# Some Mantle curiosity



## MidGAOutdoor (Apr 7, 2011)

i am curious what u guys are doing with ur quarter log and slab mantles. u have an interest in cutting some to sell. i have an idea about the ones with the log corbels just the slab and quarter logs.


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## qbilder (Dec 19, 2010)

I have never considered the notion of selling mantles. I cut the one for my house. They are easy. My wife saw a gnarly dead standing oak & said it would be a neat mantle, so we cut it. All work combined from felling to installing took maybe 2 hrs. We're lucky here in the respect that dead standing trees are already very dry. It's desert climate with single digit humidity most of the time so wood dries very fast. Milling the log was only 3 cuts, with one live edge.


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## MidGAOutdoor (Apr 7, 2011)

sounds cool whats it look like?


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## qbilder (Dec 19, 2010)

Never got pics of the top. It's nothing special, just quarter sawn oak with some rays. Nobody sees the top of a mantle, anyway, only the face. The pics don't show the wavy texture of the mantle. It has lots of character in the way of knobs & knots & holes & bark inclusions. Finished it with a few coats of shellac, which dried within an hour. Left the ends with the rough chain cut, sanded the top & bottom with a hand held belt sander, and held it down with two decking screws. 

The entire project took half a day with driving around in the mountains to bolting it down & it looks as good today as it did the day I did it. Just one of those spur of the moment, quick projects. Sure dressed up the fireplace. Got some trim work to do but still deciding on whether to go with traditional quarter round like what was on the old mantle, or do some live edge quartered oak.


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## MidGAOutdoor (Apr 7, 2011)

thats nice man. some nice stonework too


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## TomC (Oct 27, 2008)

Good choice of TV channel.
Tom


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## qbilder (Dec 19, 2010)

TomC said:


> Good choice of TV channel.
> Tom


Thanks. I try to keep it real.


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## MidGAOutdoor (Apr 7, 2011)

any suggestions on how to hang the mantles?


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## Dominick (May 2, 2011)

Here's a mantle I did with a half log oak and log corbels. I mounted the corbels with 1" x 18" threaded rod. Threaded into log end and drilled threw fireplace stone as to not go threw the flu
Then sealed it with a fireplace sealant.


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## qbilder (Dec 19, 2010)

Nice musky!!!! Fireplace is pretty good, too :thumbsup:


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## Dominick (May 2, 2011)

qbilder said:


> Nice musky!!!! Fireplace is pretty good, too :thumbsup:


Thanks it's a tiger musky. I caught it off the shore on my lake about a foot of water. Lol


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## qbilder (Dec 19, 2010)

They like shallow water. I grew up in Ohio, catching muskies in the small mud bottom streams that empty into the bigger rivers. Just after thaw, they get aggressive!!! My old man caught one just shy of 50" in a small tributary stream. The hole of water must have been 3' max deep, but that fish still fought like a champ. Fresh water barracudas :thumbsup:


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## Dominick (May 2, 2011)

He was probably in the shallows chasing bait fish. It's the fish of a 1,000 cast. Lol
Ok enough hijack, sorry MidGA.


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