Sam, Anna, and I traveled to Saint Paul this afternoon to meet Dan Guion at the Mendota Mantels workshop. We went planning to help pick out a stain color but ended up getting to help Dan with the “distressing” process as well. Dan started by showing us the mantel assembly and walking us through some of the steps involved in making it.
Dan then put Sam and Anna to work “distressing” the mantel. Sam got to beat on the mantel with a stick…Anna got a chain in a cloth bag to pound with. After a few minutes of instruction we were off and running.
The “distressing” video…
The photo below shows a close up the mantel after the distressing. Here we can see the re-sawn timber face of the mantel and the very nice (faux) mortise and tenon detail. The hand-worked finish Dan produced using a draw knife is hard to capture in the photos but looks great in person.
As soon as we approved this stain sample Dan had prepared he got busy staining the mantel and returns.
The antique timber soaked up the dark stain and was absolutely transformed right before our eyes. Dan plans to continue the finishing process by coating the mantel with boiled linseed oil later this evening. Eventually the mantel will get a couple of coats of polyurethane and finally polished using a natural wax.
Before leaving Dan gave us a tour of the shop and showed us their stock pile of recovered timbers. It was very interesting to hear about the different types of beams they use and to see examples of some of the construction techniques used to join the timbers together.
All in all…I think Sam and Anna would agree that this lived up to Dan’s earlier promise that this would be the best part of the Mendota Mantels “experience”.
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