Anyone ever made a large cross?

[Greg Portland]

The style of the cross is obviously going to depend greatly on your church. Some prefer rough wood, some prefer polished wood, some prefer metal / gold (and that's before you even get into the cross shapes). If the 'funky organic' look is something that parishioners would like then I would stick with veneer laminated over high quality plywood torsion boxes. Plan your veneer seams carefully. A domino or biscuit jointer will really help with aligning the edges to form each box.

[Geoff Potter]

[Van Huskey]

Dogwood would be the ideal wood, since Christ's cross was made of it. But alas, dogwood is only a brushy tree of no stature today.

A thought would be to spring for Purpleheart! That would certainly make an impression in the church's sanctuary!

Actually dogwood is merely a legend not correctly associated with actual text.

There are some who believe that olive or cedar of Lebanon was used. Others suggest perhaps it was cypress, pine or planetree. There have been as many "supported" claims as their are species in the area, but almost universally it is agreed among scholars and archeologists that dogwood is not correct.

[Matt Armstrong]

A lot of great thoughts here. I hadn't considered the weight issue of a solid cross, though it'll be a floor-standing cross. I like the idea of a more rugged looking cross, but I'm not sure how I'd go about it. That was the impetus for the integration of spalted maple... it looks funky and organic but modern as well.

I'll have a look at ash since that might work as well.

Thanks for all the input thus far....

[Loren Bengtson]

Matt,

Too bad you aren’t closer to Indiana. I have a sawmill and some ash logs ready. I could cut you some lumber to order. No charge; it's for your church.

I sometimes have spalted maple as well, but I haven’t been able to saw it at the perfect time. The perfect time is after the log has sat long enough to get nice pattern all the way through, but not so long that it has started to lose all its strength.

Ash is relatively inexpensive these days. The Emerald Ash Borer is spreading across the country, killing ash trees as it goes. Landowners are cutting their ash trees now rather than lose them to the insect.

My guess regarding the look of the real cross is that it probably would have been hand hewn using flat-sided axes and/or adzes. The most common place I’ve seen lumber like this is in old barns. Most of those timbers are too big to use for a properly proportioned cross, but some of the bracing is smaller, sometimes 6x6's.

Check for old barns being torn down in your area. You could also do some on-line searching for sellers of recycled lumber.

Good luck,
– Loren

[Matt Armstrong]

Matt,

Too bad you aren’t closer to Indiana. I have a sawmill and some ash logs ready. I could cut you some lumber to order. No charge; it's for your church.

I sometimes have spalted maple as well, but I haven’t been able to saw it at the perfect time. The perfect time is after the log has sat long enough to get nice pattern all the way through, but not so long that it has started to lose all its strength.

Ash is relatively inexpensive these days. The Emerald Ash Borer is spreading across the country, killing ash trees as it goes. Landowners are cutting their ash trees now rather than lose them to the insect.

My guess regarding the look of the real cross is that it probably would have been hand hewn using flat-sided axes and/or adzes. The most common place I’ve seen lumber like this is in old barns. Most of those timbers are too big to use for a properly proportioned cross, but some of the bracing is smaller, sometimes 6x6's.

Check for old barns being torn down in your area. You could also do some on-line searching for sellers of recycled lumber.

Good luck,
– Loren

Thanks Loren! I actually wanted a hand-hewn look but I was running out of time prior to Easter and it doesn't feel right to not have a cross for the church. So i bought a 6x6 in doug fir and decided to stain it dark and overlay some zebrawood on it. I couldnt' figure out how to impart a hand-hewn look onto the board without actually using the axe/adze...

[Jon McElwain]

My dad made one a few years ago out of Purpleheart. It was a box frame of purpleheart constructed with dovetails at the corners. He used plywood backing for structural support, then had a stained glass insert made for the front of the cross. He lit the stained glass using LED light chord (I think) run through the inside with a series of light diffusers. Turned out absolutely gorgeous.

[Neal Clayton]

while i'm not a religious person, and don't consider myself a christian, this sort of thing, i agree with the others in part, is not really what most of our typical wood built things are meant to be: functional art.

this is symbolic art, not functional art, that's a pretty big difference.

thus the manner in which it's built doesn't really concern the species of wood all that much, but the desired symbolic impression of the end result. it could be anything from rough crooked logs to gold inlaid marble when you get done. it's all in the eye of the beholder, and what the people paying for this want those eyes to see.

[Van Huskey]

I couldnt' figure out how to impart a hand-hewn look onto the board without actually using the axe/adze...

As usual Festool makes a tool for that... planer with the undulating head

[Loren Bengtson]

A wise observation, Neal, and totally correct.

-- Loren

[Harry Goodwin]

I made a walnut one framed up years ago with inch walnut. About your size. Vertical one piece, horizontal long piece was behind the front piece straight thru and shorter arms on face. Now that is pretty usual but I was tempted to be proud of how we fastened it. Took two 3" pieces of angle aluminum or steel and drilled a hole in both ends and a matching set of holes in both pieces that matched one another. Take bolts and put them in lower angle with nuts tightened and then another set of adjustible nuts and simply lift the cross and drop over the bolts and if it's crooked adjust the loose nuts on which the angle iron rests. I hope this makes sense. The lower angle iron was lag screwed to wall 2 by 4's in wall. After it was straight had cover insert pieces and mending plates in arms that I screwed to the wall.

[Matt Armstrong]

As usual Festool makes a tool for that... planer with the undulating head

Wow, that would be pretty cool, though not worth $600 or so for this one purpose

[Van Huskey]

Wow, that would be pretty cool, though not worth $600 or so for this one purpose

Yeah, its a shame Harbor Freight doesn't make one. Thats one thing I love about HF, if you need a tool to use one time they are the perfect place.

[James Carmichael]

When I bought my house, there was an 8'-high steel i-beam cross in the backyard, set in a slab.

It was actually highlighted in the listing "made by local artist", like it was an improvement. We put in the contract that it had to be removed. I'm sure one of the many reasons the house stayed on the market empty for 10-months (when housing was booming), and was a steal. The listing agent was apalled that we didn't want it.

LOML said maybe we could donate it to a church, till my teenager pointed out that the decorations were actually pagan symbols.

[Matt Armstrong]

When I bought my house, there was an 8'-high steel i-beam cross in the backyard, set in a slab.

It was actually highlighted in the listing "made by local artist", like it was an improvement. We put in the contract that it had to be removed. I'm sure one of the many reasons the house stayed on the market empty for 10-months (when housing was booming), and was a steal. The listing agent was apalled that we didn't want it.

LOML said maybe we could donate it to a church, till my teenager pointed out that the decorations were actually pagan symbols.

Well, depends what message you're trying to send to the church, lol