— ON HOLD for CHRSTINE in PA 12/23/2016–
— Please do not add to your cart. If you like this one, please contact us and we can share photographs of other ones that may be good fit for you.–

This is a really nice hand hewn fireplace mantel beam. The front face has some curious, variable color ranging from a a yellowish-tan, right up through sienna brown, and black nail stains. The hand hewing (those marks made from an original settler swinging an axe in the 1800s) is nice — not overly strong and not overly light. The texture really is picture perfect — and original. There’s no “distressing” in our shop. It is all real.

The top side has been cut to remove some excessive rot. While we warmed up the color a bit, it is still a little lighter. (we could darken it up a little more if you’d like). The cut top provides a nice flat surface for all of your family photos and decorations.

The bottom and face are very similar in color and texture. This piece has a slight tapered on both edges — the remains of the original round tree edges. Along those edges, there is visible lighter colored sapwood (the wood that runs right beneath the bark). The bottom also has an original peg hole that we left unfilled. It is a nice bit of original character.

On the end grain (on the photos of the tape measure), you can see how incredibly tight the these growth rings are on this piece. There as some areas there that look like really tough drought years. On a quick count, I spied about 85 growth rings. Assuming this building was build in the late 1800s, this tree could have very well been born in the 1700s. In Wisconsin, that mean that American Indians were really the only only human inhabitants of the area. On the East coast, the Revolutionary war had probably just come to a close. (I tried to look up a historic rainfall chart, but it only goes back to 1885 — about when this tree was cut).

The color on this mantel is all natural. We apply a hardwax oil on the mantel to enrich the color, but we do not add any additional stain.

This mantel beam came from a late 1800s vintage barn near Southwest Wisconsin — out in the beautiful rolling hills. It is always nice to head out to this part of the country. You still see lots of small family farms with animals still out in the pastures. It is a welcome relief from the industrial farming that we see in our parts.

This is a gorgeous beam. It’s not going to last long on the website.

This beam is priced at $115/LF. This is such a nice piece that the price on this one is firm. However, we can cut and re-finish the end(s) to meet your needs at no additional cost.

The tag— “Fresh Produce” is from a newspaper in the 1950s.