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.

p.85

Elm - 1st batch for 2022

 After machining a slab of rough sawn elm and resawing it to 1/4" thickness, I made 35 handsome crosses 2 3/4" x 1 7/8", 1/2" wide.  The grain of elm is brought out by stain, Puritan Pine from MinWax and enhanced by 3 coats of Arm-R-Seal satin urethane from General Finishes.

From Antique Cypress

Finished crosses, about 2 1/2" high

From an antique cypress board, rough sawn and previously stained, I resawed and from one of the pieces made about 52 nice crosses.  Half of them I stained with Minwax Puritan Pine and the others with Dark Mahogany.  I bought a can of General Finishes Arm-R-Seal satin urethane which was recommended to me by Chalon Olivier.  Three coats were applied, sanding lightly before each coat. It dried well overnight, and I am very pleased with the result - no pooling or bubbles.  Started on 12/20/2021, completed on 1/11/2022.

Layout

Dadoes cut

Ready for assembly

Stained and finished - 3 coats of urethane

Cypress Scraps from Olivier - Crosses to Olivier

 In mid-November we visited Chalon at Olivier Woodworking in Natchitoches to buy some Christmas gifts.  She was making reindeer from scraps of cypress patterned from a design of one that her father had made years ago.  We bought a "herd" of them. While we were there she took us out into the shop to give me a couple pieces of cypress from their scrap bin, knowing that I enjoy making crosses.

Chalon Olivier with reindeer

One of the boards was such beautiful natural wood.  From it I made ten crosses that were so handsome that I didn't apply any finish.  When we visited in early December to buy some more reindeer, I took most of the crosses and gave them to Chalon for her, her daughter, and those who work in the shop.

Completed, left unfinished

The Karen tree - for baby Camille

Patrick Moore provided me with a piece of cypress from a special tree.  Read the story first.

Cypress log, about 3" diameter

Thanksgiving 1998 - Planting of "The Three Sister's Cypress Trees"
(select image to enlarge)

 

Patrick with 3 finished crosses

the finished crosses

I shaped the log on the bandsaw, jointed one side, planed the other for parallel surfaces.  Then I cut strips 13/16" wide, 1/2" thick, cut the dados, assembled, sanded the faces, cut all the corners (my signature), and stained them with Old Hickory oil based stain.  The tallest cross is 15".  The smallest one I didn't finish because the sanded wood looked and felt so wonderful.  Then I applied 3 coats of polyurethane sanding lightly between coats. The firs coat took several days to dry, the second took several weeks, the third coat dried overnight.  Knowing the history of the wood and that the crosses will each have a special recipient made this a very meaningful project for me.

before staining

the largest cross

finished

From a special Olive Tree - for a special family

 On October 8 Patrick Moore brought two pieces of wood, a branch from an olive tree and a 3" diameter branch from a cypress tree.  First - the story about the olive tree and the wood.

(select images to enlarge)

9/2/2012 - Patrick with transplanted olive tree, 7 ft. high

10/18/2021 - after 2 hurricanes and severe
2021 freeze damage, 15 ft. high

Now the making of crosses from the wood for Christmas gifts for his siblings and others.  

Olive branch and Cypress

Let's start with the olive wood.

Rough cut to square on bandsaw

Used jointer to get flat on one side, planer to get parallel on opposite side

Resawed before planing to desired thickness

3 short pieces for 1/2", 4 long pieces for 3/8"

Planing to thickness

1/2" thick

Olive wood "resting"

Nearly a month later, as the wood was starting to warp,  I started to cut the 3/8" thick pieces into strips.  Using my MatchFit Dado Stop, I cut dados.  Then cut strips to length on bandsaw and press fit before glueing.  There will be some "scrap" from each board so I will put as much of that to good use, too.

Strips ripped to 1/2" wide, 3/8" thick

Cutting dados using Dado Stop

Each cross will be different (unglued in this photo)
height varies from about 5" to 7", wood is 3/8" thick

The finished crosses are handsome!

Started working on 1/2" thick pieces.  The wood had started to warp so needed to machine some more.

1/2" thick ready to rip to width of crosses

finished crosses - 7 1/2" to 9" tall

Patrick received 16 of the olive crosses on 11/21; I kept 2 for my collection.

The project of making these crosses from wood with a special background for a man of special character was quite meaningful for me.  They will be shared well, I am sure.