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"Beam" me up Scotty! - Problems with the Heisenberg compensator!

Rennie Heuer

Rennie Heuer

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Constantine, MI
Been trying for a few weeks to come up with an idea for my fireplace mantle. Found this Doug Fir beam on Crag's list - 6 x 10 by 16'. Not bad for $75!

I ran it through the planner a couple of times just to get an idea of what I was working with. Not bad!:D The shorter piece will go for some fill in - hard to explain - I'll show it when it happens. The longer will be the mantel and run across the top of built in cabinets on either side of the fireplace. A little over 10' in length. I'll slice off a bit on the band saw to make it about 4 1/4" thick.

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Now be careful around any helpers, that is what Tim the Tool Man knocked out ole Bob Vila with, a big hunk of Doug Fir!! :eek::rofl::rofl::rofl:
Something about a hulking hunk of wood isn't there! Nice buy.
 
I'm sure it will look good over your fireplace! :thumb:

Can't wait to see the finished product.

French cleat for attaching it? :huh:
 
Brent Dowell said:
I'm sure it will look good over your fireplace! :thumb:

Can't wait to see the finished product.

French cleat for attaching it? :huh:
Click to expand...

Vaughn McMillan said:
The beam is the French cleat. You should see the walnut mantel he's gonna hang from it. :D
Click to expand...

Don Baer said:
Now I did a big French cleat but no where near as big as that one, Mine was only 4 feet long and 6"wide x 2" deep. I wanna see the piece he attaches to that.
Click to expand...
Actually, no cleat, no need to attach it to the fireplace, except to steady it a little. I have cabinets on either side of the fireplace that sit out past the front. The beam will span the distance between the cases with its weight supported by the boxes. I need only support the beam from sagging (not much chance on a 70" span). That's why I wanted one solid piece of timber.:thumb:
 
A friend came over this morning to help me do the initial machining on the beam/mantle. First we sent it through the planer to get one flat face. Then we put that face against the fence on the jointer to get a flat edge that would sit right on the band saw. The band saw operation went a little wonky because the large knots forced the blade over about 1/8". Not a problem, I was slicing it over sized any way. After the band saw it was back to the planer to true up the second face. The mantle is now about 1/4" thicker than the finished product will be. I brought it inside and placed it where it will eventually wind up. It will sit there for the next 3 weeks acclimating. After Thanksgiving I'll machine it down to finished size.....providing it hasn't twisted up like a pretzel!
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