48 crosses from antique cypress - Now over 3700 crosses made!

 I started this batch on 7/29/22 but didn't finish until 9/22/22.  I must have spent a lot of the summer working in the gardens.

stained and coated with urethane

journal notes

staining rough side

layout done with story stick; beginning dado cuts

Cherry - from a piece of "scrap"

 When we lived in Pennsylvania, I visited a hardwood lumber yard and picked an interesting piece of cherry from their scrap bin.  The grain was not good for most woodworking projects, but was beautiful for these 40 2 5/8" tall, 1/2" wide crosses.

 

From a piece of Spanish Cedar

Made one nice wall cross from a piece of Spanish cedar.

5" high, 3 1/8 across

 

Easter Crosses

 

We shared crosses with worshippers at the Easter Sunday service at our church.

Oak Crosses - 48

 Machined a small piece of oak resulting in 36 2 1/2" crosses and 12 2 1/4" crosses.  So in the last 11 years, I've made about 3615 total, almost all given away.

Finished crosses

Planed wood, ready for layout

documents

p.87

Wall Crosses - Walnut

Cut some walnut into strips 1/2" and 3/8" thick x 5/8" x 20 5/8" and made 7 wall crosses 4", 5", and 6" tall.  From scrap, made a hanging cross 2 9/16" high.  Stained with dark walnut stain and applied 3 coats of urethane resulting in handsome crosses.

p.87

45 small Walnut Crosses

 From a 20" length of walnut 5/16" thick, I made 45 crosses, 40 are 2 3/4" high, and 5 are 2 1/2" high, strips are 3/8" wide. 

Layout using story stick

Dados cut, laying out where to cut strips

Strips, ready to cut pieces

Stained

Walnut from Milford

My dear friend, the late Milford Crumplar, gave me a few pieces of lumber from his outdoor covered storage area.  There was a 45" 1 1/2 x 5 1/2 piece of rough sawn black walnut, one side still with some bark on it.  I machined it to two pieces, 24" and 20 1/2", 5/4" x 5 1/4" - very nice wood.  Let's see what's inside of it.  From the rings on the bark side, I would estimate the diameter of the tree at about 28" or more.

Milled a Piece of Cherry

 This piece of cherry was once in the scrap bin of a Pennsylvania hardwood lumber yard.  It had very mixed up grain and measured 1" thick x 5 3/8" x 24".  After machining, I had 2 pieces 3/4" thick x 2 5/8" x 22 3/16".  I resawed one and planed the two pieces, one 5/16" thick and the other 1/4" thick. 

resawing

resawed

Now I realize all these dimensions don't make for a good read, but here's what I did with them.  From the 1/4" piece I made 20 crosses 2 5/8" tall and 22 2 3/8 tall from the 5/16" piece, strips 1/2" wide.  Handsome crosses, beautiful grain.

1/4" thick, 2 3/8" high

5/16" thick, 2 5/8" high

Since 2010, I now have made over 3500 crosses and continue to enjoy giving them away.

p.85

Elm - 1st batch for 2022

 After machining a slab of rough sawn elm and resawing it to 1/4" thickness, I made 35 handsome crosses 2 3/4" x 1 7/8", 1/2" wide.  The grain of elm is brought out by stain, Puritan Pine from MinWax and enhanced by 3 coats of Arm-R-Seal satin urethane from General Finishes.

From Antique Cypress

Finished crosses, about 2 1/2" high

From an antique cypress board, rough sawn and previously stained, I resawed and from one of the pieces made about 52 nice crosses.  Half of them I stained with Minwax Puritan Pine and the others with Dark Mahogany.  I bought a can of General Finishes Arm-R-Seal satin urethane which was recommended to me by Chalon Olivier.  Three coats were applied, sanding lightly before each coat. It dried well overnight, and I am very pleased with the result - no pooling or bubbles.  Started on 12/20/2021, completed on 1/11/2022.

Layout

Dadoes cut

Ready for assembly

Stained and finished - 3 coats of urethane