# Mantle building opinion needed



## mtnwalton (Oct 12, 2013)

I plan on building a mantle for a family member soon; it'll be mounted with a 2x french cleat with attached vertical 2x members to mount the corbels. The mantle and corbels will be hollow construction and no cleats will show. This will be on natural stone. I've been building and woodworking for a long time but find myself dreading this because I feel I should at least attempt to scribe and fit into mortar joints and allow for stone surface fluctuations. 

Is this something I should attempt and is it worth the extra aggravation? Or is it okay to leave gaps? Thanks for all responses.


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## mikeswoods (May 18, 2009)

Try your hand at scribing--when done well, it really looks professional.


Scribing can be done with a Jig saw or an angle grinder equipped with 60 grit disks,back to back.


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## mtnwalton (Oct 12, 2013)

I've done scribing; no problem. I'm planning on bolting the french cleat to the stones, mounting the box form and corbels flush. If i scribe then, I'd have to move the cleat to be in alignment. thanks


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## FrankC (Aug 24, 2012)

Depending on the surface texture you may want to scribe the high spots, would not worry that much about indentations, mortar lines etc., there is a shadow created and they are really not noticeable in many cases.


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## mtnwalton (Oct 12, 2013)

That's what I'm thinking now; keeping the main shelf body near eye level both the top and bottom of it may not be noticeable especially by wrapping the facing board around the sides of the stones. As far as the corbels I can scribe them easily because they will be mounted directly to the vertical 2x's. The scribing lines will be accurate and not distorted as they would have on the french cleat area.


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## Hammer1 (Aug 1, 2010)

I faced the same issue with this mantle on stone. I added a scribe to the back of the corbels. You can see it around the perimeter, placed with a reveal. I used 1x4s as vertical French cleats on the corbels and the added scribe allowed these to be hidden. The rest was just scribed in as normal.
http://www.woodworkingtalk.com/members/hammer1-14879/albums/some-projects/8066-after-fireplace/


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## mtnwalton (Oct 12, 2013)

Hammer1: Nice work; great proportion for the space.


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## Hammer1 (Aug 1, 2010)

mtnwalton said:


> Hammer1: Nice work; great proportion for the space.


Thanks, that actually took some work. I drew it to full scale on paper and held it in place. The first try was way too small. More pictures of the house and it's scale in my profile.


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