VUPDblue
Silencers Have NEVER Been Illegal !
I put this in another thread originally but thought it deserved it’s own.
So the wife wanted a new fireplace mantel to make the living room feel more “warm”, and suggested an old barn beam.
Challenge accepted.
We found a barn wood reclaiming business local to us and went to their warehouse. divineheritagebarns.com
We picked out an 11’ hand-hewn (I think white oak) beam from the late 19th century that had a ton of character. Once it came home, I cut it to length and began the looooooong process of sanding to remove the sharp edges and loose chinks. I went through probably 25 pads for my orbital sander overall, ending with 200 grit.
Wifey picked out a dark walnut colored stain and we applied that, followed by several coats of matte polycrylic.
Once the beam was finished, it was time to attach to the wall, and of course she didn’t want to have any hardware visible. To attach it, I used 5 10” x 1/2” lag bolts. I screwed them into the wall studs 4”, leaving 6” protruding, and cut off the heads. I drilled corresponding holes in the beam and then just slid the beam onto the lag posts. The friction of the posts in the holes keeps it from moving, plus it’s about 100#, so it’s not going anywhere.
Wife is happy, so I am happy! I still have almost 6’ of beam left so I’m going to come up with some other projects to use it up. Now for the pics! Before, during and after:
So the wife wanted a new fireplace mantel to make the living room feel more “warm”, and suggested an old barn beam.
Challenge accepted.
We found a barn wood reclaiming business local to us and went to their warehouse. divineheritagebarns.com
We picked out an 11’ hand-hewn (I think white oak) beam from the late 19th century that had a ton of character. Once it came home, I cut it to length and began the looooooong process of sanding to remove the sharp edges and loose chinks. I went through probably 25 pads for my orbital sander overall, ending with 200 grit.
Wifey picked out a dark walnut colored stain and we applied that, followed by several coats of matte polycrylic.
Once the beam was finished, it was time to attach to the wall, and of course she didn’t want to have any hardware visible. To attach it, I used 5 10” x 1/2” lag bolts. I screwed them into the wall studs 4”, leaving 6” protruding, and cut off the heads. I drilled corresponding holes in the beam and then just slid the beam onto the lag posts. The friction of the posts in the holes keeps it from moving, plus it’s about 100#, so it’s not going anywhere.
Wife is happy, so I am happy! I still have almost 6’ of beam left so I’m going to come up with some other projects to use it up. Now for the pics! Before, during and after: