# Rope Mantle project.



## Leo G (Oct 16, 2006)

I will be using a flexible rope molding, kind of a rubbery white plastic. It seems to have something similar to a cloth coating on the backside, for gluing I assume.

Here it is in the raw:


















The only downside I can see of it is it is a bit gritty, which you can see in the close up shot.

This is a picture of a Mantle I did a while back, it is on my website. The second picture is what this Cherry mantle will look like. It will also have a large single panel above it.












Here is what the Cherry mantle will look like.











It is going to be a Cherry Mantle, very similar to one I have done in the past in paint grade. They saw it on my website and liked it a lot. I had to make a few modifications to make it fit.

Today I made glued up the base, made some moldings and started to put it together. Bouncing between finishing a white kitchen and this mantle.

Nothing special yet.

Got to use my new camera instead of cell phone pics 






































Got one of the square hole thingy's done




















1st row is a thumbnail with square top and bottom.









Then a sub-row of MDF to raise the dentil to the correct level









Then the dentil, it is 7/8" tooth, 1/2" gap. 









I did the next sub-row and then flat stock but have no pics yet
the MDF sub-row is nailed, the flat stock will be nailed sometime in 
the future. 

Install tomorrow of the white kitchen.


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## mdntrdr (Dec 22, 2009)

Beautifull design and craftsmanship!

I like the returns on the square hole thingys. :smile:


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## mickit (Oct 5, 2009)

Now that is cool! That's why I keep coming here, lot's of folks showing me that I am totally inept:laughing:
But seriously, your patience and attention to detail are awesome. Show us more!


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## Leo G (Oct 16, 2006)

I'll show you more when I have more to show :laughing:

I'll probably work more on it starting again after I finish the install of a kitchen I need to get finished up.


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## Leo G (Oct 16, 2006)

There was a snafu. I asked the client what depth he wanted the mantle top to be, he said 10-12". I told him I can't do it without it looking out of place, klunky. I needed about a full day to complete it and he sends me an email telling me that him and his wife need to discuss that detail and he would get back to me, that was on a Monday. By Friday I didn't get a response from him. On Monday I took the mantle off the shop floor and put it in a protective area and decided to work on some of the smaller projects that had accumulated.

I was able to finish up the 2 kitchens I was working on, a paneled seat, a set of refrigerator panels and start on a triangular birch top with a FF and a pair of doors. I got an email from him in the middle of all of this. I laughed, said to myself that I'm sure he expects me to jump right back on his project because he made a decision. That didn't happen and I just finished up on my projects.

So yesterday I started back up on the project, because I had finished up what I needed on my smaller stuff. I got an email from him asking about progress :laughing:. I told him that I worked on a bunch of smaller stuff and just started his that day. Not sure what he thought about it, but it is what it is. I did have some pics to show him as I did make some good progress that day.

Here are some buildups.


















Here is the ogee that went on top of the buildup:









Then the flat stock for the reed base:


















Here is the simple setup I used to make the reeds. I took a wide block of cherry and routed 4 edges with a 3/8" beading bit. Then I cut off the with the grain bead, both sides. Then I would reroute the edges and rip it again. I made 110 of these rips.










The pile:









Here is the test fit, worked out very well









After cutting to size:









Started on the mantle top, here's the routed edge:









Here it is after carving the inside corner:









Here is the mantle top on the unit









And now with a few of the reeds in place


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## mike1950 (Aug 29, 2010)

Leo, WOW, there are one heck of a lot of pieces in that mantle. Make sure we see finished product. Looks fantastic.


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## Leo G (Oct 16, 2006)

*Well, that was fun...*

NOT

Glued on the reeds today. Took over 4 hours to do it. Each read got 3 drops of glue, one 2P-10 and two TB II. Then wipe the accelerator on the flat stock and set the reed in place.









Every 5-8 reeds I had a board with a square corner that I clamped on to make sure everything stayed square and true. The two end pcs worked out perfect, no adjusting at all. The two sides ended about 1/16" short, up against the wall, no one will ever notice. On the long section the last 24 reeds ended up about 1/32" shy, so I put a pc of paper in between the reeds to push the spacing out a bit. I did that for about 12 pcs and then the rest fit nice.

These are glued in and not goin' anywhere


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## cabinetman (Jul 5, 2007)

Looking great Leo. A lot going on and a lot of pieces. Well done.












 







.


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## Leo G (Oct 16, 2006)

About 218 reeds, so 654 drops of glue, no wonder it took so long.


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## burkhome (Sep 5, 2010)

Very very nice!!


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## eigersa (Apr 17, 2011)

What a fantastic design... not sure I would have had the patience for all those 'reeds' lol


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## Leo G (Oct 16, 2006)

218 reeds, 654 drops of glue.

suck
suck
suck


Wipe accelerator on, pick up a reed, pick up the bottle of 2P-10, apply one drop, put bottle down, pick up artist brush, dip into glue bottle apply two drops of glue to reed, put brush down, place reed into position and hold for 6 seconds, pick up accelerator brush....repeat 217 times.


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## Leo G (Oct 16, 2006)

Just completed the assemble for the mantle today. Made the tassles for the rope.

They are made on the tablesaw with a dado blade on a 15º angle.









Then cut up out of the long section, the pcs that merge with the rope are fitted with a dremel to get them snug.


















The look like this when fitted









And here it is done


















Now I have to make the upper flat recessed panel.


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## Scubadaveojr (Apr 25, 2011)

Very nice


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## Leo G (Oct 16, 2006)

Made the panel frame yesterday and cut, sanded and installed the panel field today. Added a 1/4" bead around the interior perimeter. Wanted to get things stained today but the stain I had made up wasn't cooperating. It had to much orange in it, I brought it back to my color guy and hopefully he will have the new formula mixed up.

The panel is 65"w x 52 1/2"t, it is pretty big. Most of it will be covered by a widescreen TV anyway.


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## Leo G (Oct 16, 2006)

Took a while to get the stain sample to look like the sample I was copying. Still not stained yet. I got the stain @ 5pm. So I did the conditioning of the Cherry. I had to tape off the rope, I didn't like how the stain reacted when it was conditioned, the dyes showed through to much. Sure do like the looks of natural Cherry.

raw mantle with rope taped off:









conditioned mantle:









The finish should be completed tomorrow as long as I don't have any finish room drama. Going to be installed on Friday.


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## Leo G (Oct 16, 2006)




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## Geoguy (Feb 22, 2008)

*Incredible!!*

That's beautiful and amazing, Leo. The craftsmanship is great but I think what amazes me the most is where the imagination comes from to assemble all those different sub-structures and numerous pieces to achieve such a beautiful end product. If I wore a hat, it would be off to you.

Also, I hope some day you will teach me how to dye wood like that.


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## GWEE (Aug 30, 2009)

WOW amazing craftmanship great job


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## STL_apprentice (Dec 20, 2010)

Great job. I was surprised at how close the rope matches the cherry wood in the pictures. Does it look that way in person?


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## sanchez (Feb 18, 2010)

Leo, that is incredible! I hope to make something 10% as cool as that when I put my bar in my basement!


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## Leo G (Oct 16, 2006)

Well, it's is installed and of course I had to butcher up the panel for the electrical and signal boxes for the TV. The thing that upset me the most is I forgot to bring my nice camera (DSLR), all I had with me was my shop camera (P&S). Better than nothing, but not by much. The full shot is pretty crappy and does not show the finish off well. To much noise in the shot. The lower shot shows off the finish much more true to life.



















Remember, this is only part of the project. I still need to build the flanking floor to ceiling cabinets and put up the crown.


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## Leo G (Oct 16, 2006)

Installed the two flanking cabinets today. They finally picked out what crown they wanted.

Before anything was installed, mantle in room.









Mantle installed









Flanking cabinets installed.


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## Kenbo (Sep 16, 2008)

Wow Leo!!!!!  That is absolutely beautiful. I have to be honest and say that at the beginning, I wasn't exactly sure about the rope trim, but seeing it all together, it ties in nicely with the whole project. Fantastic job. It's just beautiful.
Ken


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## Leo G (Oct 16, 2006)

STL_apprentice said:


> Great job. I was surprised at how close the rope matches the cherry wood in the pictures. Does it look that way in person?



Yes, it does. The rope takes stain very nice. This stain had a lot of dye in it and the rope was a bit on the orange side for highlights. I put two light toner coats on the mantle and it calmed it down. I thought I might have to take a brown dye and calm it down, but the toner coats took care of that.


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## Leo G (Oct 16, 2006)

Here is the final pics with the crown on the Rope Mantle. Did the whole lower floor with the same molding in a paint grade


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## eigersa (Apr 17, 2011)

out of interest, how long did this take from start to finish? Looks awesome, must be serious man hours?


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## Ted Tolstad (Feb 20, 2011)

That is absolutely beautiful. I am impressed with your creativity. I have always felt that a true woodworker must have a bit of the artist in them and you definitely proved that with this piece. Very very nice.


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## renovatio (Jul 4, 2011)

That's incredibly beautiful.


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