I am building a stone fireplace with a large piece of cypress I would like to use for the mantle. Does anyone have any tips, or do's or don'ts. I am open to any suggestions.

It depends on what you want to carve in it. Relief carving of leaves and birds would work, or I did a couple of oak mantles where I relief carved the persons grandparents farm into the middle of the face. (The oak came from a beam taken from one of the barns after it was torn down.) So you could carve a picture of your home in the face. Good luck and let us know what you decided and how it came out. Tonyb

Kim, I suggest that you go to a search on the internet, say google, look for carved mantles, and you'll get some sites with lots of pic for you to get an idea from. Also look into just how you are going to attached your mantle to the fireplace area prior to having the firwplace wall built, you'll need to make provisions for your mantle size, shape, etc so that it will be hung correctly when your done carving. Goodluck...Bill

Check Joe's work on this page. He does wonderful mantels. You might get an idea or two
Bette

http://www.thecarvingshop.com/

Hi, Kim, You did not say how you were going to carve the manttel with, knives and chisels or power. I've found a heavy duty Dremel flex-shaft power is the best way to carve. I did two mantels for a doc. here in Atlanta, GA. They were 67' long, 8' high and carved into the wood 5/8 of an inch deep. The carvings were classic acanthus leaves and shells. I removed the background useing a router setup to hold the handpiece and a Dremel bit made to remove grout from between tile. Unlike regular router bits this bit will go were ever you want without jumping or fighting you. It leaves a nice flat surface. All the shaping was done with sanding disk and diamond caot bits. It took me a week and a half to do each one. Jack Dangar guest

Thanks everyone for the tips. I will check the internet for fireplace mantels. The farm house must have been beautiful. But not what I was going for. Joe's work is fabulous. I will be carving wil knives and a fordom. Maybe I should invest in a few chisels. Thanks again Everyone. Kim