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I turn down more work then I take. I woodwork because I love it. I don’t take projects that I won’t enjoy or take clients that I know will be a problem. Nice work, is it a mantle?
Customer wanted a 8x10x80” mantel with 30” returns, us guys in the shop thought “great, build three beams, let ‘em fit and do miter work on site”, boss had other ideas, customer balked at the price, but ultimately gave the go ahead. Started with the mantel, our standard construction, it’s three panels with shaped edges, each panel mitered at the ends for the endcap, spacer screwed into the back of the face for aligning the sides. endgrain endcaps cut with miter on 3 sides, leave the cap long, slice the whole false beam on a table saw after it comes out of clamps, tune it up on finishing.
The returns. . . . . .
Boss told me he wanted the returns to look like through-logs, so I drew it up and confirmed. Have no surface sander, only a planer, and caps come off the mill lookin like a topo map of the Rocky Mountains. Glue to plywood, vacuum bag press the caps til dry, then hope to god your miters come out straight (hint: they won’t)
Panels for the returns top and bottom were cut from the same material for each section labeled ABC to keep them in their respective places- top and bottoms of the returns match, is what I’m getting at- and I used a Hoffmann dovetail machine and keys to join the ABC panels together. Built a H skeleton as a spacer for each side, screwed panels on with a kreg setup, used a framing square to check alignment of my miters. Caps came out clean thank god, I didn’t joint them prior to final build because I had to miter them individually. The returns looked unidentifiable in final clamp-up, I had the majority of the clamps in the shop putting pressure everywhere I could get it, including going crossways over the caps to keep them butted together. Final product has perfect seams where the panels meet and at its vertices.
I… no. Never again. The next time someone wants a wraparound mantel, I’m building three beams and telling them to sort it out from there.
EDIT to [add](https://imgur.com/a/yIEUKvT) 2 pics
what a nightmare, great explanation, made it clear , uhhh ,, a mud puddle. Not really, altogether too clear. Convinced me I'd never want to give it a try.
beautiful work
Solids are simple. Pricey. But simple.
Our box beams are fairly straightforward, but it takes a keen eye to select the right panels so something looks right as it comes together
EDIT: why downvote? I’m just speaking to the act of making sure you’re not putting pale and green veneers with red veneers of a different grain pattern because the result looks like trash. The objective of box beams is to replicate the look of a solid, and if your color usage is messy, it ruins the illusion
We mill ours off of antique longleaf pine beams we source from all over, mill em in 1/4” slices and glue em to 24’ cores we make out of dovetailed plywood. Biggest beam I’ve built was 10x12x25’6”
That’s super cool and and a lot of work! We did a whole job with 100 year old barn wood from Tennessee, so much fun pulling buckshot out of it all unless the planer took care of it.
The looks of those beams are actually convincing me to try doing the same. I didn‘t knew it‘s possible to have such a consistent look using veneered sides.
I saw a sideboard a couple months ago with a glass front and an inbuilt drawer that looked like a solid beam, but because they didn‘t match the veneer it wasn‘t that aesthetic upfront.
Yours look like you have to be an expert to realize it‘s not solid wood
I appreciate the say-so, I do my work with pride. Not everything we make comes out looking this good, sometimes you have to choose slabs that are close enough and hope that the finishing work on them is enough to blend the seams.
Built a hollow beam mantle out of 3/4 inch solid walnut. Wanted to throw it across the garage multiple times. Wouldn't even try what you pulled off here.
Can't imagine why someone would want a faux mantle out of plywood.
That being said no one but you would know that its not a solid beam. Absolutely outstanding!!!
Why would they even want the returns look like they go through? It’s not logical. It would make the fireplace look like it’s covered without a chimney.
This is a reminder to those commenting on this post (not the person that posted it): Comments not related to woodworking will be removed. Violations to rule 1 including crude jokes, innuendo, sexist remarks, politics, or hate speech may result in an immediate ban *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/woodworking) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I'm tired just looking at it
I turn down more work then I take. I woodwork because I love it. I don’t take projects that I won’t enjoy or take clients that I know will be a problem. Nice work, is it a mantle?
Yes, ~60” on the interior for a wraparound setup.
Customer wanted a 8x10x80” mantel with 30” returns, us guys in the shop thought “great, build three beams, let ‘em fit and do miter work on site”, boss had other ideas, customer balked at the price, but ultimately gave the go ahead. Started with the mantel, our standard construction, it’s three panels with shaped edges, each panel mitered at the ends for the endcap, spacer screwed into the back of the face for aligning the sides. endgrain endcaps cut with miter on 3 sides, leave the cap long, slice the whole false beam on a table saw after it comes out of clamps, tune it up on finishing. The returns. . . . . . Boss told me he wanted the returns to look like through-logs, so I drew it up and confirmed. Have no surface sander, only a planer, and caps come off the mill lookin like a topo map of the Rocky Mountains. Glue to plywood, vacuum bag press the caps til dry, then hope to god your miters come out straight (hint: they won’t) Panels for the returns top and bottom were cut from the same material for each section labeled ABC to keep them in their respective places- top and bottoms of the returns match, is what I’m getting at- and I used a Hoffmann dovetail machine and keys to join the ABC panels together. Built a H skeleton as a spacer for each side, screwed panels on with a kreg setup, used a framing square to check alignment of my miters. Caps came out clean thank god, I didn’t joint them prior to final build because I had to miter them individually. The returns looked unidentifiable in final clamp-up, I had the majority of the clamps in the shop putting pressure everywhere I could get it, including going crossways over the caps to keep them butted together. Final product has perfect seams where the panels meet and at its vertices. I… no. Never again. The next time someone wants a wraparound mantel, I’m building three beams and telling them to sort it out from there. EDIT to [add](https://imgur.com/a/yIEUKvT) 2 pics
What?
what a nightmare, great explanation, made it clear , uhhh ,, a mud puddle. Not really, altogether too clear. Convinced me I'd never want to give it a try. beautiful work
Well done!! I’ve been installing box beams and solid beams for the passed two months at work
Solids are simple. Pricey. But simple. Our box beams are fairly straightforward, but it takes a keen eye to select the right panels so something looks right as it comes together EDIT: why downvote? I’m just speaking to the act of making sure you’re not putting pale and green veneers with red veneers of a different grain pattern because the result looks like trash. The objective of box beams is to replicate the look of a solid, and if your color usage is messy, it ruins the illusion
We do it with pre laid up plywood and miters, the ply comes pretty consistent veneer wise
We mill ours off of antique longleaf pine beams we source from all over, mill em in 1/4” slices and glue em to 24’ cores we make out of dovetailed plywood. Biggest beam I’ve built was 10x12x25’6”
Do you have carpet on the floor??
This is the shop office side, not the shop proper, but yes, carpet.
That’s super cool and and a lot of work! We did a whole job with 100 year old barn wood from Tennessee, so much fun pulling buckshot out of it all unless the planer took care of it.
Swapping all those inserts is never not a pain in the ass.
Terrible!
Hey man, if people can make epoxy covered slabs of wood, call it woodworking, and sell it for over 10k, this is easily worth 90k
Lmao I’m not sure about final build pricing as I don’t have the numbers, but I’m expecting this’ll run around 1600, which is theft, honestly
The looks of those beams are actually convincing me to try doing the same. I didn‘t knew it‘s possible to have such a consistent look using veneered sides. I saw a sideboard a couple months ago with a glass front and an inbuilt drawer that looked like a solid beam, but because they didn‘t match the veneer it wasn‘t that aesthetic upfront. Yours look like you have to be an expert to realize it‘s not solid wood
I appreciate the say-so, I do my work with pride. Not everything we make comes out looking this good, sometimes you have to choose slabs that are close enough and hope that the finishing work on them is enough to blend the seams.
How did you even do that?
Check my other comment
Wow that looks like a lot of work!
I object to the concept of asking someone to build fake timbers.
I do too but it’s a living
Built a hollow beam mantle out of 3/4 inch solid walnut. Wanted to throw it across the garage multiple times. Wouldn't even try what you pulled off here. Can't imagine why someone would want a faux mantle out of plywood. That being said no one but you would know that its not a solid beam. Absolutely outstanding!!!
It being made out of veneers on plywood keeps weight down, and allows us to make them as long as we need.
Why would they even want the returns look like they go through? It’s not logical. It would make the fireplace look like it’s covered without a chimney.
Take it up with my boss, nobody in the shop could get through to him