We absolutely love the warm, natural wood look that we get from Rock Elm. This natural wood mantel shelf is the real deal; not some modern pine wood substitute. Rock Elm is extremely slow growing and is rarely available on the modern wood market. Rock Elm also has really cool, distinct growth rings on the end. With a quick estimate of the rings, it looks like these beams were over 150 years old when they were cut. You’ll have to get your kids or grandkids to count them to be exact. Now imagine these beams were cut around 1880… so that means that this tree was born in the early 1700s if not sooner. We’re only seeing a part of the whole tree.  There is certainly more growth beyond the corners. This tree is older than modern America as we know it!

This natural wood mantel has some pleasant cracking that is just indicative of real, solid wood beams. The beams are dry, so while they may still change a bit seasonally, the change should not be significant.

We have cut and joined beams together to create a single piece that is 5.5in tall x 11.375in deep x 73.25in long.
We have other single pieces available that can be cut into different sizes — 5×5 through almost 8×10.

This piece is still a bit “work in progress.” It could use more sanding and finishing. We imagined that our customer would want this in a different size, so we haven’t done our final sanding or finishing.
With rock elm, we have developed a pre-treatment with a hand-rubbed bee and carnauba wax finish that works well to preserve the lighter, natural wood color and delicate wood grains.
The $650 price includes all of the required finishing to your specifications.

This one is heavy! It can be shipped anywhere in the lower 48 states via UPS Ground for $175.

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

About the tag – An advertisement for Forhan’s for the Gums (toothpaste). While not the first tooth cleaning product, it was the first to be sold in a modern tube — setting the pace for the entire industry. The Smithsonian Institute has an original tube and box in its collection. This advertisement was from Better Homes in Gardens from  March, 1930.