With my inventory at zero, I received a call from our church secretary requesting 20 crosses for backpacks of children returning to school and for teachers. From a piece of mesquite, I made 24 handsome crosses, 2 3/4" high, 5/16" thick, and 2 smaller ones from scrap.
 |
| stained with golden oak |
 |
| ready to be band-sawed into pieces for assembly |
We were in Texas Hill Country celebrating over 4th of July weekend when the terrible flooding of the Guadelupe River took so many lives. A week later I read an email from a woman who owned an art gallery and hotel we had visited last year in Hill Country near the river, sharing how they were doing for those responding to help those impacted. The email moved me and I sent an email to her, an excerpt here ...
My current inventory of crosses to share was 129, plain crosses, simple gifts. May they help bring peace and healing to those impacted by this tragedy.
These heart pine crosses were stained natural with 3 coats of urethane resulting in a rich color. The wood is very handsome.
 |
| 52 crosses 2 7/16" high, 5/16" wide |
 |
| assembled, before sanding or cutting corners |
 |
| 20 crosses 2 7/8" high, 2 1/3/16" high |
 |
| Stained half neutral, half golden oak |
Using my Thin Rip Guide on my table saw, I cut 1/4" strips and turned them on their sides to get the fine straight grain of the edge of the piece of wood I was using. I created 25 2 13/16" high crosses. From scrap, I created 4 1/8" thick crosses.
After a 3 month hiatus, I made 18 crosses from sinker cypress, a great wood to work with. The wood is darker than new cypress, lighter weight and with tight grain. It machines so well. In a week and a half, I made 19 crosses, including some made from scraps glued together. 5/16" thick, 3/8" wide.
From the same piece of heart pine as the small unfinished crosses, I made fifteen 5 1/16" wall crosses. These were all faced with edge grain.
 |
| assembled |
 |
| finished - natural stain and 3 coats of urethane |
 |
| strips (cut to show edge grain) before assembly |
Some wood in its' natural state just doesn't need stain or urethane; such was the case when I made 17 crosses from a piece of heart pine given to me years ago by Milford Crumplar. One side was rough sawn by a large blade at the sawmill. The other side when cut, was very resinous and made the workshop smell wonderful. It was slow sanding the crosses on the belt sander. The crosses were 2 3/4" tall including a couple from scrap that were 1 3/4" tall, 5/16" thick and 7/16" wide.
 |
| natural "finished" crosses |
 |
| rough sawn (strips used in next batch of wall crosses) |
 |
| notebook and crosses |
I had an old cypress board that was rough sawn and stained with various stains, and it had some wood rot. I made some beautiful 5/16" x 7/16" crosses, 41 were 2 13/16" tall, 7 from scrap were 1 3/16" tall. When stained with golden oak along with 3 coats of urethane, they really looked nice. I was able to use the wood rot to advantage in some of the crosses.
 |
| wood rot added character |
 |
| 48 finished crosses |
 |
| rough sawn surface |
 |
| inside matching grain |
Apple is a light colored hardwood with some interesting grain. I made 30 3" tall crosses 1/2" wide and 3/8" thick. I used three different stains for unique results.
 |
| red mahogany, Ipswich pine, dark mahogany |
 |
| finished crosses |
While visiting Comfort, TX we stopped at a sawmill and I picked out a 2" thick handsome piece of mesquite, gray and rough sawn. When machined in early August, the beautiful pink of this hard wood looked so fine.
I cut some half inch wide strips and made three nice wall crosses about 6" tall.
 |
| stained with golden oak, a rich look |
And from another 7/16" thick piece came 6 beautiful wall crosses 5 1/2" tall and a small 1 3/4" cross.
 |
| page 101 of my notebook |
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 |
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 |
 |
| Assembled with a good fit before sanding the faces |
 |
| Staining with MinWax Golden Oak - a rich finish |
 |
| Finished Stars of David |
