Fireplace

Every fireplace has to have a mantel - but ours in Florida didn't - so here is the story of how it got one.


Last spring my son cut down a Curly Maple tree and with a borrowed saw mill cut it up into 2" thick slabs. We built a solar kiln during last summer and after three months of drying the maple plank was finally ready for woodworking. We brought it over to my son-in-law's house and used his big planer to give it a smooth finish, then back to my garage for some finish sanding, cutting, drilling and finishing - and, walla, a fireplace mantel was born. Loaded it in the back of my pickup and carted it down to Florida. Installation consisted of mounting a 3/4" by 1" board onto the wall studs. This fit into a milled grove in the back of the Curly Maple mantel. A few screws in the bottom side of the mantel locked everything in place. Nothing to it - we got a mantel for the fireplace and just in time - we got down into the 30's last week.