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Mantle “Capper” Project Complete & Installed
The Mantle Capper Project that originally began as a thread in the Design Forum and has been detailed through construction in another thread is now complete and installed...at least it's placed on the fireplace with a little minor adjustment and support to be done before it's fixed permanently in place.
This was a pleasing project as it offered the opportunity to once again do the "hand cut dovetail thing" as well as work on something large in scale. Everything about the 22' x 25" great room room is big...the fireplace, the space (the cross beams are 12' off the floor), etc., so this mantle cap/top follows suite. It's 104" wide and 20.5" deep. The apron is about 6" high and the top is 2 3/8" "thick".
I normally don't do anything to cherry to affect the color other than oil and garnet shellac, but because there is very little natural light that will fall on this piece, I used some WB dye (left over from the armoire project) to "age" the wood a little. From there the finish was a liberal application of BLO followed by one application of Tried & True oil/beeswax and a final finish coat of Mylands beeswax. The finish is silky smooth and picks up both the color of the wide, "pumpkin pine" flooring and the new lights that hang down over the dining table. (Those were also installed today...)
Overall, I'm pleased with this project. Would I do anything different? I probably would have used something more inexpensive for the "field" of the top than the $83 piece of cherry veneered MDF core since the top is only visible from the loft/library, but otherwise, I'd not change any techniques.
On to the next project...whatever that turns out to be! (And yes, those horribly designed barnwood cabinets and shelves on either side of the fireplace will go away someday...it's on the project list)