Elm stained with Golden Oak

From a machined piece of elm 5/16" x 4 7/16' x 23 1/2", I made 55 crosses 1/4" wide, most 2 13/16" high, others 2 1/8" high.  I started them on 3/31 and finally finished them on 6/8.  Elm shows some nice wavy grain when stained.

stained with Minwax Golden Oak with 3 coats of Arm-R-Seal urethane

unfinished

strips cut with dados

There was a thin strip left over, so I glued two together and made a few extra crosses which can be seen in the finished view.

Star of David - Bat Mitzvah Gift

Today, June 8 my nephew's oldest daughter, Sofia, became a Bat Mitzvah. We are proud of her.  I made her a Star of David from a piece of mesquite as a special gift.  Back in January I started planning how to do it, made a prototype out of scrap pine to learn from my mistakes, and began the process in March with a nice piece of mesquite 5/16" x 2 5/8" x 25".  

Finished Star of David for Sofia

Stained and 3 coats of urethane

the Process (click image to enlarge)

Doing the layout and carefully cutting diagonal dadoes was challenging.

Cutting diagonal dado

Depth of cut = 1/2 thickness of board

Cutting triangles

I was able to make 7 stars.  The fits varied, some perfect, others mostly even.

Assembled with a good fit before sanding the faces

Staining with MinWax Golden Oak - a rich finish

Finished Stars of David