This is a nice, simple reclaimed mantel shelf with a couple of mortise holes. We’ve filled the holes so they are not empty pockets, but they are a testament to the beam’s previously life as a large dairy barn in Minnesota. This beam is also interesting in that the heart of the wood is in the corner — meaning that this beam was probably 4 times this size before they quartered it. This was a very big tree. 90% of the time, a beam this size has the heart right in the center of the beam.

The top of the original 8×8 had some cracking issues so we ended up cutting the top off. We applied ammonia to darken the top. It doesn’t do much to red oak, but it does take the pink out. You can see that the original pegs are white oak and reacted vigorously to the ammonia and became very dark.

It is also pretty neat to see the 100 year old or so scribe marks to indicate where the mortise pockets were to be cut.

As with most of our mantels, we will cut this one down and reduce the price by $8.33 per inch, up to a $100 discount.

The tag on this one from Bridgeman’s Ice Cream Shop. It dates back to the 1950s or 1960s. They used to have an enormous Sundae called a Lalapalooza. When I was a kid, you could “win” a button if you could eat this whole Sundae. I thought it was the greatest thing.