A friend asked me about crosses, where she could get one as a gift to honor five years of service for a woman leading a church group. Naturally, I told her I make them gratis and asked her when she needed it. It was a short lead time, but in a week I made this beautiful 8 1/2" tall cross from mesquite. Mesquite is a soft pink color, but when stained with Minwax Puritan Pine, it turns a deep rich color. Two coats of polyurethane make it shine. This is one of the favorites I've made, number 2719.
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| the finished cross |
Here's a quick look at the process: cutting a strip from a slab then joining, ripping with my Grr-Rippers then cutting the dadoes using a Dado Stop jig, both from
MicroJig. I then glue and assemble, sand both faces smooth, carve the corners and sand the edges. Last, I finish with stain and apply two coats of polyurethane, lightly sanding with fine sandpaper between coats. Finally, I rub down the finished cross with a piece of burlap.
Giving the cross is the best part.
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| the slab - wild grain |
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| joining the cut strip |
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| ripping to width - using Grr-Rippers |
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| setting dado width - using Dado Stop jig |
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| cutting dado on vertical piece |
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| ready to glue |
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| glued and assembled |
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| stained |
(When making one or a few crosses, I use the Dado Stop. When making a batch of smaller crosses, I use a dado blade. See my post of October 30, Hickory - a batch of 75.)
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