Mantles

[YellowHammer]

I also call it WOM wood, as in Waste O' Money. :D :D

I don't know why, but two of the highest cost log species I mill, walnut and cherry, have the highest WOM wood ratios.  High fraction sapwood and high fraction pith.

I guess bamboo would be a real tough one to mill and get decent yield.  ;D

[btulloh]

Better to QS bamboo. 😀😀😀

[tule peak timber]

Well, we have milled bamboo, palms, and grapevines. I think I posted the grapevines.
To answer Yellowhammer's question on the epoxy, yes there is epoxy, but not really visible per se.There was a gentleman at Customsawyers who frowned when I said epoxy,,,,,If I can see my epoxy , I frown too!
All of my hollow form mantles start from a single 8/4 piece of twisted centercut with the worst pith crack I can find. This 8/4 piece is then resawn into two 1/2 inch boards and the remainder as the face. That way the grain is continuous after glueup and the mantle looks solid.
I fabricate a "plug' jig that is used to help in glueup, then this same jig serves as the "male' mounting fixture for the customer.
Big mantles fast , light weight, shipable, no movement....

 

 

 A curved 14 footer with the pith crack in the middle. Rob

 

End view of a pith crack model on the right.

[John S]

Rob, Thank you for this lesson, but I still don't understand all of the steps.  The single 8/4 piece that you start with produces 3 sides?  The top and bottom are the 1/2 inch boards?  The remainder produces the face and the back is hollow?  The "plug" jig is the rear wall of the mantle?  Thanks.

[tule peak timber]

John S, I will blog the steps on my next mantle build.For now it is getting a bit off your topic and I don't want to "pith" off the folks following your thread.

 

[John S]

Rob, I am looking forward to it, thanks.

[flatrock58]

Rob,
Why are you cutting 1/2 boards.  Do they not give you more warp than 3/4" to 1"?
Steve

[tule peak timber]

Mostly weight, but I  want the top and the bottom to "conform" to the face with lots of clamping pressure.I do not want the joint to be visible. If the top and bottom get squirrely a small series of 1/8 inch  bulkheads can be placed inside and lately I've been using hot melt PUR to tack them in with great results. Just a "dab "will do ya...















  A pic of a larger layup

 

[LeeB]

Sometimes thinking inside the box is thinking outside the box.  :D

[Mfrost459]

Those males look amazing Rob.
We cut a White Oak that was 6"x10"x8' a couple of weeks ago. I have a lady that wants it but it is still green. How long should they dry before you market them?

[WDH]

A white oak beam that thick will take several years minimum to air dry. 

[tule peak timber]

Wdh is correct, at a minimum, for a big piece of wood like that. The whole idea behind the hollow mantle thing started because I could not produce "big" wood fast enough,  I needed to figure out a way to do a "big wood" look quickly. Sometimes I get a weeks notice for a monster mantle and the hollow form is the only way to go. This short notice (typically around Christmas) means you can sock it to the customer who just has to have it for entertainment season $$$$. A pic of a 5 day wrap around wonder for the "hotdog "family I did 5 years ago.

[Crusarius]

what do you use / how do you distress it?

Looks like combination angle grinder chain and torch.

[moodnacreek]

I also call it WOM wood, as in Waste O' Money. :D :D

I don't know why, but two of the highest cost log species I mill, walnut and cherry, have the highest WOM wood ratios.  High fraction sapwood and high fraction pith.

I guess bamboo would be a real tough one to mill and get decent yield.  ;D

Not if you have a optimizing edger!

[tule peak timber]

what do you use / how do you distress it?

Looks like combination angle grinder chain and torch.

A long one to answer; briefly a whole lot of different tools,with great care in steps-then at least two more people come behind to take out any patterns.
  I've collected curved planes, adzes, nylox wheels, wire wheels , sandblasters,soft pad sanders, dental drills,axes,arbortec tools, kutzall tools, scrapers, bent sawblades,and on and on.Then after the mechanical distressing comes a whole color palate of oils and water based accents applied in layers,sparingly.
  The level of distress depends on what folks want to pay and the tastes or vision and where it is going to be used.
  A rule of thumb,if someone can tell what was done to the wood-that is a poor job of distressing in my opinion.
     Well... that's the brief answer .

 

[tule peak timber]

Some more distressed mantles. Rob

 

 

 

 

 

 

[doc henderson]

i assume all your mantles are hollow?, if so, great job disguising.  i like the metal band with bolts.  I assume that is fairly light metal and round head nails?  and is the metal chemically foe aged?  other than these, I have no further questions.

[Resonator]

Is the end of the mantle just a board that has been distressed too look like check cracked end grain?

[WDH]

How are the free hanging mantles hung?

[tule peak timber]

I use partially subset 1/8 inch hot rolled steel on most projects .To me the subsetting shows craftsmanship and looks really cool. Sometimes copper, both chemically treated for effect.Metal should be smaller than the project perimeter with hidden or no seam.......This takes some thought. ;D The ends are "plugs' of selected cookies from my cookie" library' trying to match grain patterns of the other three boards. What does not match , I augment and blend with small tooling to make it look like one piece. All of the hollow mantles are hung on a "plug" that looks like a naked airplane wing...a spar and ribs .Here we are "cooking " some metal banding. Kids don't try this at home :D

The subset dado "channel" that the steel sits in. This is another project, but you get the idea.

 

 

[Old Greenhorn]

How are the free hanging mantles hung?

Yeah, that is the question I was too embarrassed to ask. I have a brick flat faced fireplace (with a woodstove insert) and with all the milling I am working on and the logs and oddball mistakes that could make a nice mantle but a lousy column, I am ashamed to not have something in the works. How to you mount these things. Plus, I have some really nice mantle clocks looking for a proper home.

[Crusarius]

Tule peak your work still amazes me. I am still planning on taking up residence in the corner of your shop one day.

[doc henderson]

I guess you need to franchise, and teach your methods!  How bout the bolt heads,  super cool.  I have made a few foe beams for a desk I made, nothing on this level.