Cutting out part of a large oak mantle

[ebaxter]

Hi, Want to put an oak mantle above my fireplace, it was goin to sit in the wall but basically the fireplace is too small so it is going to have to be attached to the front. I have two questions;

Firstly if i buy a piece H7" x D9" x W65" can I then cut out a section so it slides around the fireplace? I want about D6" as a mantle and the overhang is about 3" on each side, slightly concerned about how I can remove the excess wood without causing cracks to these smaller outer parts .

Secondly I wonder how to then fix it, my plaster has suggested using wall plate type fixing first affixing them to the mantle and then fixing those to the walls and plastering over. Or using large screws which would be fitted into the wall and then essentially creating the same size holes in the back of the wood before sliding them on and ficing them using some sort of no nails type solution?

Advice appreciated.

 

[foxhole]

Thats a lot of oak to remove [59"X3"] do you have the tools?
The plate fixing is the simplest. I stood my oak mantle on timbers stained to match, you have to allow for lots of shrinkage especially if using green oak.

 

[r896neo]

Resin anchor a bar into the wall rather than screws and it will give you a very strong result. If you also resin the oak to the bar it'll never come off, even when you want to redecorate in 10 years time.

 

[joinerjohn]

As Neo says, resin anchor bars into the wall is the way to go. You might want to try removing the plaster off the wall where your oak beam is going (that would be a strip approx 7" high across the front and going back 3.1/2" at the sides)
This would then mean you only have to take out a piece 2.1/2" X 58".
Fix the oak beam up then patch up the small amount of plaster where it meets the beam.

To cut the piece out of your beam, you may want to hire the largest circ saw you can and cut it from both sides and perhaps use a hand saw for the cross cuts. Can be done but it will be a hard job.