Ram's Head Mantel & Paneling Finished

Here are a couple of photos of the large mantel I finished in July. I built it in three sections; 1) the mantel shelf and legs, 2) the frame and panel element, and 3) the moulded ram's head.

By far the trickiest part of this project was getting all the miters right on the ram's head. I like to use templates for that kind of thing. That way I can get my thinking straight and mistakes corrected on scrap pieces rather than on an actual workpiece with a couple of hours of work in it.


The photo below shows the entire structure. To give you a sense of how tall the finished piece was, I had to get up on a 16' ladder to get the whole thing in my camera's frame.