3/16" Oak

 From a 3/16" thick piece of oak 20" long, I cut 8 strips 5'16" wide and made 40 crosses 2 3/8" high (see notebook page 75).  Half I stained with Puritan Pine and the other with Red Mahogany, then a couple coats of polyurethane. 

Layout ready for dado cutting

Dadoes cut

Notebook, p. 75

Mesquite - for a special friend's special friends

 I'm always humbled when a special friend asks me to make a cross that they can share.  This cross will be given as a wedding gift for a special couple.  I was asked to make it about 18" tall; my initial reaction was "too tall" but after thinking about it, I decided it would be a great size, using mesquite that I milled to 1/2" thick x 5/8" wide.  To accentuate the height, I made the cross piece shorter than the ratio I usually use, and placed it higher.  The result was very pleasing, and the Puritan Pine stain on mesquite with two coats of polyurethane really brought out the beauty of the wood.  It will look nice on the wall.

finished cross on dwarf mondo

From the first cut to dried and burnished with burlap took only nine days.

cutting strip from slab

milled and dadoed

ready to be stained

p. 74  Total 3122
Note: Made 2 smaller crosses from the cut strip, 8" high and 4.5" high

3/8" Oak

finished

From a 3/4" oak board, I resawed to 3/8" thick (and 3/16" for a future batch) and made 24 crosses that are 2 3/4" high and 3 small ones 1 13/16" high.  I assembled them on November 3, Election Day.  

I kept the cross on the left with the dark spot for my collection.  I always drill a hole across each vertical piece so people can put a chain or cord through to hang or wear it. I made a mistake and drilled through the face instead of the side, so I glued a piece of 1/8" diameter dowel and sanded it flush.  No one would ever have known if I didn't tell you :-)  Here is the rest of the story:

Years ago when I started making small crosses, I didn't drill the hole for hanging.  My idea was that a cross could be carried in one's pocket or set on a table.  As I gave them away, almost 9 of 10 recipients turned the cross over and said "I could put a hole in that and hang it."  Since then, I drill the hole before assembling.

cutting dadoes

cut strips

cutting pieces

assembled

my specs

p. 74

Oak wall crosses - 4" high

 These small wall crosses from oak are 4" high with a thickness of 7/16" and a width of 5/8", attractive in their simplicity.  I used my MatchFit Dado Stop to guide the cutting of the dadoes.

Heart Pine - old hickory stained

After nearly 3 months of not working in the shop (amazing how busy one can be at home during the COVID-19 pandemic), I used some rough sawn old heart pine and made 44 crosses 2 3/4" high.  Half were rough sawn on one side.  Having the can of Old Hickory stain sitting on my workbench from the prior batch, I stained them and then applied two coats of poly as I usually do to finish them.  When totally dry, I burnished the smooth sides on burlap for a finishing touch.

finished

This was the first time I've used the Old Hickory stain on heart pine and probably the last.  The finished crosses look very nice, but I think my Puritan Pine stain looks better.

staining with Old Hickory

drying

burnishing after totally dry

p.73

Hickory - finished on the fourth of July

From a piece of rough sawn hickory, I machined it, resawed it, and from one of the pieces made 36 crosses 2 5/16" high, 9/32" thick. The small wavey grain is intriguing to me.  When sanded down the unfinished blonde wood shows some grain, but stain brings it out well.  Half of them I stained with red mahogany, and the others with "old hickory".
On my 78th birthday, as we celebrated Independence Day, I finished them with a 2nd coat of polyurethane.  Handsome.

mahogany stained and hickory stained with poly coat

cutting dados

p. 73

3000 Crosses

Between June 10 and June 25, from a piece of willow I created 21 small crosses about 2 5/16" tall, 1/2" wide, and 3/8" thick, also one larger cross.  This brings the total since 2010 to 3008.  I've never worked with willow before, a medium colored wood with very little grain pattern.  When stained with old hickory oil stain, coated with 2 coats of poly, and hand-rubbed, they look quite handsome.

layout

cutting before assembly

p. 72

a Quick Tour of my Shop

A friend from afar said he wished he could see my shop where I make these wooden crosses to give away.  Well, here it is, un-narrated - my 12' x 18' special place.

Thanks for visiting.

Birdseye Maple

On 5/25/2020, I pulled out a small piece of birdseye maple on my wood shelves - 1/4"x2 1/2"x16" and developed my plans which I changed on 6/7/2020.  I did the layout on 6/7 and cut and assembled; on 6/8 I drilled hole on verticals, sanded faces, and cut corners.  On 6/9 I sanded edges and stained with Puritan Pine, bringing out the beauty of the wood.  If dry tomorrow, I will add a coat of poly.

Small batches are very enjoyable to make; cutting corners and sanding edges can be boring with a large batch.

ready to start

stain shows the richness of birdseye maple

Rough Sawn Heart Pine

From a piece of rough sawn heart pine with dark saw marks on the surface, I made 40 crosses, half with the rough sawn on the face, half from the interior wood, 3 inches high.  Stained with Puritan Pine stain and a couple of coats of polyurethane brought out a rich color.

beautiful rough sawn surface 

dados cut, strips ripped to perfect width

assembled

finished

p.71

Spanish Cedar - varied sizes

This wood had such a nice color that I kept one for myself unstained.  I made 19 of various sizes and shapes. Also a couple from oak.

natural color, unstained

staining

p.70

from a scrap of Walnut

These six handsome tall and thin crosses were made from a piece of walnut in my scrap bin.

finished walnut crosses with elm crosses

Pandemic Elm Crosses

As the corona virus pandemic swept through the world, we isolated ourselves at home.  We worshipped virtually, visited virtually, and relaxed amidst the tension from the news.  This gave me an opportunity to spend some time working in our gardens and making some crosses in the workshop.  Enjoy this photo video of the process which I started on 3/17 through staining on 3/24.  Then a couple of coats of polyurethane to finish them.


 Made from elm in Louisiana, USA.

48 Apple Crosses

From my shop attic I found a 6"x6 1/2' piece of 5/4" rough sawn apple.  It was probably from Pennsylvania.  I cut it into 3 pieces and machined one of them, then ripped and resawed it and planed it.  Then I made 48 very nice crosses, 2 5/8" high.  I stained them with a hickory stain resulting in a very warm color.  A couple of coats of polyurethane sanding lightly in between coats resulted in some very nice crosses.

finished apple crosses

drying

dadoed, ripped, ready for cutting before assembling

Jig for cutting crosspiece ends

When making a batch of small crosses, I use a piece of wood usually no longer than 24" and a few inches wide.  I plane it to the desired thickness of the crosses and then determine the optimal lengths of the vertical and horizontal (crosspiece) pieces of the crosses.  Typically I use the Phi ratio for a good looking cross; that is another subject.  On one surface of the board, I draw lines across the board usually alternating between vertical and horizontal pieces and leave "about" 1/16" between for eventual cutting on the bandsaw.  I also mark the width of each dado to guide alignment on the table saw. I cut the dadoes to the chosen width of each piece, and the depth of exactly half of the board thickness. 

layout of cross pieces (single line is center of dado cuts) 

After cutting dados across a board, the board is cut into strips the width of the dado.  Each strip is cut around the dado either to the length of the vertical piece of the cross or the crosspiece.  When cutting the crosspieces on the bandsaw, regardless of how well I have laid out the lengths of the crosspieces, I frequently do not get the exact length on each side.  This jig solves that problem.

the original jig in use

a simple refinement - 1/8" square key stock taped to table

p.68

2020 - Oak for first batch

The first batch of the new year is from a thick piece of oak.  I sliced a 5/16" thick piece 3 1/2" x 18" which yielded 59 crosses 2 11/16 high, 1/2" wide.  From a piece of scrap cypress that I used for setup, I made 9 more crosses.

Some I stained with Puritan Pine, others with a hickory stain, both resulting in a nice toffee color.

nice insect damage

p.67