Refinished Red Oak Fireplace Mantel

This is a century old red oak fireplace mantel I bought off of Craigslist. It came out of a home in Louisville, KY. It was in bad shape as you can see in the photos. I stripped it and replaced the veneer that needed it. I had to modify it a bit to install it to my mother-in-laws brick fireplace. The mirror is mercury glass and beveled. I did add some red oak rope trim which I beveled to give a more formal look. I countersunk some holes along the sides that I covered with some red oak trim. This allowed me to attach studs to the brick and then attach the mantel to the studs. The very top shelf was rotted so I found some beautiful spalted red oak and rebuilt this. The former onlay on the front was beyond repair and I found the current salvaged onlay on Ebay for around $10. I am really happy with how it turned out.

Estimated Cost
$200-$40 initial cost and about $160 in improvements
Estimated Time Investment
Week Long Project (20 Hours or More)
Finish Used
The stain is Minwax Early American. I gave the old growth wood 2 coats and the newer wood and trim 3 coats. I used Minwax fast drying satin polyurethane. I used three coats throughout the project. I applied 2 coats of poly and then sanded with 220 grain sandpaper before applying the third and final coat.
Recommended Skill Level
Intermediate

Comments

Electric Heaters (not verified)

Wed, 01/23/2013 - 04:05

Fireplaces can be a good option for heating the room as that consume low space area and provide heating in affordable prices. the most amazing thing about modern fireplaces is that they can be easily move anywhere in the house.