Our wonderful neighbors brought back a bourbon barrel top, engraved with our name and wedding year. My wife was correct in stating that "you can't just lean it up against the hearth. Can you make a stand for it?" I try to listen to my wife. So I went to the local crafts store, snapped a picture of an art easel (they were MUCH smaller), blew it up on the computer, and cut a pattern out of walnut. Stuck a piano hinge on the backside, sanded it down, finished it with tung oil, and called it an easel!