Anyone ever made a large cross?

[Matt Armstrong]

I've been "commissioned" by my church to build a cross for services (new church). I wanted to use spalted maple to give it sort of a funky organic look but the pricing and availability of spalted maple makes that a no-go. Anyone build a large cross (6' + ) before? Ideas? Plans? Thoughts? Just looking for ideas here.

[Brian Kent]

Nice hat, Matt.

I have not made a large one, but there are some threads in the recent past that talked about some of the weight issues - like making it hollow to look solid.

I wondered about Ash. It is a less expensive wood around here, not as pretty for furniture, but with strong enough grain patterns to be seen from quite a ways back.

I'll be watching to see what you do.

Brian

[Jamie Buxton]

Do you think this cross will hang in the air from cables? Or be fastened to a wall? Or stand by itself on the floor?

And how funky is funky? For instance, could you build it with tree trunks or branches? That probably would have been how Jesus' cross was built; they didn't have thickness planers and dimensioned lumber then.

[Kent A Bathurst]

Veneered surface?

[Kevin Womer]

That is really nice, I will be happy to hear how it goes for you. I have just been making several crosses 10" to donate to children of Baptisms and now for new members as well. I use a half lap for these and chamfer all edges. I know this doesn't help your assignment, but I just wanted to let you know I think that is really cool. Please post your finished piece, I would be interested in how you did it. Best of Luck!

[Darnell Hagen]

I'd suggest going to various churches with a tape measure.

Crosses have surprisingly tough to figure out proportions, especially when they are large or seen from an angle.

[Adam Strong]

I have built one out of rough cedar (still had bark on the edges) that was around 10'+ tall some years ago. This was for a "Passion" play. The proportions were determined by the fact a 6' tall man had to hang on it and was simply proportioned by the height and arm span of the actor.

[Mike Henderson]

If you want an exotic wood look, build the frame from some ordinary wood (like poplar) and use veneer on it. The amount of veneer you'd need would not be expensive.

If you want to, veneer the wood first then cut it for the project - but you'll have to make mitered joints where the wood meets.

Mike

[Chip Lindley]

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!

[Thomas Hotchkin]

Yes for new church, about 12' x 8' out Red Oak. Built a steel frame first out of 3"x 5" steel tubing. The Red Oak was a box that the steel frame fix in side of. Total weight of about 350-400 lbs. With out steel frame I do not believe cross arms would stayed square the last 15 years. Face of cross was about 10" wide surface hand carved to give some distress too surface. I don't remember much more then that. I can see if I still have some photos of it going together.

[Joe Jensen]

I built a large one, 12 ft tall and about 7 ft wide. It was set inside a 5 ft diameter round window with cross mullions. The outside tips of the cross were flush with the drywall, and I cut the cross to fit tight inside the window. Our paster wanted it covered in hammered copper so I built it out of plywood and then "veneered it in distress copper sheet. The hard part was putting the 200 lb plus cross in place 18 feet up. I rented a couple very long ladders. In hind sight I should have rented a lift, but since it was all my donation I was cheap

[Jim Finn]

I built one of redwood and painted it. It is 14' tall and 7' across and made of 2x10's and 2x12's. It is hollow and held together with sliding dovetails. I slipped it over the 6x6 stub of the old cross on top of the church steeple ,with a crane, 50' above grade. Been there 18 years now.

[Brad Moser]

I built one a few years ago out of rough cedar 8X8's. It was 9' tall. The center of the cross was 6' up and the cross piece was 6' long. That made a good looking, proportional cross.

[Clisby Clark]

I made a cross of two 1x4 boards of mahogany half lapped to lie in one plane. To give the cross some depth, I housed the mahogany in oak 1x6 boards which were grooved to accept the mahogany and then rounded over to soften the edge. The oak boards were mitered on all the corners (PITA-pre Domino). To clarify, the mahogany sits parallel with the wall and the oak is pepindicular. Good luck.

[Jim Heffner]

Matt, I think if you wanted to be "correct" in building a replica cross
for the church,you would be better off building it from rough sawn timbers.
The reason for that is this, Christ's cross wasn't built from finely finished
wooden timbers, it was made of the roughest, hand cut, hardened wood that
was available at the time and put together in a rough form so that the Roman
guards could do their thing and that was to cruficy Jesus! Enough said here.