Fireplace Project Finished

[john]

Congratulations, Great job!!

Always nice to see see those finished projects.

John

[mbcabinetmaker]

Very professional looking job Pat!!

[efmaron]

Very nice fireplace mantel, you should be very proud. GREAT JOB

[dlbristol]

I admire the design! It looks like a tough balance to pull off. Nice job and congratulations.

[beeg]

Great looking mantel.
How was it working with the madrone wood?

[shydragon]

The wood was 5/4 & 6/4 about 8" wide x 8' long rough sawn. I filled my pickup for $200. He discounted because of cracks. So I did a lot of ripping to get to the better stuff. I found out that paying attention to the speed chart made a big difference. I was having trouble at first ripping 8' boards, causing the saw to bog down and getting a lot of burning. Then I went over to the speed chart and saw the listing for heavy ripping to be set at "O". I was set at "S". After making the adjustment, I got really straight beautiful cuts. Routing was a breeze, no problem there. Jointing, no problem there, but I have the shelix cutter head. Planing in the proplaner, a little different story. The grain in this wood, sometime it is going in so many different direction, so I would get a little tear out on those kind of pieces. I noticed that drilling this wood was troublesome. Very hard to drill, a lot of burning, except when I was using the Kreg pocket hole drill bit.

I would sure like to have the shelix in the proplaner. I saw on the woodnet forum, that if you contact Byrd, they will send you a form to fill out to give them dimension of the cutter head, etc. I believe the approx cost was $500. Is it worth it? Maybe, I filled up 11 garbage bags of wood shaving just on that project alone. I need to change blades now, I do have a new set, but, boy do I dread installing the new blades. This will be my 1st time changing out the blades.

Thanks everyone for the great comments. They certainly make me feel better about the design.

[cv3]

Thanks, I will check with the code dept. I like the ones you all have done. We just redid this wall, I still have to take the old paint of the brick. I may tile over it. As you can see the fireplace is not centered. It would be easier if it was. I think I want to go from door to door. Building a inset for the fire place tools on the right. Old house. Nothing is square! I will post as I go.

[ATTACH]7291[/ATTACH]

[cv3]

Sorry ! I Posted In The Wrong Place!!

[Ed in Tampa]

The wood was 5/4 & 6/4 about 8" wide x 8' long rough sawn. I filled my pickup for $200. He discounted because of cracks. So I did a lot of ripping to get to the better stuff. I found out that paying attention to the speed chart made a big difference. I was having trouble at first ripping 8' boards, causing the saw to bog down and getting a lot of burning. Then I went over to the speed chart and saw the listing for heavy ripping to be set at "O". I was set at "S". After making the adjustment, I got really straight beautiful cuts. Routing was a breeze, no problem there. Jointing, no problem there, but I have the shelix cutter head. Planing in the proplaner, a little different story. The grain in this wood, sometime it is going in so many different direction, so I would get a little tear out on those kind of pieces. I noticed that drilling this wood was troublesome. Very hard to drill, a lot of burning, except when I was using the Kreg pocket hole drill bit.

I would sure like to have the shelix in the proplaner. I saw on the woodnet forum, that if you contact Byrd, they will send you a form to fill out to give them dimension of the cutter head, etc. I believe the approx cost was $500. Is it worth it? Maybe, I filled up 11 garbage bags of wood shaving just on that project alone. I need to change blades now, I do have a new set, but, boy do I dread installing the new blades. This will be my 1st time changing out the blades.

Thanks everyone for the great comments. They certainly make me feel better about the design.

Shydragon
Many questions
What is the wood?
Is that granite or something else between the firebox and the mantle?
Do I understand you to say you have shelix head on the your Shopsmith Jointer? If so where did you get it and how much?
Lastly is that sealed gas unit or does it just look that way?

By the way great work
Thanks in advance

[shydragon]

The wood is Madrone, grows in the Pacific Northwest. The shelix head is on a Grizzly Jointer. Granite tile, 12X12". Some of it we cut on a tile saw that was from HarborFreight. I'm not sure what you mean by sealed gas. It is a gas fireplace insert.