Wall Crosses - Walnut

Cut some walnut into strips 1/2" and 3/8" thick x 5/8" x 20 5/8" and made 7 wall crosses 4", 5", and 6" tall.  From scrap, made a hanging cross 2 9/16" high.  Stained with dark walnut stain and applied 3 coats of urethane resulting in handsome crosses.

p.87

45 small Walnut Crosses

 From a 20" length of walnut 5/16" thick, I made 45 crosses, 40 are 2 3/4" high, and 5 are 2 1/2" high, strips are 3/8" wide. 

Layout using story stick

Dados cut, laying out where to cut strips

Strips, ready to cut pieces

Stained

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