Basswood 16/4 & Mantels
Basswood Mantels: Subtle Elegance and Artistic Potential
Discover the understated beauty and remarkable versatility of our Basswood Mantels. Prized for its fine, uniform texture and pale color, basswood offers a perfect canvas for both natural wood enthusiasts and creative finishers alike.
Key Features of Our Basswood Mantels:
- Crafted from select, kiln-dried basswood
- Features a light, even color with minimal grain pattern
- Available in custom sizes to suit your fireplace perfectly
- Exceptionally lightweight and easy to handle
- Ideal for carving, painting, or leaving natural for a clean, modern look
Each Basswood mantel embodies simplicity and refinement, with its smooth texture and subtle character providing a sophisticated backdrop for your fireplace. The wood's pale, creamy color brightens spaces and complements a wide range of interior styles.
Our Basswood mantels are delivered in their natural, unfinished state, showcasing the wood's innate beauty. This untreated surface offers unlimited potential for customization - whether you prefer to highlight its natural elegance, use it as a base for intricate carving, or transform it with paint or stain.
Optional Finishing Services: While we provide our mantels in their raw state to maximize your creative options, we understand some customers may prefer a finished product. Upon request, we can offer additional services such as sanding and finishing. These services are available at an extra cost and can be discussed when placing your order.
Whether you're drawn to its natural, understated charm or excited by its potential for customization, a Basswood mantel from CAG Specialty Wood offers the perfect blend of elegance and possibility. It's more than just a mantel – it's a blank canvas waiting for your personal touch.
Enhance your fireplace with the subtle sophistication of a Basswood mantel – where simplicity meets endless creative potential.
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Common Name(s): Basswood, lime, linden, American basswood
Scientific Name: Tilia americana
Distribution: Eastern North America
Tree Size: 65-120 ft (20-37 m) tall,
3-4 ft (1-1.2 m) trunk diameter
Average Dried Weight: 26.0 lbs/ft3 (415 kg/m3)
Specific Gravity (Basic, 12% MC): 0.32, 0.42
Janka Hardness: 410 lbf (1,820 N)
Modulus of Rupture: 8,700 lbf/in2 (60 MPa)
Elastic Modulus: 1,460,000 lbf/in2 (10.07 GPa)
Crushing Strength: 4,730 lbf/in2 (32.6 MPa)
Shrinkage: Radial: 6.6%, Tangential: 9.3%,
Volumetric: 15.8%, T/R Ratio: 1.4
Color/Appearance: Pale white to light brown color, with sapwood and heartwood sections not clearly defined. Growth rings tend to be subtle, and color is mostly uniform throughout the face grain of the wood. Knots and other defects are uncommon.
Grain/Texture: Grain is straight, with a fine, even texture and moderate natural luster.
Rot Resistance: Basswood is rated as non-durable in regard to heartwood decay.
Workability: Easy to work, being very soft and light. Perhaps one of the most suitable wood species for hand carving. Basswood also glues and finishes well, but has poor steam bending and nail holding characteristics.
Odor: No characteristic odor.
Allergies/Toxicity: Besides the standard health risks associated with any type of wood dust, no further health reactions have been associated with basswood. See the articles Wood Allergies and Toxicity and Wood Dust Safety for more information.
Pricing/Availability: Widely available as lumber or carving blanks. Prices are in the lower range for a domestic hardwood, though larger carving blocks can be more expensive.
Sustainability: This wood species is not listed in the CITES Appendices, and is reported by the IUCN as being a species of least concern.
Common Uses: Carvings, lumber, musical instruments (electric guitar bodies), veneer, plywood, and wood pulp/fiber products.
Comments: Species in the Tilia genus are usually referred to as either lime or linden in Europe, while in North America the trees are most commonly called basswood.
Basswood is an ideal wood for many woodcarvers. Its soft, fine, even texture make it easy to work with, while its pale, inconspicuous color doesn’t detract from the carved patterns of the finished product (which also makes it easier to paint and color).
Though basswood has high initial shrinkage, the wood is stable in service after it has been dried. And though the wood is both lightweight and soft, it has an outstanding MOE-to-weight ratio. However, its MOR is on par with its low weight; simply put, when put under stress, the wood will remain stiff, but will still break (rupture) at a relatively average weight.
Basswood 16/4 & Mantels
Basswood Mantel #1 - 108"x10.5"x4"
4050 Old Cornelia Hwy
Gainesville GA 30507
United States
Wood Calculator Section
Need Help Figuring out how much you need ?
One Board foot = 144 Cubic Inches
Example: If you need a piece of wood 12 inches wide, 1 inch thick and 24 inches long, that is equal to 2 board feet.
12 inches x 1 inch x 24 inches = 288 inches. 288/ 144 = 2 board feet