SOLD TO RON C.
This mantel has the deep, dark natural patina that we hope for in white oak. White oak is an interesting wood in that is starts out with a wheatish-tan, but can become very dark when exposed to the ammonia in a barn environment. The face of this one has nice flowing grains, great color, and a few nail holes. The top and bottom each have a filled, original mortise hole where other beams once connected to this one. The top also has a patch of heavy nail scars. The bottom has a lighter color and sports a few circle saw marks. Finally, on the left side, you can see a nice tenon with an original peg hole.

This one could use one more coat of finish to increase the sheen a notch — not overly so, but just enough. We’ll do that before it ships.

The wood for this beam came from an old barn near Green Isle, Minnesota. We think, but have not confirmed, that this is an old Pinske Barn. We know Pete Pinske, who was a 3rd generation barn builder. His grandfather started building barns in the late 1800s. The Pinske’s were early pioneers of doing hip-roof barns. The hip-roof allowed the farmer to store more hay in the building. Pinske’s were probably building the hip roof barns 20 years before they were popular. The Pinske’s were also very good about selecting trees for lumber in the winter time. This gave them an advantage to build more barns in the summer time with better lumber. Pete recently helped build a house for his grand-nephew where they reclaimed wood from one of the original barns that Pete’s grandfather built. They used old material for cabinets and other decor. So the wood ended up traveling 5 generations. A nice article about Karl Pinske’s house can be found on-line.

Note, this white oak is 100% natural color. There is a finish coat of a penetrating oil – Rubio Monocoat, but there is not any stain applied. This natural color change very pronounced in white oak in particular.

This mantel is 64 inches and is priced at $100/LF. We are happy to cut this down to any length and reduce the price by $8.33 per inch, up to a $100 discount.