Woodworking Tips from Pop…

Simplicity is beautiful!

This is Pops comeback whenever a customer tries to get complicated. Not that there’s anything simple about this mantel, it is just simple in the way that all the elements flow naturally together. Now from a craftsmans’ point of view, there’s nothing at all simple about this mantel. It takes a lot of time and effort to build a mantel like this.

The material for this mantel is called furniture grade white pine, and it is a pleasure to work with. It is light weight and very soft which makes milling and sanding much easier. It stains and paints excellent, and it is available in plywood at most lumber companies. If you’re looking for a rustic yet elegant design, furniture grade white pine is an excellent choice.

The mantel legs are fluted using a hand router with an edge guide attachment. The edge guide is a standard accessory for most routers now days and can be used for more than just fluting. The Porter Cable edge guide has an advantage over some of the other brands due to its micro adjustment capability. This is a nice feature that should be considered when purchasing a router and edge guide. I’ve been using a Dewalt router and edge guide for years and have been very satisfied with the results. However, I believe it’s time I upgraded to one of these newer models.

The arched panels are first glued up to the right width and then cut out using a homemade circle cutting jig that can cut up to a 6′ circumference. This tool is invaluable when it comes to making arches and doing all kinds of radius work. To find the radius of a job like this, we use a construction calculator that does the entire math formula for you at the push of a few buttons. This is another invaluable tool when working with arches.

Cutting the raised panel profile in the arches is done on a router table and put together like any five piece door except with a little more difficulty. I’ll cover this type of technique in another post soon.
The moldings on this particular mantel are a custom profile that you won’t find at any Home Depot. However, you can find some that are similar in design. Pine moldings are typically available at most building supply centers and are much less than hardwood moldings.

Porter-Cable Micro-adjust Edge Guides When you want absolute precision, this is the edge-guide to use. Solid construction, with an anodized extruded aluminum body for strength and durability… Porter-Cable Micro-adjust Edge Guides