The Karen tree - for baby Camille

Patrick Moore provided me with a piece of cypress from a special tree.  Read the story first.

Cypress log, about 3" diameter

Thanksgiving 1998 - Planting of "The Three Sister's Cypress Trees"
(select image to enlarge)

 

Patrick with 3 finished crosses

the finished crosses

I shaped the log on the bandsaw, jointed one side, planed the other for parallel surfaces.  Then I cut strips 13/16" wide, 1/2" thick, cut the dados, assembled, sanded the faces, cut all the corners (my signature), and stained them with Old Hickory oil based stain.  The tallest cross is 15".  The smallest one I didn't finish because the sanded wood looked and felt so wonderful.  Then I applied 3 coats of polyurethane sanding lightly between coats. The firs coat took several days to dry, the second took several weeks, the third coat dried overnight.  Knowing the history of the wood and that the crosses will each have a special recipient made this a very meaningful project for me.

before staining

the largest cross

finished

From a special Olive Tree - for a special family

 On October 8 Patrick Moore brought two pieces of wood, a branch from an olive tree and a 3" diameter branch from a cypress tree.  First - the story about the olive tree and the wood.

(select images to enlarge)

9/2/2012 - Patrick with transplanted olive tree, 7 ft. high

10/18/2021 - after 2 hurricanes and severe
2021 freeze damage, 15 ft. high

Now the making of crosses from the wood for Christmas gifts for his siblings and others.  

Olive branch and Cypress

Let's start with the olive wood.

Rough cut to square on bandsaw

Used jointer to get flat on one side, planer to get parallel on opposite side

Resawed before planing to desired thickness

3 short pieces for 1/2", 4 long pieces for 3/8"

Planing to thickness

1/2" thick

Olive wood "resting"

Nearly a month later, as the wood was starting to warp,  I started to cut the 3/8" thick pieces into strips.  Using my MatchFit Dado Stop, I cut dados.  Then cut strips to length on bandsaw and press fit before glueing.  There will be some "scrap" from each board so I will put as much of that to good use, too.

Strips ripped to 1/2" wide, 3/8" thick

Cutting dados using Dado Stop

Each cross will be different (unglued in this photo)
height varies from about 5" to 7", wood is 3/8" thick

The finished crosses are handsome!

Started working on 1/2" thick pieces.  The wood had started to warp so needed to machine some more.

1/2" thick ready to rip to width of crosses

finished crosses - 7 1/2" to 9" tall

Patrick received 16 of the olive crosses on 11/21; I kept 2 for my collection.

The project of making these crosses from wood with a special background for a man of special character was quite meaningful for me.  They will be shared well, I am sure.