This is the second project from a tree that was taken down on the client’s property in 2014. The wood was milled on-site and stored in the basement of the house for over 3 years. The goal was to make a fireplace surround for the basement fireplace that matched the character of the house and the existing mantels elsewhere in the house while allowing the natural beauty of the local walnut to shine. The client was kind enough to share some photos from the day the tree was milled.
We transported the wood back to our shop and began to dimension the lumber to the sizes needed. Starting with rough-cut lumber requires several steps to correct for twists and turns that arise in wood as the lumber dries. You can see the before and after of the boards in the pictures below. This process involves many passes through a jointer and planer and produces a ton of sawdust, which we in turn put to good use repairing an eroded area of a local trail.
The surround and mantel are basically a build up of many boxes, some small and some very large, but the effect when finished gives the appearance of a solid piece. We decided to use floating tenons to hold the pieces together and provide extra strength to the joints.
This process was repeated several times to build up the columns and we threw in a few decorative touches as well.
Similarly, the mantel which was roughly 5 ½ feet long and 5 inches thick was cut, glued and sanded producing an end product that appeared to be a solid piece of walnut. We used the box approach primarily because when the trees were milled no boards were milled to be 5 inches thick, but it also has the added benefit of being lighter.
The pieces were test fit and disassembled for finishing and moving to their destination.
The final step was to apply the finish and watch the grain patterns in the walnut come to life. This process takes almost a week to complete, but it is a great feeling to see the wood come to life.
Here is the final piece, installed and waiting for the home owners to finish the plaster and brick portion of their remodel.
