Making your own mantlepiece

[stavrosk83]

HI folks, i was wondering if anyone has any experience of building their own mantlepiece over the fire.

The pre-manifactured ones are pretty expensive, and we were thinking the design we want is very simple and minimalist, so what not consider doing it ourselves.

What were looking to create is a simple goalpost shape in heavy timber sections, about 150 x 150mm, if you immagine something like sleepers to forma goalpost shape. Overall this would be about 900 x 900mm approx to fit our small fireplace.

Can anyone suggest a good place to source this sort of timber, ideally in the central scotland area. Were looking for as dark a wood as possible, i've seen plenty of places to get oak but what might be a suitable dark wood.

I can try source some images if this is a little hazy.

Thanks for your help!

 

[regsmyth]

Well yew might be dark enough for you, beautiful grain.
Any local joiner/timber merchant/tree surgeon should be able to point you in the right direction.

If you get unseasoned timber, it will distort and possibly split when drying out. You might like the effect. I'm sure they didn't worry too much about a few splits in the past.

The trick is to make the shelf strong enough for kids to hang on it, as it's just at that sort of height. So you'll need to decide on how to do that - some of the premade kits have horrible twirly wooden blocks, you could be more adventurous than that.

 

[joe-90]

Why not use sleepers? They aren't all impregnated with tar.

 

[^woody^]

I'm just doing this now.

The surround is being made out of 18mm MDF to form thick (but hollow) sections, and then it will be veneered.

 

[stavrosk83]

The veneering mdf sounds interesting, how would that work, what would you be putting on top of the mdf?

I've seen a couple of websites from suppliers who can deliver either sleepers or other timber of similar size. As mentioned in a post above, is it ok to use a 'green' timber rather than kiln dried? I take it the only main difference is the stability of the wood and its tendancy to split form cracks on the surface for texture when it dries out?

 

[Patochik]

The veneering mdf sounds interesting, how would that work, what would you be putting on top of the mdf?

I've seen a couple of websites from suppliers who can deliver either sleepers or other timber of similar size. As mentioned in a post above, is it ok to use a 'green' timber rather than kiln dried? I take it the only main difference is the stability of the wood and its tendancy to split form cracks on the surface for texture when it dries out?

Green timber is very likely to split, twist and generally change drastically in appearence when used in this type of application. The moisture content of green timber can be upwards of 100% and the equilibrium moisture content of your front room near your fire is likelty to be in the high single figures, or maybe 8-10% or so.

The timber will expend moisture when in situ, and as a result will shrink (and crack) and probably distort sectionally. You need to be aware of this, and also be aware that any fixings/accompanying products are likely to be affected by these dimensional changes.

 

[gregers]

i made my fire place out of something very close to solid teak(old science bench tops)and made box sections and biscuit jointed it all together,as it was well seasoned i didnt need to worry about movement,stained to the colour of the wooden framed suite and a couple of coats of natural wax.
job was a good'en,

have you tried your local reclaimation yard for some decent well seasoned timber that you can complete your project on.probably better quality then buying new?.

 

[regsmyth]

The veneering mdf sounds interesting, how would that work, what would you be putting on top of the mdf?

You buy sheets of veneer (1mm thick, sliced off a lump of real wood) and glue them onto the mdf. Done correctly, it will look just like solid timber, but without the movement/bowing/splitting that you will likely get with large sections, even if they are kiln dried. But you can't get the end grain effect in veneer, so that's to bear in mind.

I've seen a couple of websites from suppliers who can deliver either sleepers or other timber of similar size.

Phone your local timber stockists and ask them.

I take it the only main difference is the stability of the wood and its tendancy to split form cracks on the surface for texture when it dries out

Green timber will be very hard to get a smooth surface, and you won't be able to varnish it successfully.
Even if it's planed while green, it will shrink as it dries and not stay completely flat.
However, there's nothing to stop you just oiling it, basically just to stop it absorbing anything that might cause stains.

Another option is to find a good hardwood supplier and pay them a visit.
They will have large thick boards drying out slowly and you might pick one out and ask them to plane it up for you. It might actually be quite dry. You might have to get them to machine it up to your sizes.

You mention a size of 150 x 150. If you looking for chunky rough sawn, you can probably get this sort of thing quite readily. Try fencing suppliers.
Again, this won't give you a beautiful grain and smooth surface, but it might be just the look you're looking for.