Nicknamed the GF-HD Mantel. What’s fun about this beam is that it has some initials scribed onto in. It appears to be a GF and HD. If it matches your initials, maybe this is the gem for you. If not, it’s just a cool story. This old mantel was an original basement post supporting the first floor. Bank barns are filled with these posts between the cow stalls. This mantel beam has 2 inches removed from an original 8×8.  The top surface has been freshly cut. You can even see a nail that we cut in 1/2. Ouch! So much for that saw blade. The cut side is a nice smooth surface for hosting pictures, decorations and knick-knacks. The bottom side nice quartersawn rays as well as an original fill that is very nice and tight. They did a nice job about 100 years ago on that one.

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 the advantage to build more barns in the summertime 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 the 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 online.

Note, this white oak is 100% natural color. There is a finish coat of penetrating oil – Rubio Monocoat, but there is not any stain applied. This natural color change very pronounced in white oak in particular.

The main length is 72 inches. The tenons sticking out add another 6 1/2 inches for a total of 78 1/2 inches. The mantel is priced at $100 per LF for the 72 inches (which excludes the tenons). We can cut the tenons off; but that doesn’t change the price. We can also cut the body length down and reduce the price by $8.33 per inch, up to a $100 discount. It ships for $75 via FedEx Gnd.