–SOLD TO Bill 09/16/2016–
–Cut down to 60in Wide–
This red elm fireplace mantel has some nice hand hewn work dating back to the 1800s. Because of rot issues, we cut the top to make a nice clean surface for pictures and knick-knacks. (is that a Midwest colloquialism?) Anyway, in general, the most visible portion of the mantel is the face and the bottom. Oftentimes, when you are sitting in chair, you see the bottom of the mantel. And, oftentimes, the top of a mantel is above eye level. The top has some cracking, but that is certainly stable. The top does have a mortise pocket that has been filled. After over 100 years, this beam has pretty much done what it is going to do. There is a bit of taper on the last couple feet of the bottom, back right. With that area being tucked up against the masonry work, we don’t imagine this being bothersome.

This fireplace mantel has some great natural color and patina that is part of old, reclaimed red elm.  The 6×8 size is more rectangular and usually a bit more desireable that plain ol’ square beam.

This mantel beam is another one of those funny pieces that was re-used from a first generation barn into a second generation barn. We see this fairly often where it is clear that they took down one building, and re-used the wood in the next building. Because this one is hand hewn, it dates back to the late 1800s around here. However, we found it in a barn that dated back to probably around the 1930s.

The original barn was located near New Ulm, Minnesota – a strong German community. In fact, some German POWs were housed near the town in World War II. Based on the style, the use of round nails, machine turned pegs and pine beams, this barn was probably built close to 1930. It did have a few reused timbers from a previous 1800s vintage barn.

This beam is priced at $100/LF. We can cut the beam down and reduce the price by $8.33 per inch up to a $100 discount. Shipping is $65.