BKeane71 wrote:
Hello, everyone.

We've been doing some construction on our house, and I have a question for you.
We've knocked down a bearing wall, placed a really thick beam, and now I'm
trying to dress up the beam so SWMBO doesn't mind looking at it. The
surrounding trim is just stained pine, but I was hoping to go a different route
with this. I was hoping to laminate some sort of wood onto it, but wasn't sure
what would look best.

The beam's dimensions are 12ft 4in long, 5 1/2 in deep, and hangs 8 1/4 in from
the ceiling, which is textured plaster.

Keep in mind I don't have a bandsaw, so I won't be able to resaw. I was
thinking of using 3/4 inch material cut to size. Also, I know that I'll need
some pretty big pieces as I want the laminated beam to look like a single
piece, rather than like a beam with a bunch of different pieces of wood glued
to it.

So, anybody have some good species of wood in mind??

Thanks a bunch.

-Barry

Don't cover it at all. Rather make a totem by carving (bas-relief)
death masks of your ancestors into it. Do SWMBO a favor and include a
couple of her relatives. If you have a problem with your MIL dropping
by, include her. Classy stuff. Finally, SWMBO can keep busy carving
your face into it once she figures out what you're doing. Sweet irony.
yours ghoully,
jo4hn
:-)