The Hand Hewn Look, With More Variation
Oak, ash, elm, hickory and maple from the same barns — more colour range across a run. Built to your exact dimensions and shipped nationwide from Auburn, Georgia.
Straight out of the barn, mixed hardwood timber is wild — elm, ash, and beech weathered into every shade of brown, grey, and chocolate. That’s the raw material. Then it becomes a box beam: milled, wire brushed, sanded, cleaned — and the transformation is the whole story. The finished faces settle into golden brown, beige, and light-to-medium brown, with rich grain that reads strikingly close to white oak.
The white oak look, with 1800s history, at a friendlier number — typically about 10% below comparable white oak.
Color: (finished): golden brown, beige, light to medium brown.
Texture: original axe marks, light to heavy — your choice.
Finish options: unfinished, wire brushed, or sanded. Stainable on request.
Want the wild, unmatched variation instead? That’s our solid mixed hardwood beams — raw character, every board different. Ask us.
Boards are cut from the outer faces of original hand-hewn timbers, 120 to 200 years old.
Every Beechcreek box beam:
- 2, 3, or 4-sided box construction, built to your outside dimensions
- 1-sided skins available for trim and accent work
- Corners mitered for a clean, seamless appearance
- Backside planed; all visible faces sanded
- Bora Care treatment applied to kill insects and fungus
- Fastener holes filled with a sawdust-and-glue blend from the same wood
- Built to your exact dimensions — or your interior dimensions when the beam wraps steel, an LVL, or ductwork
- Shipped nationwide, full length, tarped and strapped
Each beam is one-of-a-kind. Expect natural variation in grain, stress cracks, nail holes, bug holes, knots, and patina — that’s the wood’s history, not a defect.
Mixed Hardwood Box Beams, Installed
Installing Hand Hewn Mixed Hardwood Box Beams
Most customers bring in a finish carpenter, though plenty of experienced DIYers handle it themselves. We supply the wood and we’re glad to talk through your run — we don’t install.
Before you start. Let the beams acclimate in the room for two to three days, stored off the floor in a dry, well-ventilated space. Keep temperature and humidity steady before, during, and after the install; wood moves with the room it lives in.
- Set your cleat. Rip 2×4 stock to match the beam’s interior width and fasten it to the joists or wall framing, level and on layout.
- Hang the beam. Lift it over the cleat and fasten through the sides with trim screws or lag bolts, keeping fasteners in the shadow lines.
- Fill the holes. Use the sawdust-and-glue blend that ships with your order — it’s milled from your own beam, so it disappears.
- Square your landing. Cut one end square where the beam meets a wall or corner for a flush finish.
Tools worth having on hand: lag bolts and trim screws, 2×4 stock, a level, circular saw, speed square, wrenches, drill and bits, braces, and ladders or scaffolding.
Care. Dust with a dry or barely damp cloth. In a kitchen or a high-traffic room, a sealer makes long-term upkeep easier.
How to Measure
Four numbers get your beam built right.
- Length — the full span, end to end.
- Height — the vertical face, measured top to bottom.
- Width — the horizontal face, measured across the front.
- Interior height and width — the open channel inside the hollow beam. These are the ones that matter when the beam wraps an existing joist, steel, an LVL, or ductwork.
Wrapping something? Give us the interior dimensions and we’ll do the conversion: outside width comes out at interior width plus 2 1/2 inches, outside height at interior height plus 1 1/2 inches. We confirm both sets of numbers back to you before anything gets cut.
Beam under 14 feet? Tell us what it’s for. Mantels and floating shelves usually need end caps, and it’s easier to build those in than to add them later.
Why Builders and Homeowners Choose Beechcreek
Builders come to us because straight, square material makes the install go faster. When the beam fits the opening, corners stay tight and long runs stay true. Everything is milled here in Auburn, Georgia, and we stand behind what leaves the yard.
Homeowners and designers come for the surface. Wood that spent a century in a barn reads from the floor and holds up when someone walks over and puts a hand on it — that is not something a mold or a router can fake. We’ll talk through sizing, texture, and finish so the beam lands right in your room.
And every order puts people coming out of recovery to work. That’s not a side story. It’s why the shop exists.
Tell us what you're building.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are box beams structural?
No — box beams are decorative. They’re hollow, built from the reclaimed faces of antique timber, and they hang on a cleat or bracket rather than carrying load. If the beam has to hold weight, that’s a solid beam, and your builder or engineer specifies the size.
How is mixed hardwood different from hand hewn white oak?
Mixed hardwood is a range of species — oak, ash, elm, hickory, maple — pulled from the same barns, so you get more colour variation across a run. It reads close to the hand hewn white oak look and runs about 10% under it. If you want every beam in the room to match tightly, white oak is the better pick. If you like variation, this is the one.
Are hand hewn mixed hardwood box beams safe to use indoors?
Yes. These timbers spent 60 to 200 years in a barn, so the moisture left and the movement happened generations ago. Every beam also gets a Bora Care treatment before it ships, which kills insects and fungus. We treat rather than kiln dry on purpose — kiln drying reclaimed wood tends to make it check and crack afterward.
Can I get long lengths without a seam?
Long mixed hardwood runs are usually built with seams. If a seamless single-length face matters to you, hand hewn oak, hand hewn pine and resawn white oak are the styles where that’s most often possible. Tell us your run and we’ll tell you straight what we can pull.
Can these be matched to a mantel?
Yes. We build mantels from the same reclaimed stock, so your ceiling beams and your fireplace can come out of the same era of barn. Ask for both on one quote and we’ll pull them together.