Sorta Duck related.
My daughter moved into a new, (to them), home this past spring. In the purchase agreement, the previous owner was to remove the fireplace mantel and take it with her because of it's sentimental value. When my daughter and Son-in-Law moved into the house, I was subtly "voluntold" to build her a new mantel.
While spending a few months doing plenty of "Daddy-do" things around her house, painting, flooring, new roof with tear off, and on and on, I thought about exactly what to do with the mantel. Then an idea hit me- why don't I get HER opinion! After a while she sent me several photos of rustic, very simple rough-sawn mantels. I was figuring on doing something really fancy with plenty of mouldings- crown, dentil, and the like in an ornate show of artistic craftsmanship. Obviously when she said she wanted something simple and rustic, I had to change my thinking.
Here's the Duck related part- while Duck hunting on opening day at my favorite little Marsh, it hit me. This property I'm writing about, is actually a club grounds on which my kids grew up on. We all spent many a day "down there" for functions ranging from Dog Shows, to Field Trials, to graduation parties, weddings, and all kinds of functions, and even a little camping, shooting, hunting and fishing. Anyways, while hunting, I noticed a few dead pine trees at the edge of the water. When I finished up, I wandered over to check them out. I figure these still standing trees have been dead for several years. Devoid of limbs and bark, yet solid and in pretty good shape. Perfect for a new rough-sawn mantel I thought. In fact, I could kill two birds with one stone, as I am also in need of a few rough-sawn beams at our house too. Over the summer, I constructed a new roof structure over our rear entrance door. I wanted to use rough sawn Cedar for a post and beam look, then I priced it and got sticker shock! I proposed this idea to my Daughter, who emphatically agreed it would be great to have some of this wood with such sentimental value to her. Then to add even more sentiment, the gentleman who sawed them up for us, also sells us our Christmas Trees every year. He's a really sweet older retired aged gentleman who just loves my daughter, and she adores him.
Pines are off to the left-
A couple weeks ago, I commandeered my Son-in Law for some additional muscle, loaded the chain saw and related tools into my pick up and motored down to the "Dog Club". It didn't take me long to cut down and size up what I needed for this little project. To make it even more sweet, the little old tree man agreed to meet me that same afternoon to take them off my hands.
The following Saturday, I went and picked up the beams and posts. He was even kind enough to hack out the brackets for me after I drew the design. I took them home, unloaded into the shop. Then sorted thru to pick out the mantel piece. After getting the stain color approved, I stained and applied a couple coats of polyurethane to it and the brackets.
This afternoon, after a mildly successful Duck Hunting outing, I installed the pieces.
I wanted to hide the mounting bolts without plugs, so this is what I came up with. Key-slots and holes large enough behind them for the wrench to tighten. These hole produced a LOT of sawdust!
To install, all I had to do was layout it all out, drill, start the LDTs, fit the brackets, tighten the LDTs, then place the mantel on top. I then drilled thru the mantel and installed a couple 5" screws to hold it all together.
My daughter is ecstatic over the whole ordeal, especially given the story behind it all. It does look pretty nice, and it fits into her décor nicely. AND she said, if SHE ever moves, this mantel will go with her to the new home!
Thanks for looking,
Jon
