Mantle stock question

[Jim_Rogers]

I've been thinking about cutting and selling some lumber/stock for mantles.
What thickness do you guys cut for mantles?

The current log is eastern white pine and I think I'm going to cut a 4" thick by 12" wide piece and see how it comes out.

Jim Rogers

[Lawg Dawg]

Hey Jim, I usually cut mine 6" thick and 10" to 12" wide and just trim it down if need be.  Good selling product around November/December



 



 



 

Old narley cedar logs make good mantels

[Stephen1]

I like the bigger size, then you can always cut it down for them. 
I have lots of mantles cut and never seem to have the right size or material. (always the way, even with lumber. I always end up changing the size. 

[Jim_Rogers]

Thanks for all your advice.

[WV Sawmiller]

Jim,

   I try to keep an assortment of different woods made into mantels. I cut mine 3-4 inches thick X 12-18 inches wide X 8-10 feet long. Often the customer only wants 5-6 feet but he has to buy the whole piece to get it because I normally don't have use/market for the excess. I suggest they may want to use the excess length to make the corbels to mount the mantel on. You may get a customer wanting one 6-8 inches thick but there is a limit to what you can stock - they can use a cross tie or I will custom cut them one. Even 3" thick is a heavy piece of wood.

   I normally leave mine live edge on both sides in case the customer wants to use it for double sided live edge counter top or bench - Once they buy it I don't care what they use it for. If they want for a mantel and need the back edged to mount against the wall I will put it back on the mill and I will edge it for them.

   I was visiting David Poston a while back and a customer brought in their log for a mantel and he sawed it and also gave them a trim cut to use as a sample in case they want to stain it. I thought that was a great idea even if it was goat originated.

[Don P]

I sold a 6" x14" x60" pine one last week, cut down from a piece of 8" potential live edge kingpost stock I had squirreled away.

[WDH]

I generally cut them 4.25" thick and about 12" wide.  However, no matter what thickness you cut them, the customer will want something thicker or thinner . 

[Joey Grimes]

4x12 is our most popular size but we cut some much bigger 

[Don P]

One thing to remember with mantles is the projection and distance from the firebox. This is on the installer but good info to know;

R1001.11
4.Exposed combustible mantels or trim may be placed directly on the masonry fireplace front surrounding the fireplace opening providing such combustible materials are not placed within 6 inches (152 mm) of a fireplace opening. Combustible material within 12 inches (306 mm) of the fireplace opening shall not project more than ¹/₈ inch (3 mm) for each 1-inch (25 mm) distance from such an opening.

[Jim_Rogers]

Thanks to all who have offered advice.

Jim Rogers

[POSTON WIDEHEAD]

Here are the finished Mantels I keep in stock.

Cedar, Red Oak, White Oak, Poplar, Walnut and Pine.....1 of each.
These are on display.
My best seller is Red Oak.
They are different deminsions and all at least 6 foot.
Although these are display mantels, yes they are for sale.
I have rounded edges, square edges, I have a mantel that the ends are sawn out of square, some with a little live edge on an edge or to and a few with a full live edge face.


BUT...under my other shed I have a whack of 8 x 10 x 10 mantels I keep adding to.
I always have dry mantels.

If a customer does not particularly like whats on display, they can choose a mantel from the inventory, give me the exact size they want, choose the side they want to be the face and they can pick it up the next morning, finished.... with a deposit.

Most of the wood I save for mantels are saved because of their character.
Knots, flow of the grain, color, holes.... etc.

My #1 customer are contractors.
Sometimes they will send man and wife to come pick out their mantel but most of the time the contractor just calls the species and size in.

If I get a special order that needs to go out the next day or that afternoon.....we shut the mill off and get the mantel ready.
I don't saw production so I can make time to get a mantel ready.

I have seen mantels advertised for over a thousand dollars at different places.
My highest priced mantel was $570.00 for a dried Black Gum with some very unusual character in it..... and my cheapest was a Pine mantel at 150.00.!

The thing is to get your name out there as having mantels....
undercut competition....
have a mantel ready to go when the builder needs it....
keep sanded pieces of material on hand and stain to give a customer an idea of what something will look like after staining.....
and the most important thing is....inventory.....have a lot to choose from.

We all know a mantel looks different in size at your mill than it does in a family room with a cathedral ceiling.
As long as my mantels have not been altered from the way it was picked up....it can be exchanged for a different size or species.

This is the way I do it.

[Jim_Rogers]

Thanks for all that info.

Jim Rogers

[moodnacreek]

A  professional red oak sawmill/kiln operator here in N. Y. state air dries r. oak [3" and 4"] for 2 years before kiln drying starts. For this reason and my own past experience I will not sell oak thicker than 2", 2 years old for interior use. Even then it is liable to end crack.

[WV Sawmiller]

   I tell my customers the mantels I have are by no means dry and they need to let them continue to air dry and avoid direct, high heat such as over a working fireplace or heater and even then they can expect some checking.

   I met a local blacksmith last Saturday and got his contact info. I discussed having him make black iron bands to put on the ends of the mantels for decoration and to help prevent end checking. I am thinking about 2" wide, hammered wrought iron would look good. I need to follow up with that and maybe get him to make a sample pair then, since I don't know the final size till sold, send customers to him when they buy a mantel. I will see how that works out.

[Darrel]

Sounds like a pretty good idea that may not be such a good idea.  Here's my experience with such things as this. If you have a tight band around the end of a mantle the band will loosen as the mantle dries and quite possibly result in a split anyway. A solution may be to have a way to tighten the band more as the mantle continues to dry.

My 2¢ and something to consider.

[moodnacreek]

The iron band idea can not hold the wood [on the ends] from shrinking or the splits will go nuts.

[WV Sawmiller]

Darrel,

 I realize the wood will shrink and the band will loosen. Ideally the band would be hot when driven on to the ends of the mantel so it would tighten when it cooled and shrunk. That is probably not going to be possible. My next preferred option would be to have a screw type connection I could tighten as needed but also hard to fabricate on a hand hammered band. Another option might be to drive shims or wedges between the band and the wood if the wedges could be placed out of sight and did not ruin the appearance.

 I have a bad hickory mantel in stock with bad splits on both end. It is so ugly I figure if the right customer comes along they may feel sorry for it and buy it. You never can tell about some people's tastes. When I tried to edge the side lumber they would split like sticking a knife in a ripe watermelon.

 I got the wild idea to bore a hole through each end and run a threaded rod through and tighten it that way. Instead about 6-8 inches into the wood I twisted a 16" auger bit in two and gave it up as a bad job.

  I thought about wrapping many wraps of thin wire or sissal rope around each end for decoration and increased stability. I doubt it would work as well as the band and would be harder to tighten.

Moody,

 Now maybe I write this off as a semi-scientific experiment to see how various woods split under tension. I am sure that has never been done before. ??? Maybe I can start a pool and take bets on how and when the wood will split and make more money off the betting than selling mantels. :D

  This may not be the best idea I have ever had but I assure you it is not the worst and I have the scars to prove it. :

[Don P]

I've seen Japanese banded work where the end of one band had two "fingers that lay on each side of the other end as it came around. A pair of iron wedges was laid across this then the 3 fingers were looped back on themselves. Tightening that was a matter of driving the opposed wedges. I've got a hemlock and a white oak slab that I put threaded rod through each end for check control, tightening them up over time, seemed to work.

[Crossroads]

WV, the wire would actually be really easy to tighten by using a 1/4" Allen wrench Like a Spanish windless. Then remove the Allen wrench and bend the loop over so its flat with the wood. 

[WV Sawmiller]

   Yeah, we have tightened wire for fence post braces that way. I was thinking of a real small gauge wire more like piano wire or such which individually would not be very strong.