Koa from Hawaii

 An odd shape scrap of a fine wood resulted in 4 handsome wall crosses about 5" tall, 1/2" thick, 5/8" wide  .  When stained with Puritan Pine, the wood went from pinkish to a beautiful rich color. One went to Susan, one to her brother who was the source of the wood, one for my collection, and one for a future gift.   

nice grain and color

planing - hot glued to a base 

planed with matched grain

cutting 5/8" wide strips

assembled, one from scrap

journal notes

Hickory to round out the year

On 12/27 I did the layout for 30 hickory crosses.  It is one of my favorite woods for the finished cross with beautiful, wavy grain, but it can be challenging to work with.  I finished the crosses about two weeks later,  2 3/4 " high, 7/16" wide, stained beautifully with Puritan Pine and finished with 3 coats of satin urethane.

This one goes in my collection!

ready to cut dadoes

strips ready to cut in pieces for assembly

my worksheet

Year End Surge - Oak and Walnut various sizes

 During the latter part of December, I made a variety of small and wall crosses and finished them all together stained with Puritan Pine and 3 coats of urethane. I have started using several of my newer tools such as box joint blades for 3/8" dado cuts, Microjig 1/2 Fitfinder to set blade height for dado cuts, Woodpeckers Thin Rip Guide for cutting strips after dado cuts, Microjig Matchfit Dado Stop for cutting dadoes in wall crosses.  They are all beneficial to me, and I would recommend to others.

finished crosses

walnut worksheet for small crosses

journal notes for oak crosses