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.

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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.

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