Homemade Mantel Shield Made Today! (with pics!)

[KennyK]

Today's snow day in Beantown gave me a great chance to make my heatshield to meet top and side mantel clearances in anticipation of my liner/stove install in two weeks!

I got two sheets of 24" x 36" 22 gauge weldable steel from Lowes, some aviation snips, a big ruler right angle, a piece of wood to help with a bend, a sharpie, and a file to smooth the edges after cutting. I've attached a bunch of pics of each of the three shields, which hopefully someone else looking to make one may find helpful. I have it attached to the lintel and metal sides of firebox with a bunch of ceramic magnets (also in attached pic). I know magnets loose their magnetism from excessive heat, but I don't think they will get that hot and I can also always screw the shields into place later.

I took my time and it was a fun project! Thanks to input from Begreen and some posts here on mantel shields, I was able to make a shield without having to drill into my mantel and at the same time covering it up less by having the shield mount from the firebox. I'm open to any input or suggestions. I'm thinking to paint it flat black with stove bright to match the Jotul F100 going on the hearth and the side panels of the firebox. Any thoughts on that? I read somewhere that painting it makes it reflect less heat into room. If I don't paint it, is there any chance of the unfinished steel rusting or is it ok as it's inside? I also understand that they coat this kind of steel with some oil so it doesn't rust in/on the way to the store - if I don't paint, should I wipe that off before running the wood stove?

Thanks already to all the great folks here who have offered direct input to me as well as to all the other threads on this site that I read to help with this project!

 

[weatherguy]

Nice job, I'm stuck inside today due to the blizzard too, no projects to do except sample some bourbons.

 

[KennyK]

Nice job, I'm stuck inside today due to the blizzard too, no projects to do except sample some bourbons.

Thanks weatherguy! Sounds like you're having a good day!

 

[Simonkenton]

Good job. I think it would look better painted black, and it would work fine black.
Yes there is some oil on there, you ought to wash it with kitchen dish soap, and get it good and dry, and then, soak it down with vinegar. Let the vinegar stand on it for, say, an hour or two.
Vinegar is acetic acid and it will cause a little oxidation of the galvanized steel and make it easy to paint.

I made a very similar heat shield to yours, with steel from Lowes, painted it black in the fashion I described and it works great.

 

[Easy Livin’ 3000]

Today's snow day in Beantown gave me a great chance to make my heatshield to meet top and side mantel clearances in anticipation of my liner/stove install in two weeks!

I got two sheets of 24" x 36" 22 gauge weldable steel from Lowes, some aviation snips, a big ruler right angle, a piece of wood to help with a bend, a sharpie, and a file to smooth the edges after cutting. I've attached a bunch of pics of each of the three shields, which hopefully someone else looking to make one may find helpful. I have it attached to the lintel and metal sides of firebox with a bunch of ceramic magnets (also in attached pic). I know magnets loose their magnetism from excessive heat, but I don't think they will get that hot and I can also always screw the shields into place later.

I took my time and it was a fun project! Thanks to input from Begreen and some posts here on mantel shields, I was able to make a shield without having to drill into my mantel and at the same time covering it up less by having the shield mount from the firebox. I'm open to any input or suggestions. I'm thinking to paint it flat black with stove bright to match the Jotul F100 going on the hearth and the side panels of the firebox. Any thoughts on that? I read somewhere that painting it makes it reflect less heat into room. If I don't paint it, is there any chance of the unfinished steel rusting or is it ok as it's inside? I also understand that they coat this kind of steel with some oil so it doesn't rust in/on the way to the store - if I don't paint, should I wipe that off before running the wood stove?

Thanks already to all the great folks here who have offered direct input to me as well as to all the other threads on this site that I read to help with this project!

Looking good, Kenny!

I agree that I'd go black at some point, but, that's just my opinion.

Regarding the magnets, is there something special about them? Also from Lowe's? If so, what section?

 

[KennyK]

Good job. I think it would look better painted black, and it would work fine black.
Yes there is some oil on there, you ought to wash it with kitchen dish soap, and get it good and dry, and then, soak it down with vinegar. Let the vinegar stand on it for, say, an hour or two.
Vinegar is acetic acid and it will cause a little oxidation of the galvanized steel and make it easy to paint.

I made a very similar heat shield to yours, with steel from Lowes, painted it black in the fashion I described and it works great.

Thanks Simonkenton! I think I will paint it black - maybe tomorrow's project as work was just cancelled again due to the blizzard! I got some stove bright paint prep (pic here), which is for cutting grease and oil before painting. I wonder if this alone will be good enough to prep the shield before painting - thoughts? Incidentally, it's not galvanized steel, just plain steel - I've read mixed things about the galvanized off gassing at high temps and didn't want to take any chances.

 

[KennyK]

Looking good, Kenny!

I agree that I'd go black at some point, but, that's just my opinion.

Regarding the magnets, is there something special about them? Also from Lowe's? If so, what section?

Thanks ED 3000! Yes, I think I'll paint it black! The magnets are just simple rectangle ceramic magnets from Home Depot. They pull on both sides, so they are sandwiched between lintel and heat shield, and between side metal in firebox and heat shield. I've attached a pic of the packaging here. About $2 for a two-pack, and I bought six two-packs. I have 8 magnets between lintel and top shield and 2 on each side shield. I may add another one or two to the sides.

 

[KennyK]

So, there was a little something about the heat shield that was bugging me, and after coming in from shoveling snow, I decided to fix it, albeit a pretty minor thing. I originally cut the sides of the top shield right where it met the side shields, which left some small gaps. I was thinking that I should have bent the edges to overlap instead of cutting them so I wouldn't have had those gaps. I had one piece of sheet metal left that I probably didn't have much other use for, so I made another top shield, this time bending over the edges to overlap with the side shields. I think it looks better now, and the whole thing feels a little sturdier too. Here are pics of the gaps I'm talking about in the original, and pics of the new top shield.

 

[KennyK]

I hit the mantel heat shield with some flat black Stovebright high temp paint. Pics below. If weather cooperates liner and stove install this Tuesday!

 

[Simonkenton]

As I told you it would be, that is a huge improvement! Looks great.
Or, as much as anything, it doesn't look at all. It kind of disappears when painted black.

 

[Easy Livin’ 3000]

I hit the mantel heat shield with some flat black Stovebright high temp paint. Pics below. If weather cooperates liner and stove install this Tuesday!

View attachment 220590 View attachment 220591 View attachment 220592

Looking good, Kenny!

 

[KennyK]

As I told you it would be, that is a huge improvement! Looks great.
Or, as much as anything, it doesn't look at all. It kind of disappears when painted black.

Thanks! Pretty soon I'll be posting pics of the full setup in action!