Worry Cross – The Making Of

I thought I would make another Worry Cross and take more pictures and give a bit more information on how I make them.

I start out with a ¾” piece of pine.  Pine works well for this as there is a lot of sanding by hand.

The next step, I draw lines as to where I would like to have the groves I am going to make using my
router.  I use a ½” Core Box bit.  I set it so the groove will  be  about 1/8” deep.  After running a test on scrap wood, I route both sides with a groove going horizontally and vertically.  I put these groves in to help lessen the amount of sanding as well as giving me a guide to where I want to sand.

If you can see in the picture I had a spot where the wood shifted on the router.  As it was not too bad I can still use it because it was not a major mistake and I will be sanding this down further.

Once the grooves are cut and match up, I glue the pattern onto the wood making sure to center on the groves.  Now I go to the scroll saw and using a #5 blade I cut out the piece to the shape.  The size is about 6” tall by 4” wide.

Once cut I remove the pattern and go back to the router. The goal here is to round the edges. I used ¼” Roundover.  Again I suggest running a scrap piece to make sure you have the router setup how you want. Now I run the piece through on both sides.

Now the sanding - I start out with 80 grit to shape the piece.  Then move to a 150 grit to start to smooth the piece then finish it off with 400 grit.

From here I stain the piece and then start putting on Polyurethane.  After a couple of coats ,I run a piece of 400 grit lightly over it to keep the piece as smooth as I can.

One piece I used Minwax Cherry #235 and the other Watco Danish Oil Black Walnut.

Here is the final product.

For more, see the post on 4/16/2012.

Thanks again to my sister Tami for the idea.


Pictures below show the various steps:

 

Final Product (on the Armstrong tartan)

Highland Games

I got up early this morning and drove to Bakersfield, CA (2 hour drive) and went to the Highland Games / Scottish Games. Now I have to wait until September for the one in Fresno... News story below.  And no I did not wear a kilt (this time).

I had the pleasure of walking with Clan Armstrong in the march of the clans.

Now I want to go home and make something Celtic.

16th annual Highland Games takes County Fairgroundsover the Kern 

Worry Cross

Some of you may have heard of a worry stone. For those who have not, here is an entry from Wikipedia:

“Worry stones are smooth, polished gemstones usually in the shape of an oval with a thumb-sized indentation. They are also known as thumb stones or palm stones. They originated in Ancient Greece. Held between the index finger and thumb, rubbing them is believed to lessen one's worries. ”

Well as much as I don’t want to admit this, my sister Tami (http://sewtami.blogspot.com/), came up with the idea of a worry cross.

• The pattern I created in Paint using the rounded rectangle tool. 6” tall by 4” wide
• Using a ¾” piece of pine, I used the router to put a rounded groove going vertically and horizontally (both sides). This eliminates a lot of sanding
• I then put the pattern on the wood centering on the groves
• Now to the scroll saw and cut out the shape of the cross
• Back to the router to round the edges.
• Now the sanding. From 80 grit to 400. All the sanding was done by hand.
• After sanding I soaked the piece in a cherry stain. Follow that up with several coats of polyurethane, lightly sanded to keep it smooth

So the moral of all of this, take your worries to the cross.

Worry Stone In Wikipedia. Retrieved April 16, 2012, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worry_stone