–SOLD TO Billy in SC 09/27/2016–
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This is a just a really, really nice piece of white oak. Most old beams are cut square — like a 8×8, but this mantel shelf beam has original 4×7 proportions. This piece is a mate to another mantel – Comfort for Dogs. It might even be an exact book matched mate, I haven’t looked closely enough. The top has just some nice simple character with with a few checks streaking across it. The front face has it all — a knot, circle saw marks and quartersawn grain. The bottom has a ton of great character with lots of cracks, knots and quartersawn grain. Overall, this piece has a very nice warm saddle brown hue.

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.

The main part of this mantel shelf is 59 inches long and the original tenon adds another 2 1/2 inches. This one is just so nice, we are not offering any discounting on it. We are happy resize it at no charge.

The Pepsodent advertisement stating it contains Irium has an interesting history. –
Pepsodent benefited from sponsoring AMOS ‘n ANDY.  Pepsodent cleaned teeth with the help of its ingredient “Irium.”  Because of Irium, Pepsodent provided its users with a gentle way of cleaning teeth, while leaving a refreshing taste in the typical human yap.  With the help of AMOS ‘n ANDY announcer Bill Hay, Irium became almost as famous as the product that contained it.
With AMOS ‘n ANDY’s success during the 1930’s, Pepsodent Tooth Paste had a knack of sponsoring popular radio programs.  Its magic continued in 1938, when it was the sponsor of NBC(Red’s) PEPSODENT SHOW starring Bob Hope.  As you might imagine, Hope had some humorous comments about his sponsor and its Irium ingredient. Irium doesn’t really exist. It is another name for a variation of salt called sodium lauryl sulfate. (see – Pepsodent Success Story)