Ken,
I make small pectoral crosses for new clergy members in our jurisdiction and I use a different method you may find interesting. I make the cross out of a single piece of wood.
The stock is ripped to the width of the cross I want and is as long as I can make from the stock on hand. I print out patterns from my computer and rubber cement them to the stock and then using a flat topped blade, i.e. a rip blade or one side of my dado set, I set the blade height to the length of the cross's arm to the vertical. Then with a sacrificial fence attached to my miter gauge I put the stock on it's long edge and cut away everything but the arms and a bit at the top and bottom to keep the stock from tipping. I'll usually have enough length to cut 3 or 4 in a line, and can stack a number of pieces together so I can cut multiples.
In my case there's a bit of hand work involved afterwards because I'm making three bar Russian style crosses, but if you're doing the standard one arm cross that wouldn't be an issue.
Cliff
Last edited by Cliff Polubinsky; 01-28-2013 at 2:07 PM.
The problem with the world is that intelligent people are full of doubts, while the stupid ones are full of confidence.
Charles Bukowski