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.
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| 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.
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| Layout |
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| Dadoes cut |
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| Ready for assembly |
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| Stained and finished - 3 coats of urethane |
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.
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| 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.
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| Completed, left unfinished |
Patrick Moore provided me with a piece of cypress from a special tree. Read the story first.
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| Cypress log, about 3" diameter |
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| Thanksgiving 1998 - Planting of "The Three Sister's Cypress Trees" (select image to enlarge) |
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| Patrick with 3 finished crosses |
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| 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.
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| before staining |
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| the largest cross |
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| finished |
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.
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| (select images to enlarge) |
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| 9/2/2012 - Patrick with transplanted olive tree, 7 ft. high |
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| 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.
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| Olive branch and Cypress |
Let's start with the olive wood.
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| Rough cut to square on bandsaw |
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| Used jointer to get flat on one side, planer to get parallel on opposite side |
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| Resawed before planing to desired thickness |
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| 3 short pieces for 1/2", 4 long pieces for 3/8" |
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| Planing to thickness |
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| 1/2" thick |
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| Olive wood "resting" |
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| Strips ripped to 1/2" wide, 3/8" thick |
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| Cutting dados using Dado Stop |
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| Each cross will be different (unglued in this photo) height varies from about 5" to 7", wood is 3/8" thick |
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| The finished crosses are handsome! |
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| 1/2" thick ready to rip to width of crosses |
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| finished crosses - 7 1/2" to 9" tall |
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| Patrick received 16 of the olive crosses on 11/21; I kept 2 for my collection. |
Over 1,000 displaced people from south Louisiana whose homes were destroyed or damaged beyond use are currently being housed at the mega shelter just south of Alexandria. From my inventory I sent about 125 crosses to be shared by some as a sign of hope during the long journey ahead. I'm so glad to have the opportunity to do this.
This batch of crosses is quite special in several ways.
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| ready to cut and assemble |
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| stained |
First special story - Hurricane Ida
On August 29, Hurricane Ida devastated areas of southeastern Louisiana, exactly 16 years to the day from when Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans. A million households were without electricity, many homes, boats, businesses were demolished or severely damaged. We were fortunate that it didn't touch Alexandria. Many evacuees were going to be coming to the mega shelter south of the city, so without finishing the crosses with 2 coats of polyurethane, I decided to take them to the shelter and give them to people, similar to what I did in September 2017 after Hurricane Harvey. As it turned out, there were not many people there yet when I took them down but gave them to a few and left some for workers to put on a table when others came. When I gave a cross to a teenager who was out front with her grandparents, she told me she was from Jefferson Parish which was hit very hard. I told her to keep the cross with her throughout the journey ahead, and she said with tears flowing, "I will keep it with me for the rest of my life." I kept one of those partially finished crosses in my collection.
Second special story - Cross Maker to Cross Maker
My dear friend and maker of crosses, large and small, passed away at age 97 two years ago. Milford was a special man, proud of his service in WWII, and one who enjoyed working with wood. He used a scroll saw to cut out some of his crosses. One of the favorite crosses he made was a Celtic cross.
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| Celtic cross by Milford Crumplar |
