Rhodes Ave. Woodsmith

                                  Handcrafted Wood Furniture and Custom Cabinets

Fireplace Mantle

A template was made of the wall where it's going.  It's a brick wall 80" in length that stands 12" from the outside wall.  The template (that fits snugly in the opening) gives me the size for cutting the opening on the top.

I've also made a mock-up of the wall based on the measurements taken at the house.  Now a box frame is needed and a cleat system to support the mantle has to be made and installed on the box frame.  After making the box frame and the cleats I then mounted them to the mockup wall and found something out.  The box frame needed to be wider (3 3/4" opposed to 3") and the top shelf being 8" wide would not be wide enough.  The shelf has been re-designed to 9 1/2" wide and the box frames has been rebuilt.  (Basically replaced the middle sections with wider strips and cut new sides.)

The frame goes together first... 

Together and tested on the wall mock-up.  (That thin piece on top is the template.)

At this stage the top is ready, the breastplate (8" wide) is permanently attached to the frame (first glue-up) and it does hang on the mock-up.  Since the eye will go right to the mantle in the room, it was paramount to get the corners of the breastplate crisp and clean. So we spent a good amount of time setting that up.  The top is 1" thick, wraps around the wall, and give 9 1/4" of shelf space.  Here's a pic around the frame...  (Construction Note: You'll notice that the frame is still open from the bottom. That's because I did not want to attach the bottom nailer plate on until we had the top of the mantle checked and scribed properly.  This was a pre-caution in case we had to take it apart.)

On the wall mock-up.

Check the miter corners...

Now the frame was opened up again to form pocket holes on the backside of the front frame to attach the top.  Then re-assembled the frame permanently and formed the pocket holes on the cleat that attaches to the frame.  The pocket hole joints did not receive glue to allow for movement.  Here's a shot from the backside. 

Front view

Now the Crown Molding is installed and it has been test-fitted and scribed as best as possible to fit the wall.  I did have to re-build the cleats and they are now solid poplar at 5/8" thick in the same spot as the plywood ones.  Also formed and installed the Bottom plate with a 3/8" bull nose to give a decorative look.  The bottom nailer plate was installed in the rabbets on the frame prior to installing the bottom plate you see in the picture.  The Bottom Plate was glued and nailed onto the plywood nailer plate but not the solid wood to allow for movement.

Side view...

Front corner...

Finish process starts now.  Orange Shellac with a oil based Golden Pine gel stain.  Here's the sample...

Here it's coated with de-waxed Orange Shellac.  2 coats of a 1lb cut and the crown molding got 2 coats of a 2lb cut of Orange Shellac to even the color.  Reason... Even though it's all Oak, the crown molding was from a different source and the natural color was slightly off from the rest of the mantle.  That will transfer thru the stain. By using dewaxed shellac, we can get the color variance controlled and the stain will actually penetrate the shellac keeping everything one even color.

After the shellac dried, it was hand sanded at 320 grit and I applied one coat of an oil based Golden Pine gel stain.  Then 3 coats of a oil base Urethane.

Top Side...

Front...

And...  Here it is on the wall. Permanently! 

With the Crown Molding around the top.

About 8 months later and all settled into the house, here's what it looks like.

Photos property of Rhodes Ave. Woodsmith LLC

Email questions or comments here