–SOLD to Mike F in Lexington, Texas (TX)   11/04/2016–
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In these old barns, there are often very large door jams through which the cows travel in and out. This fireplace mantel shelf was made from just such a door jam. This old door jam was cut down a bit on the bottom side to remove some rot. The bottom is quite clean and lighter in color. We could actually re-sand this, and apply ammonia to natural darken. The top has nice pecan hues with lots of critter trails, quarter sawing, and nail holes. You can see the “ghosts” of the old circle saw in the coloration on the top. The front face is lighter in color and has more of a tree-like “live” edge. Before this one ships, I think another coat of finish would increase the gloss nicely. It is a bit overly matte right now.

White oak starts out as a wheatish tan, but in the right barn environment it can go as dark as black coffee — every bit as dark as black walnut. But not all white oaks will go this dark. It really depends on the tannin content in the wood — which is a feature of the growing conditions and the specific species of wood within the white oak family. What’s neat is if you look at the ends, you can see the original color and how the color circles the outside and has penetrated around the outside of the beam.

This piece came from a barn on Scandia Road near Waconia, Minnesota. This old barn was about 2 or 3 miles from the Swedish immigrant, Andrew Peterson, Farm. The Andrew Peterson farm became famous, particularly in Sweden, after the meticulous journals he kept became the basis for Vilhelm Moberg’s Emigrants book series.

This beam is priced at 65 inches long. This mantel runs $95 per LF. We can cut the mantel down and reduce the price by $7.92 per inch, up to a $95 discount. It ships for $65 via FedEx Gnd.