We now have our new boiler and gas fire in and working, replacing the
old back boiler. We have had the fire set in a chunk of slate which
looks pretty good, so I now need to install some sort of mantelpiece so
we have somewhere for the clock to sit.

After looking round a couple of warehouses, it became obvious that
getting a plank and fettling it myself would look better, so, In between
showers I dashed out to the shed and rooted round. To my amazement I
found a piece of oak left over from the boatbuilding exercise 25 years
ago. It will have originally have been purchased in about 1955 when the
original owner of the plans bought the materials, and a late uncle of
mine thought it was probably Spanish oak because of the colour.

On the boat we epoxied over it and then covered with paint or varnish
depending on whether sunlight would press on it. It has yellowed quite
nicely there.

So, is there any view on what is likely to work best in a house? Much
info on the 'net seems to say that some sort of oil would be
appropriate, but there isn't really enough spare to set a sensible area,
and I haven't found any sort of info about what happens to the colour
when the oil is applied. I'm tempted to just bung on some sort of
varnish and hope.

The other complication is that the hearth has a mahogany or similar
surround, so we have been holding up oak then mahogany. Eiter would look
good, but the oak has more memories.

Finally, are the floating shelf prongs as sold on ebay and elsewhere any
good for quite a heavy mantelpiece? We would probably have to set them
either side of the fire opening to get thick enough and stable enough
brickwork. Are they likely to droop or fail over the years.

Thanks for any insights
--
Bill