Oak wall crosses - 4" high

 These small wall crosses from oak are 4" high with a thickness of 7/16" and a width of 5/8", attractive in their simplicity.  I used my MatchFit Dado Stop to guide the cutting of the dadoes.

Heart Pine - old hickory stained

After nearly 3 months of not working in the shop (amazing how busy one can be at home during the COVID-19 pandemic), I used some rough sawn old heart pine and made 44 crosses 2 3/4" high.  Half were rough sawn on one side.  Having the can of Old Hickory stain sitting on my workbench from the prior batch, I stained them and then applied two coats of poly as I usually do to finish them.  When totally dry, I burnished the smooth sides on burlap for a finishing touch.

finished

This was the first time I've used the Old Hickory stain on heart pine and probably the last.  The finished crosses look very nice, but I think my Puritan Pine stain looks better.

staining with Old Hickory

drying

burnishing after totally dry

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Hickory - finished on the fourth of July

From a piece of rough sawn hickory, I machined it, resawed it, and from one of the pieces made 36 crosses 2 5/16" high, 9/32" thick. The small wavey grain is intriguing to me.  When sanded down the unfinished blonde wood shows some grain, but stain brings it out well.  Half of them I stained with red mahogany, and the others with "old hickory".
On my 78th birthday, as we celebrated Independence Day, I finished them with a 2nd coat of polyurethane.  Handsome.

mahogany stained and hickory stained with poly coat

cutting dados

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3000 Crosses

Between June 10 and June 25, from a piece of willow I created 21 small crosses about 2 5/16" tall, 1/2" wide, and 3/8" thick, also one larger cross.  This brings the total since 2010 to 3008.  I've never worked with willow before, a medium colored wood with very little grain pattern.  When stained with old hickory oil stain, coated with 2 coats of poly, and hand-rubbed, they look quite handsome.

layout

cutting before assembly

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a Quick Tour of my Shop

A friend from afar said he wished he could see my shop where I make these wooden crosses to give away.  Well, here it is, un-narrated - my 12' x 18' special place.

Thanks for visiting.

Birdseye Maple

On 5/25/2020, I pulled out a small piece of birdseye maple on my wood shelves - 1/4"x2 1/2"x16" and developed my plans which I changed on 6/7/2020.  I did the layout on 6/7 and cut and assembled; on 6/8 I drilled hole on verticals, sanded faces, and cut corners.  On 6/9 I sanded edges and stained with Puritan Pine, bringing out the beauty of the wood.  If dry tomorrow, I will add a coat of poly.

Small batches are very enjoyable to make; cutting corners and sanding edges can be boring with a large batch.

ready to start

stain shows the richness of birdseye maple

Rough Sawn Heart Pine

From a piece of rough sawn heart pine with dark saw marks on the surface, I made 40 crosses, half with the rough sawn on the face, half from the interior wood, 3 inches high.  Stained with Puritan Pine stain and a couple of coats of polyurethane brought out a rich color.

beautiful rough sawn surface 

dados cut, strips ripped to perfect width

assembled

finished

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