Faux Wood Workshop

One of the great features of faux wood beams is how easy they are to cut and shape. You don’t need specialized saws or blades. Heck, you could do the entire project with a paring knife if you had to.

You can cut the polyurethane beams with all the same tools you use to cut wood (plus one or two that you wouldn’t normally use for woodworking). Here are the most common options.

Important: As you know, saws cut things (including flesh and bone) and spew stuff everywhere (including your face and eyes). Use blade guards. Wear safety glasses. Stay alert.

Stationary Power Tools

A power miter saw (chop saw) is a great tool for making fast, perfect cuts. But that’s only if your saw is big enough for your beams. Even a big 12-inch sliding saw runs out of capacity when you’re working with larger beams.

A table saw lets you cut any beam to size, one side at a time. But you need skill and concentration to move a big beam smoothly through a small blade. You’ll need a steady-handed helper to support longer beams as you cut them. Use a miter gauge extension to help you hold the beam square as you cut it; a brief slip can make a nasty gouge in your smooth cut. If you do need to rip a beam to a smaller height, it’s the perfect tool for that chore.

A bandsaw can work well for trimming the end of a short beam, either square or at an angle. Trying to control a long beam would be a challenge.

Portable Power Tools

Bringing the saw to the beam is often easier than bringing the beam to the saw. The bigger the beam, the truer this is.

A circular saw works very well for straight, smooth beam cutting — especially a lightweight model that’s easy to handle. As with a table saw, you can cut any size beam by cutting each side individually. And for bulky beams it’s a better tool than a table saw, since the big beam can sit stationary while you handle the small saw. Use a Speed Square or similar tool to guide the saw for perfectly straight cuts.

A jigsaw is an exceptionally versatile tool for all kinds of beam cutting. You can use it to cut any size beam to length, using a wide blade and a Speed Square to help keep the cuts straight. Beyond that, you can use it for cuts that none of the other saws we’ve mentioned can do. Cut an irregular line to fit against a surface like brick or stone. Cut a hole to fit over an electrical box. Cut a notch to fit around an obstacle. If I had to choose just one do-it-all tool, I’d pick a jigsaw.

Hand Tools

But you don’t need lots of power to cut faux beams, and hand tools can do an excellent job without a lot of sweat.

A fine-tooth handsaw can cut a beam to size in short order. You can attack the cut in two ways. One is to start with the beam open-side-down on your work table, and cut straight through starting at a corner. This takes some skill in starting straight and following the lines around all three sides of the beam. The other approach is to start with the beam open-side-up. Cut through one leg of the U, then through the other leg from the other side, and finally through the third side, using the first cuts to guide the saw the rest of the way.

A hacksaw can also work well. It makes a smooth cut, and you might find its narrow blade easier to control than a handsaw. You work around its limited cut depth by proceeding from one side to the next around the beam. Use a fairly coarse blade (14-18 teeth per inch) for best cutting.

Sawing faux beams is really a piece of cake, any way you slice it.

With all the chef competitions and restaurant wars on reality television today, even the average layperson knows that presentation counts for big points in a dining experience…almost as much as yummy food.

While the chef will take care of how the plate looks, restaurant owners and managers have the equally daunting task of creating an enticing appearance in their dining rooms – creating an ambience that will have customers and their friends make it the new favorite foodie haunt.

We were excited to see one of our customer’s restaurant come to life with our Raised Grain faux wood beams.They sent us a photo to show us the final outcome. Now only if we could get a New York Strip Steak to go with it…

Raised Grain Faux Wood Ceiling Beams

You can learn a lot about the beam styles and colors you’re considering by looking closely at the photos on our website. Open two or three different product pages side by side and compare. Drag several of the closeups from your browser window to your desktop, then open them all in an image viewer so you can examine the differences. Make each one a desktop background and live with it for a while on your screen.

But if a picture is worth 1000 words, an actual sample is worth 10 times that. A photo can tell you just so much about the way a certain texture will look in person. And the glowing image on your computer screen can’t show you how a beam will look in the actual lighting conditions of your family room or bedroom.

The great thing about samples is that they’re free. Well, you have to pay a few bucks for them up front, but then you get your money back when you place an order for the beams you’ve picked (or corbels, or whatever). Order as many samples as you like, and then use the coupon you get with the samples to take their entire cost off your next order. You can order them from individual product pages or from the central Product Samples page.

 

Bonus tip: If you’re a builder or architect, you can order a whole kit of samples at no cost. See our website for ordering information.

Ready to get started on your project? Be sure your beams and planks are ready too. You don’t want to get “short-changed” on the final result.

There’s nothing like the sight of a pile of newly delivered beams to get you going on the project you’ve been planning. But not so fast. Before you start measuring and sawing, be sure to let all your materials get used to their new home.

Polyurethane beams and planks get longer and shorter as the temperature changes. If they’ve just come off a truck, or have been sitting in your garage or basement for a while, they’re not ready to install yet.

Before you get started, lay all your materials in the room where they’ll be installed. Then slowly back away. Don’t come back until they’ve had enough time to acclimatize to their new environment.

How much time is enough? If you can lay out all the beams and planks in a single layer, wait 24 hours. If you have to stack them in a pile, wait an extra day to be sure they all come to room temperature. Remember that polyurethane is a good insulator, so piling them up really slows down the acclimatizing process.

When it’s time to measure and cut, remember that the faux beams and planks will continue to expand and contract with temperature after they’re installed. So will the room, of course. But to make sure no cracks open up, fit them tightly as you install them, cutting them about 1/8 inch long and compressing them into place. (Use our plastic bag tip to help fit beams tightly into place.)

Also to help prevent the issue of expansion and contraction use the glue on top of the beam as prescribed in the basic installation instructions. This way the ceiling and the beam are more apt to expand and contract together.

Yes, we love the “faux-ness” of it all. But we also love to build re-using timbers saved from old barns and buildings. Nothing beats the patina look that comes from wood that is actually 100 years old.

Reclaimed Wood Beams Accentuate A Stunning View

Where does all that character of reclaimed wood come from? Well, we have white pine from a peg and post barn in Minnesota. Or you could install a tamarack wood beam piece made by hand in the early- to mid-1800s from a Wisconsin barn. Classic milled beams are sturdy rock elm wood from near the Mississippi River.

All of the vintage, reclaimed beams are unique – so expect nail holes, distress marks, checking or peg holes. Each beam will have an individual look due to warp, twist, wane and inconsistency of material thickness. These reclaimed beams are left about 6” to 10” long intentionally for the finish carpenter to cut to length on site.

Reclaimed Wood Beams Above an Entranceway

See all the varieties of reclaimed wood beams here.

The right finishing touches can make a good project into a great one. Did I hear someone say “Straps”?
You use straps to cover end-to-end joints between beams. You can also use them where a beam butts into the side of another beam, where a beam meets a wall, and at intervals along a beam. The photos show some possibilities.

There are three kinds of straps.

The first kind is made of heavy black rubber with hammered nailheads molded into it. It comes in a roll, and you simply cut it to length with scissors and glue it in place. You can wrap it around the sides of a beam or use it as a flat plate. Use the wide strap with two rows of nailheads (model S-02) for big beams and for end-to-end joints. Use the narrow strap with a single row of nailheads (model S-01) for smaller beams and joints.

The second kind of strap is a universal rigid straight strap with molded bolt heads or nuts (models DS-412A and DS-412B). You attach them with small screws, which you hide with putty. Use a bolt-head plate across the bottom surface of two beams where they meet in a T. Or use a pair of plates, one with bolt heads and one with nuts, on opposite sides of a truss or similar joint.

The third kind of strap is a rigid U made for a specific beam design (such as Rustic) and size. These straps have the look of wrought iron but are lightweight like the faux beams. Some designs include variations such as a beam-end hanger and a chevron-cut strap for the peak of a cathedral ceiling. You attach them with glue and small screws.

The right straps will make your project glow.