CORNER MANTLE - Part 1

The half-turnings from the previous post were destined for a free-standing corner mantle for a flueless gas fireplace.    I kept the design simple as most of the furniture in the room it is going in have fairly clean lines.  Cherry was requested as the material to be used, with a stained finish.  Cherry is probably my favorite wood to work with for one simple reason - it changes color as it ages and is exposed to sunlight.  It's hard to describe the effect but it seems cherry cabinets or built-ins always look richer, better, as they age.   If you have never worked with cherry and don't understand what I'm talking about - buy a fresh piece or buy it in the rough and plane it down - then put some masking tape partially across a small piece and place in sunlight - pull the tape off a few hours later and you will see the difference.  

Birch plywood core of base

So this piece starts with a base.  It's about 7" high with a small nosing.  The core is basic 3/4" shop-birch. The local lumber yard that I buy this from has it incredibly cheap - about $33 a sheet.  It hovered around $50 for 20 years.  It's not as nice as the non-Chinese product they used to sell, but if you are careful and pick your sheets you can find useable stuff.  I would never use it for a stained surface but for innards and for painting finishes it should work.  Speaking of materials, a list for this project - 

1 Sheet 3/4" shop birch plywood

1 Sheet 3/4" cherry veneer plywood

10' 1x8 Cherry surfaced four sides

7' 3" half round (cherry) molding

10' 4.5" crown (cherry)

some scrap cherry 8/4 for turnings and blocks

1.25" pocket screws

1.25", 1.625", and 1" drywall screws

1" and 2" brads

4 round feet - hardwood floor safe

The top of the base, along with all the sides and cross pieces were cut out of the 3/4" shop birch using a Festool Track Saw and a Makita 10" sliding compound miter saw.  Remember, I'm portable so this whole unit was built in on a driveway - could have been built at the job or really anywhere.  The pieces were cut and screwed together using pocket screws drilled with a Kreg Jig and regular drywall screws. Remember to use a countersink bit and don't just shoot the screws in - you are less likely to snap the head off, have more control over the alignment of the pieces, and the sunk screw just looks neater.   I use a 12v Porter Cable Drill and a 12v Porter Cable Driver - came as a set for $130.  With an impact driver you really don't need more power than 12v, in fact, high power can snap screws easier.  Plus these drills are light and small.  The 12v drill is fine for the countersink bit, and can do the pocket holes, but it is really more efficient to just use a corded drill, since you will be drilling a lot of holes and can use the portable drill elsewhere.  I use a 16 year old 1/2" Dewalt corded drill.  Be sure to glue all pieces with yellow glue - I was using Titebond I for this project.

Flipped Over and Faced with 3/4" Cherry Ply

With the base turned right side up, I install 3/4" cherry plywood facing on the vertical surfaces.  22.5 degree cuts for the 45 degree corners.  Pieces are ripped to sit flush with birch top.  I glued them and tacked these in with 1" brads from a Paslode Brad Nailer - I use this for almost everything - cabinets, trim, ...etc.  I've been shooting 2" brads for years and almost never use finish nails.  Never had any problems despite other carpenters swearing I would.  Brads leave a nice little hole - some finish guns out there end up leaving wood looking like you stabbed it with a screwdriver.  Brads are cheaper and the guns that shoot them are cheaper too.  I do use yellow glue on my miters always too, which helps a lot.   I then secured the pieces from behind with 1.25" drywall screws (only to minimize the brad nails on this finished surface.  

Sides installed

Next we add the base finished top - again, 3/4" cherry plywood glued nailed and screwed from behind. The 3/4" cherry sides are attached, using pocket screws, to the base.  Note the work table - I've been using these instead of saw horses lately.  They are 6' long, but fold in half along with the legs.  They store easy in my van and are more useful that horses.  $40 at Home Depot.

Mostly Done

It's late and I'll jump ahead a bit.  To get to this point, I installed nosing on the base, 3/4" cherry ripped to about 1" wide and rounded on both sides with a 3/8" round over bit in a Bosch Router.  The nosing was mostly glued with a few brads to hold while glue set.  The top was cut from the sheet of 3/4" cherry plywood using the track saw.  Remember to orient the grain with the long front edge of the top.  This nosing was done the same way, except it was only glued on and held in place with masking tape while the glue dried. I also used the router AFTER the nosing was installed.  On the base I used it on the nosing BEFORE it was installed.  The front verticals are 3/4" solid cherry with a beveled edge to match that of the side.  I've pre attached the half round molding, the half-turnings, and the top blocks (cut from scrap 8/4 solid cherry) using glue and screws from behind.  Attaching these pieces to the plywood sides is a little tricky and involves using a scrap pine block, beveled to 45 degrees and glued and screwed to the side and the front verticals from behind.  The top is then attached using pocket screws and face screws from underneath and the 4.5" crown molding is installed with glue and 1" brads.   I did make a mistake and had precut the solid cherry header, abet, a little short then I ended up needing.  It's alway good to wait to cut things until you can hold the piece up and mark it.  Not having any extra 3/4" cherry I had to leave this piece out.  I'll buy some more cherry and cut it and slip it in behind the crown and attach using pocket screws.

This isn't my garage by the way.  I wish it was, but I'm borrowing a friends to finish this larger piece (not enough room to fit it in mine and work on it too)    I sanded all the surfaces with some 180 grit paper and then stained it using General Finishes water based dye stain.  Nice product - it doesn't smell at all and is ready to clear coat in two hours.  I wiped it on with a rag.

Stained

NEXT - Clear coating, installation, description of supports,..etc. behind finished face, and final product.