was there when they moved in back in the late '50s. Fortunately for me it is a smooth, very square surface. My plan was to secure it with liquid nails but we didn't need to. We removed his front door to refresh it. That thing weighs a ton.

Side note: I had to do the work while his wife was out of town. She doesn't approve of him spending money on projects and he's still dodging her. Mind you, he turned 90 on April 5th. He had a bear in his swimming pool last week.