Any woodworkers here?

[pistolpete95]

I found these hardwood beams at a garage sale. The guy selling them found them in a storage unit he won at auction. My thought is that one would make a cool fireplace mantel. They have knots, cracks and plenty of saw marks. I used a flat blade adze and put some cool 'hand hewn' marks on one. The question. How could I hollow one out, from the back to lighten it up? One weighs about 100-150 lbs. 8 1/2 feet long.

 

[emapples]

Dado blade on a table saw or a router to hollow one out

 

[MacFromOK]

Make two outside cuts with a circle-saw, the depth of the desired hollow-out, then wood-chisel (1 1/2 or 2") out the center in layers. Try from both ends, as one direction may shear off better than the other.

It will probably go faster than ya think.

Just my 2¢ ...

 

[Annie]

Can you post pics when you are done? That sounds kinda neat!

 

[SPDguns]

Make two outside cuts with a circle-saw, the depth of the desired hollow-out, then wood-chisel (1 1/2 or 2") out the center in layers. Try from both ends, as one direction may shear off better than the other.

It will probably go faster than ya think.

Just my 2¢ ...

This^^^^^^^

 

[donner]

i'm certainly no expert, but i guess my first question is how wide is your mantel? that'd give you a good starting place. If your mantel is 4 feet long then you're already down to half weight...

After that i'm sure there are numerous ways to hollow it out, but the method will probably depend on how deep you need to go. Do you have a system to attach it to the mantel already? If it just slides over existing cleats or do you have some choice in how it's mounted?

 

[dennishoddy]

I would put them on the table saw with roller supports front and back to keep the beams level, set the blade 2" high, set the fence at 2", make a cut, move the fence to 2 1/8" make a cut, and repeat until the inside is hollowed out. 30 minute job tops.

 

[348]

Quickest way I know is get a good sized Forstner drill bit and drill out the area you want hollowed. This would probably work best on a drill press so you can set the depth. Then clean up the leftover with a nice sharp chisel.

 

[Shoot Summ]

Lot's of good replies on this.

Table or Circular saw to define the edges, Forstner bit to remove a lot of the material, wide chisel to clean it up.

Be aware that lumber like that can have bugs in it, do some research on how to potentially mitigate the bugs.

 

[Okie4570]

Somebody efficient with a chainsaw could have that hollowed out in no time. Large V cut.