Mantelpiece - almost finished - Photos

[LarryS.]

Hi all,

We're currently in the process of updating / decorating the whole house. One job I'd volunteered for was making a mentlpiece / fire surround for the living room.

So, went for Oak (solid, not MDF veneered), note quite finished yet but pictures attached :

Then to get on with the mantelpiece itself, firstly needed to get a straight edge on it :

then over to the bandsaw which the management requested that I cut an engled and wavy edge, bit of a physical struggle (considering the weight on the wood) :

One of the new xmas presents was a mobile base for it which has made the bandsaw so much easier to use, should have bought such a base a long time ago :

The result is a nice wavy edged board (which still needs sanding) :

Three of the main pieces in place and glued, waiting to put the mantepiece on tomorrow :

 

[PowerTool]

Looks nice so far (I love oak!) - looking forward to seeing the finished article.

Andrew

 

[joiner_sim]

Looking great! Nice to see someone's usingthe time off work wisely I want to get working on a bed headboard before I go back to work if I can, but just can't see it happening at the moment, the workshop is scarely cold!

 

[LarryS.]

Looking great! Nice to see someone's usingthe time off work wisely I want to get working on a bed headboard before I go back to work if I can, but just can't see it happening at the moment, the workshop is scarely cold!

in spring last year i spent a day putting insulation in between the rafters of the roof, cost £40. Made a massive difference. Out there today with my 2kw oil filled radiator and was toasty warm, in fact too warm when i turned the extractor on (surprising how much heat that pumps out)

 

[OPJ]

Looks good so far, Paul. I like the waney-edge idea. Could you not have cleaned up the "natural" waney-edge on the board or am I looking at two different lengths of timber? You could tilt the table on your new bobbin sander :wink: or, if you've got one of those sanding drums/bobbins to fit in a cordless drill, they're supposed to be good for this kind of work.

The oak looks very good too. Did you get it from Interesting Timbers? They always seem to have good quality oak. Brown oak's another one to look out for, absolutely beautiful! Might be something to consider for a future project. :wink:

What happened to the guard on your table saw??? :shock:

 

[LarryS.]

Looks good so far, Paul. I like the waney-edge idea. Could you not have cleaned up the "natural" waney-edge on the board or am I looking at two different lengths of timber?

the natural edge was very very rough and I wasn't sure how to get it smooth without a huge amount of work, therefore I cut a parallel edge with the bandsaw which gave me an almost smooth surface to start with

You could tilt the table on your new bobbin sander :wink: or, if you've got one of those sanding drums/bobbins to fit in a cordless drill, they're supposed to be good for this kind of work.

your comment inspired me to finally get the bobbin sander out of its wrapping (haven't touched it since I bought it 2 months ago), it worked an absolute treat, picture attached :

The oak looks very good too. Did you get it from Interesting Timbers? They always seem to have good quality oak.

yup, bought about 6 weeks ago and has been drying in the living room ever since, hope 6 weeks was long enough but I am about to find out !

What happened to the guard on your table saw??? :shock:

lucky i didn't take a picture 2 minutes later when the riving knife was gone too

attached is a couple of pictures of the piece with the top now added after running it over the spindle sander :

one niggle was the right hand side pillar front piece I had cut about 1.5mm too short, so at the top is showing a gap, so tonight I used some sawdust and pva glue pixed up to plug the gap which I will then sand tomorrow :

now wondering what finish to use, thinking of clear varnish unless anyone can think of something better ? (want to keep the light colour of the oak if we can)

 

[Escudo]

Smashing mantle Paul, I like the waney edge on the top.

As regards finish I have had some success using danish oil on oak, which enhances the natural colour of the timber. Three + coats and then a wax finish. Very easy to apply and maintain.

I would however check and give thought to whether this type of finish is appropriate near the heat of the fire?

Cheers, Tony.

 

[Waka]

Paul

Like the waney edge, well like it all really, what's the finish?

 

[woodbloke]

Looking good...just a shame to my eye that there's a knot right in the middle of the main horizontal piece and all the other components appear to be knot free. I think I might have tried to juggle the bits around so that the knot was at least hidden somewhere not too prominent - Rob

 

[Woody Alan]

Looking good Paul

Danish oil, like Tony suggests is a nice finish. I would certainly recommend Osmo poly x satin it is so easy to apply. The only downside is the price but then you get what you pay for. We have a company in Norwich http://www.classicfinishes.co.uk/index.htm
who supply smaller quantities of industrial finishes like Barfords Aquacote if I understand correctly is like Osmo. If you want a finish which is less likely to add a warm tinge then use a water based varnish (acrylic) When first applied it will raise the grain a bit and fell horrible to the touch rub well back put on another coat and it still doesn't seem nice, rub back again and the next coat is lovely and smooth.

Hope that gives you some thought.
Alan

 

[OPJ]

I do agree with Rob's comment on the knot. Although, some people like to hang and fix 'things' to their mantlepieces - if you're planning to do the same then, I guess you can hide it and it won't matter? :wink:

Another option would be to drill or rout it out and plug it... If you don't get the grain spot on though, it will stick out like a sore thumb! :?

Any oil finish will only darken the timber. Water based finishes are good, as are spirit based, I believe (they also dry faster than water-based).

 

[LarryS.]

Looking good...just a shame to my eye that there's a knot right in the middle of the main horizontal piece and all the other components appear to be knot free. I think I might have tried to juggle the bits around so that the knot was at least hidden somewhere not too prominent - Rob

it does looka bit odd on the photo but we specifically chose that piece of wood because of the knot, around it there is a lovely pattern whith some nice colours to it

sounds like water based finish is the way to go, I alreayd have some osmo plywax and know it darkens wood and I want to avoid that if I can (as it looks so nice with its natural colour). Any recommendations for a water based finish ?

 

[woodbloke]

Looking good...just a shame to my eye that there's a knot right in the middle of the main horizontal piece and all the other components appear to be knot free. I think I might have tried to juggle the bits around so that the knot was at least hidden somewhere not too prominent - Rob

it does looka bit odd on the photo but we specifically chose that piece of wood because of the knot, around it there is a lovely pattern whith some nice colours to it

sounds like water based finish is the way to go, I alreayd have some osmo plywax and know it darkens wood and I want to avoid that if I can (as it looks so nice with its natural colour). Any recommendations for a water based finish ?

...design feature then? Fair enoughski :wink: - Rob

 

[eggflan]

Looks really nice , i like simple designs like this with no fancy stuff taking your eye from the grain in the timbers . As for the knot i think it looks great and so much more natural than a plain flat piece, it shows that it is solid lump of wood rather than a man made finish , i know i would have left that knot in :wink:

 

[OPJ]

Chestnut do a good range of wood finishes (as do Liberon and Rustins). I've used a couple of their sanding sealers and waxes in the past year and have been suitably impressed with the results. Dead easy to apply, too.

 

[Lord Nibbo]

I can't see the problem with the knot :shock: Wood has knots, so what? If you don't want knots use MDF :twisted: :roll: It's a feature of real wood aint it ? Any way by the time your swmbo has covered the mantle with nick knacks you won't even notice any knots :lol:

Lovely job by the way. =D>

 

[Mattty]

Nice job, and a lovely bit of Q/S for the top. =D>