Oak fireplace mantle progress pics

[Bryan Cowing]

This is a first time posting here for me. Thought I would share a few pictures of my oak mantle I am working on in our family room. The builder of our house placed the gas fireplace on a raised 2x6 floor and framed and drywalled into a corner of the family room. After being in the house two years I thought I had better get at it. Swmbo had put up with the painted drywall and aspenite and 2x6's showing long enough. I made a 3/4" covering from some oak planks for the 18" of floor showing ( was supposed to be 8", but the carpenters info went missing so they just made up their own sizes! ). Next I made some raised panel sections and assembled a flat section together for over the firebox. I then turned some 6"x6"x13" blocks for the top and bottom of the columns using a vega copier. A 5"x28" round section was then beaded on the lathe. I liked the look of fireplaces with columns ever since veiwing an open house of a house built around 1910. I topped it with a laminated 3" thick top.
Swmbo is now talking about adding some dentil and crown moulding between the posts so I still have a little work to do before staining and finishing. :D

[Dale Rodabaugh]

Hey Bryan,welome to the creek.That is one beautiful job.:cool: :rolleyes: :)

[Todd Davidson]

Great job! I think the 18" worked out to your advantage. I forsee a firewood/kindling holder in your future.

[Jim Becker]

That really looks great, Bryan. 'Nice use of the indexing feature on the lathe to do the columns, too.

[Richard Wolf]

Great job, I really like the pilasters.

Richard

[Keith Burns]

Welcome and WOW ! That is one great mantle.

[Joe Blankshain]

Great job on the surround and the pillasters look cool. Keep up the good work and welcome to the creek

[Dan Oliphant]

Wonderfull looking surround, well documented and displayed. Your pillasters do indeed make the unit stand out, great job.

[Corey Hallagan]

I would imagine your wife says that was worth the wait. Very striking surround and mantle. The lathe work is excellent. Beautiful job!

Corey

[Vaughn McMillan]

Beautiful work, Bryan. The fluted columns came out very nice.

A re-do of our mantle is one of the things on my future projects list. The one we have now is painted hardboard paneling...even a hack like me can do better than painted hardboard paneling.

Thanks for sharing -

- Vaughn

[Dan Forman]

Bryan---That's really exceptional work, adds a lot to the room.

Dan

[Rob Russell]

Great job! I think the 18" worked out to your advantage. I forsee a firewood/kindling holder in your future.

I agree that Bryan did a geat job!

Question though - why would they need a firewood/kindling box for a gas fireplace?

[Bryan Cowing]

I agree that Bryan did a geat job!

Question though - why would they need a firewood/kindling box for a gas fireplace?
Swmbo would want it for decoration, LOL! :D Thanks everyone for the coments! :)

[Scott Loven]

Did you replace the fire box, or is that just more trim on the front?
Any permit issues with the wood being so close to the fire place?
How dod you secure the stone?
Looks great!
Scott

[Jeff Sudmeier]

Bryan, great job on the mantel, it looks wonderful! I really like the posts.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Bryan....nice mantle! Great attention to detail! BTW Welcome to the Creek!

[Bryan Cowing]

Did you replace the fire box, or is that just more trim on the front?
Any permit issues with the wood being so close to the fire place?
How dod you secure the stone?
Looks great!
Scott
Its a new zero clearence gas fireplace by Vermont Castings. The 3/8" thick marble tile is glued on. :D

[Bruce Page]

Bryan, welcome to SMC. You took a plain Jane looking fireplace and turned it into a class act! Be sure to post pictures of the finish!

[Todd Davidson]

I agree that Bryan did a geat job!

Question though - why would they need a firewood/kindling box for a gas fireplace?

For decoration (thanks for bailing me out Bryan :D ). Either I missed the gas part or - after my 15th 12 hour work day - it just didn't register.

[scott spencer]

That's beautiful Bryan....you should post more often! Welcome aboard!

[Jules Dominguez]

Very attractive.