Mantle Beams for Stoves and Fireplaces

Our mantle beams make a wonderful addition to your home, bringing the outside in and adding real warmth and style to your space. A natural edge beam that follows the contours of the tree has character in abundance, a wealth of subtle colour variations and a silky smooth surface you can't help touching!
  • Oak is the traditional wood to use around your fireplace or stove largely due to its abundance but we think there are better alternatives worth considering:
  • Elm has an interesting contorted grain that creates swirling patterns in the wood. It often features burrs or pippy cat-paw like markings caused by failed branches and buds. A warm and richly coloured wood.
  • Ash in it's olive brown form or spalted* beech are also worth considering if you want a lighter coloured wood with attractive colour variations. 

​*Spalting is the term given to unique colouration and patterns on the wood surface caused by fungi in dead or stressed trees. The black lines are caused by competing fungi species trying to grab their share of the wood! The fungi are killed by the kilning process and won't infect your home.
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Spalted Olive Ash mantle
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Spalted Beech wood
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Glorious elm wood

The Process

​Our mantle beams are made from timber that has air-dried for up to 3 years before it is placed in our timber drying kiln. The kiln kills any organisms that may have lived in the wood and reduces its moisture content to around 12%. 
The wood will dry out further in your room and may develop small cracks which add to its natural character and charm. You can use air-dried beams but they have a higher moisture content around 20% and will move and shrink more and may warp after installation.
  • The beam is carefully planed and flattened to remove any unevenness on the surface caused by kiln drying.
  • Machine and hand sanding creates a smooth and tactile surface and corners are gently rounded over to remove sharp edges.
  • The beam is then protected using OSMO hardwax oil in Matt, Satin or Gloss . Satin is our most popular finish as enhances the character of the wood without being too reflective.

Beam Sizing

Our beams are mostly cut to order only and the maximum length would be 180cm or 6'. Popular cross-section sizes are:
  • Front to Back Depth - 15cm to 20cm or 6" to 8"
  • Thickness - 7.5cm to 15cm or 3" to 6"
The front edge of the beam can be left as nature intended with a live or natural edge, a square edge or a carved and textured edge.
 
Please do call us if you are looking for a mantel beam and we can advise you about what beams we have that may be suitable from our ready now stock. We can also select wood from our air-dried timber and kiln-dry it for you - the lead time is around 6 weeks.

Featured Beam