From a machined piece of elm 5/16" x 4 7/16' x 23 1/2", I made 55 crosses 1/4" wide, most 2 13/16" high, others 2 1/8" high. I started them on 3/31 and finally finished them on 6/8. Elm shows some nice wavy grain when stained.
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| stained with Minwax Golden Oak with 3 coats of Arm-R-Seal urethane |
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| unfinished |
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| strips cut with dados |
Today, June 8 my nephew's oldest daughter, Sofia, became a Bat Mitzvah. We are proud of her. I made her a Star of David from a piece of mesquite as a special gift. Back in January I started planning how to do it, made a prototype out of scrap pine to learn from my mistakes, and began the process in March with a nice piece of mesquite 5/16" x 2 5/8" x 25".
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| Finished Star of David for Sofia |
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| Stained and 3 coats of urethane |
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| the Process (click image to enlarge) |
Doing the layout and carefully cutting diagonal dadoes was challenging.
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| Cutting diagonal dado |
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| Depth of cut = 1/2 thickness of board |
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| Cutting triangles |
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| Assembled with a good fit before sanding the faces |
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| Staining with MinWax Golden Oak - a rich finish |
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| Finished Stars of David |
From a piece of 5/16" sinker cypress that had its best grain on the edge, I made 42 crosses, most 2 13/16" high, a few 4 3/4" high. The face grain wasn't what I wanted so I used the Thin Rip Guide to cut strips. Turned them on their sides and laid out where to make dado cuts using the MatchFit Dado Stop. See process notes from my journal, page 98.
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| thickness planing |
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| cutting strips |
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| edge grain nicer than face grain |
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| ready for assembly |
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| finished |
Between March 2-11 from a 5/16" thick piece of mesquite, I made 25 3" tall crosses from 3/8" wide strips.
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| Crosses made during Lent |
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| layout |
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| dado cuts |
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| ripped strips |
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| assembled, corners carved |
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| staining with golden oak |
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| finished, 3 coats urethane |
I really enjoy making crosses from the beautiful piece of mesquite from Texas that was given to me years ago by a great artist in New Mexico, John Geldersma. The natural color of the wood is pinkish; it sands so nicely. A coat of Minwax Golden Oak stain brings out a very rich, deeper color. These 24 crosses (2 9/16" high) were made in a couple of weeks, including 3 coats of Arm-R-Seal satin urethane.
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| The original board. Used one piece. |
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| Resewed to result in 3 pieces, 5/16" thick after planing. |
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| One piece results in 24 crosses |
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| Layout using a story stick |
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| Cutting dado |
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| Ripping strips 1/2" wide |
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| Sanded with corners cut |
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| Staining with Golden Oak stain |
Using beautiful antique cypress from Jenny Royer, I made 22 crosses 2 1/2" high, 5/16" thick, and 1/2" wide pieces. This batch brings my total number of crosses made since 2010 to 4006.
The great thing is that I have had the opportunity to give most all of them away - locally, around the country, to India, Argentina, Chile, Ecuador, France, the Netherlands, and who knows where. To the wealthy, to the poor, to the healthy, to the sick, to those celebrating, to those grieving, to those in new homes, to those whose homes have flooded, to those celebrating new life, to those remembering lives lost, to those at church, to those without a church. I will make them and share them as long as I am able. I am thankful to have been called to this ministry.
Back on August 21, I started 60 crosses from two of the boards I milled in August. I finally completed them on January 13 2024. They are 2 5/16" tall, the width of the pieces is 3/8". Half were stained with Puritan Pine, the rest with Natural because MinWax no longer makes Puritan Pine.
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