Sold to Kelly K in Portland, OR – Oct 11, 2018

Here’s another gorgeous, naturally streaked, white oak fireplace mantel with lots of character. On this one, the dark areas are not just on the surface but reveal themselves as great, stable cracks. White oak starts out as a wheatish tan but can become nearly java black in a barn environment. Because this was a sill timber, it was very rotten and rough looking to start (see pictures). However with the rot resistance of white oak, there was some solid wood hidden underneath. We removed almost an inch off of the three faces. This revealed some wonderful streaked color.

Note, I think we can darken up those light spots within the cracks. They are a little distracting now that I look at them in photos.

As mentioned, this particular piece was a sill timber from an old barn. It was a big beam that rested on the cement or stone wall foundation upon which they built the rest of the barn. You can imagine it was pretty wet right near the ground. They used white oak for sill timbers and fence posts back in the day because it has a good natural rot resistance.

This mantel beam came from an early 1900s vintage barn between Waconia, MN and Cologne, MN. About 40 miles SW of Minneapolis downtown. This is the current edge of modern farm country in these parts. Once upon a time before the suburbs, farm country was much closer to Minneapolis downtown. The soil here is still rich and runs black as deep as three feet. This was also the Western edge of what was once referred to as the Big Woods. If you have ever read Laura Ingalls Wilder books, you’ll see references to this very woods. The original beam had traces of hand hewing. This barn may be older than I thought or the material was re-used from a previous barn.

This mantel beam is priced at $100 per LF at 64 inches. We can cut to any size, but the price on this one is firm. It can be shipped via FedEx Gnd for $75. If you’d like it cut down, please contact us at antiqueww@gmail.com or call 888-226-5370.

The Tag — Great News from Greyhound. I liked the drawing of the old bus, but then when I read it, it struck me as an interesting piece of history. “With the removal of wartime travel restrictions…” Imagine that. I was aware of World War II rationing, but I didn’t realize that bus travel was among the restrictions.