# Mantle



## Mr Mac (May 31, 2010)

When we bought our place last year, we knew the fire box area needed some updating. The same trim around the stone is found all over the house and there was just too much of it in the living room, so, we fixed it! 

Almost every surface in the house is pine. Walls, floors, ceiling and door/window trim and my Better 9/10ths thought it would be best to break up the party and add some oak. I'm okay with that, so...here is the journey that took us from this:


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## Mr Mac (May 31, 2010)

I took a trip to Suwanee Lumber down south of us in Suwanee, GA as they have some of the best pricing around for hardwoods and the S4S white oak was quite easy on the pocket book, so I grabbed about 50 bd ft of it for this and another pair of projects. 

Once I got home I took the time to demo the old trim after my youngest son finished painting the stone walls and floor according to The Better 9/10ths wishes. This stuff came off too easy!


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## Mr Mac (May 31, 2010)

I then got to work in the shop starting with the vertical pieces for each side. Before I cut in to the oak, however, I grabbed some pine scraps I had and made some test cuts and dry fit everything together to make sure my table saw was set up right and prove my methods.


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## Mr Mac (May 31, 2010)

Once that was set and ready to go, I then got to the fancy part of the verticals and decided on some beaded boards to fit under some purchased corbels. I got out my trusty molding head cutter set and adjusted the saw accordingly and did some test cuts again proving I was centered on the board enough to not have to change the fence position, but just flip the board and run it a second time.

The sound of this thing is a great reminder to keep your fingers clear and watch your depth!


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## Mr Mac (May 31, 2010)

With all those cuts completed, it was time to attach it all together. I elected to use glue and screws wherever possible since this was going to be bear a heat source. While the stove and chimney don't get hot enough to ignite the wood, I surely don't want the glue to fail either!

I then made bases for the vertical pieces and then sanded the crap out of everything, stained it with Minwax English Chestnut, then hand rubbed a satin poly with 220 and 320 grit bfore mounting it all to the wall using cleats, glue and finish nails.


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## Mr Mac (May 31, 2010)

Next it was time for the shelf. She didn't want it thin as the size of the room dictated something with some mass, so I made the shelf with a top and bottom with a 1.5" wide piece separating the two. The shelf is just under 12 inches wide so I did have to use the jointer and some pocket screws to complete the four halves. I then cut one of my 45s for the corner, grabbed the other bottom piece and made sure my corners would be tight by scribing that line. I then cut it all on the RAS, the perfect tool for that!

Once those were all cut, I went back to the molding head cutter and cut the edge details on the four pieces before joining them together.

Lots more glue and nails, and a repeat of the finish work.


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## Mr Mac (May 31, 2010)

Since the stone veneer adds thickness to the wall and the transition just wouldn't look right to the eye, I picked up some QS oak and then also cut some boards to fit behind the shelf just to add more mass and take some of the visual impact of the stone away and force you to the wood. 

Once those were cured I mounted the QS pieces to the trim left that surrounds the stone using construction cement and screws. I then used the same to mount the upper backer board and then some cleats for the shelves using a scrap piece as a spacer to set the thickness.


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## Mr Mac (May 31, 2010)

Finally, I mounted the shelf pieces to the ledge created by the QS pieces and joined the corners with some cleats I had inside the hollow sections at the 45s. The shelf was secured to the corbels with 1.25" screws from the bottom of the corbel shelf ledge and to the wall cleats from under the shelf where they cannot be seen without a flashlight and a purposeful search. And this is where we ended up.


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## Sicle Stix (Sep 8, 2018)

Wow, beautiful work.


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## pro70z28 (Feb 26, 2018)

Nice job. Breaks it up a little, makes the fireplace stand out. 

I believe we used those same corbels on our foyer window shelf.


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## Mr Mac (May 31, 2010)

Thanks. I think the next step is to paint the walls to help break it up some more and then it will stand out even better. As for painting, don't worry, like I said, every room is pine flooring, walls and ceiling, we can stand a room to be painted!


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## Pineknot_86 (Feb 19, 2016)

Mr. Mac, instead of painting the whole wall, consider painting the wall either over the top or the bottom of a chair rail. Breaks up the wood appearance and give a bit of "variety" in the ambience of the room. We have a chair rail in out kitchen. Wife painted a pastel color with a sponge from the baseboard to the chair rail to give it a texture in contrast to the smooth finish of the paint. Just a thought.
The fireplace looks great! My complements on a well-thought project and final appearance.


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## bargoon (Apr 20, 2016)

Nice work.


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## terryh (Nov 11, 2013)

Looks very nice. I wonder though about the separation from the metal chimney. What’s the code requirement for separation from combustible materials?


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## Mr Mac (May 31, 2010)

terryh said:


> Looks very nice. I wonder though about the separation from the metal chimney. What’s the code requirement for separation from combustible materials?


I can put my hand on the chimney when the box is full of burning oak. As for code, the fine folks at the county said, "if it ain't too hot, you'll be okay." So... :wink:


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## Metalriff84 (Oct 11, 2018)

Wow! Amazing work. I'm actually on a Mantle project right now. But much different. We have a gas stove, set in the wall, so we're installing two shelves, one huge mantle set on Iron brackets, and a lower one which will have an Iron bar directly under it for drying wet cloths and what not during the winter. The part I'm looking forward to however, is the paneling. I have a nice Wenge piece for some bookmatching, and some zebrawood to set up as trim.

Although, I was considering a wood burning stove for my back porch rebuild for next summer, and you've certainly given me some food for thought on this.


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