This hand-hewn rock elm mantel brings all kinds of elements together. It has a history. This beam was sourced from an 1800s vintage barn near Henderson, Minnesota, which is located on the Minnesota River. The authentic old hand-hewn texture dates back to the day when folks were swinging axes to build square-up beams. It has great wood. The mantel shelf is Rock Elm, an incredible, somewhat rare domestic hardwood. Rock Elm is almost unavailable on the modern market, but we find it from time to time in old barns. The trees are very slow-growing, resulting in extremely tight growth rings and grain patterns. This mantel has a modern farmhouse style. We used a special pre-treatment to preserve the lighter natural wood color. We finished it off with a hand-rubbed bee and carnauba wax finish.

This modern farmhouse mantel is 7.25in tall x 7.5in deep x 67in long. The front face and bottom side are picture-perfect with no mortise pockets or flaws. The top has a couple of fills as well as a blemished area where there was some rotten wood removed. Normally, this mantel would run $750. With the blemish, it has been marked down to $650. We could also take a risk and try re-cutting the top surface off by maybe an inch or so — yielding something more like a 6in tall x 7.5in deep piece. This would reveal the great rock elm wood grains and (hopefully) remove the blemish. If we took this approach, the mantel would run $750.

It can be shipped anywhere in the lower 48 states via FedEx Gnd for $150

At the end of the picture set are a few original pictures of the barn.

About the tag – An advertisement for Genuine English Flower seeds from a 1930s vintage Better Homes and Gardens magazine. It is pretty cool. Better Homes and Gardens now has historical issues of their magazines online including the one from March, 1930.