[jaykal001]

Hi all,
I'm putting together a rustic mantel for our fireplace where there is currently nothing, and wanted to know if a french cleat would work in the case for mounting. (First and foremost, we have no kids, i'm not worried about people or animals swinging from it, just being structurally capable.)

My mantel size of choice is going to be close to 6 feet wide, 3.5" thick and 7-8" front to back. I'm wondering if a cleat on the 3.5" face is going to be be able to support something that protrudes from the wall as much as 8". Diagram of side view attached. I'm thinking this will have a larger 'leverage' type effect than hanging something taller like a cabinet. Not sure sure if it'll really matter for the material of the cleat, but not opposed to using a small board of oak/maple if the strength is needed.

From a pure style aspect, would love not to use some sort of supporting corbel if not needed.
Thanks for your thoughts,
Jay

 

[jaykal001]

@FrankC
I'm not saying your right or wrong, but I'm wondering how that'd be better.
You still have a single row/line of screws attaching to the wall/brick and all the same leverage problems that i'm concerned about.

I could see something like this http://www.mulrooneyjoinery.com/wp-.../ash-70mm-mantel-with-hermitage-corbels-3.jpg
- where the corbels (spelling?) support some of the way to reduce that torque - but the blind ones seem to be a similar problem.

I'd love the idea of a pure floating mantel, but certainly understand it may not be feasible.
(I also thought as a second option, is i could go the route of something like an 8x8 hollow box, then i could probably get away with the cleat

 

[jaykal001]

Any thoughts one something along the lines of a sliding dovetail?
If i ran it vertically, and put a stop in it so it wasn't visible from the top, I could use a pretty substantial width board. At that point I could probably get close to 3" of vertical mounting.