Woodworking: Scrap Wood Cross

Published: February 27, 2025

Introduction:

This is a fun project to use up various scraps around the shop.  I’ve had pieces of walnut laying around for years, mainly because they’re too small to use in cutting board glue ups.  When I stumbled on this multi-wood cross design online, I knew I had a project that would not only put these scraps to use but would also be a good way to honor God in my shop.  The video of me making this on a live stream can be located here.

Preparation:

Select two pieces of different species of hardwood (preferably one dark, one light colored) approximately 3 inches wide and 24 inches long.  In the video, I used Walnut and Maple.  Mill them to the same thickness using either a hand plane or a power planer.  Next, rip 3 strips of the light-colored wood to ¾” wide and 3 strips of the dark wood at ½” wide.

Cut the parts to length:

For the next step, you’ll want to set up a stop block to make sure all pieces of each length are identical in length.  Cut the following quantities of each species.

Light WoodQty:	Part Description	Rip to ¾”	Dark WoodQty:	Part Description	Rip to ½”
2	Lower vertical	8 ¼”	2	Lower verticals	6 ½”
4	Horizontals	3 ½”	1	Lower spacer	4”
2	Upper verticals	4 ¼”	7	4 – horizontals3 - spacers	2 ½”
			2	Upper verticals	3”

Prepare for glue up: 

Note: The ends of all short legs are butted to the side of a long leg during assembly.

                  Note:  the glue up will be done in stages.  Each “quadrant” of the cross will be glued as a unit first, then the quadrants will be glued to the spacers, creating the finished project.

For gluing, I made a simple jig from a scrap of MDF (roughly 10 x 18), and some 3/4” scraps of hardwood.  Make sure the hardwood scraps are straight, as they will serve as a reference surface to which we are gluing our cross quadrants.  One of these hardwood runners will run the length of the MDF piece, along one edge.  Using a good square, affix the short runners at a perfect 90 degree from the long runner, each about 6” in from each edge.  This creates a good jig for gluing all four quadrants.  Both “long” or lower quadrants can be laid out on each side of one of the short runners, and the shorter upper quadrants will use the other side of the jig.  Your ability to glue it all at once will depend on how many clamps you have available.  For this task, I used several 6” F-style clamps for each side. It is a good idea to use some packing tape on the MDF to prevent glue squeeze out inadvertently gluing your pieces to the jig.

Dry fit your quadrants on the jig, to make sure you have all your pieces in the right place before you start applying glue.  The “open” time (working time until the glue sets up) will vary depending on what type of glue you use.  I normally use Titebond III, which has approximately 8 minutes of open time.  This gives a good amount of time to get pieces situated and in clamps before things set up.  If you’re happy with the layout, apply glue to the end of the light horizontal and butt it up to the side of the vertical using the jig for alignment.  Do the same for the dark colored pieces, adding glue on the faces that will meet up with the light-colored wood.  Make sure all the corners are tight, and clamp to the jig. Wipe any excess/squeeze out with a damp cloth.  Let the glue dry for several hours.  I normally let glued parts sit until the next day.

When you take the quadrants out of the clamps, it is time to sand these components before the final glue up. Start with 120 grit, and finish with 180.  For the flat faces, use a sanding block to make sure you get things nice and flat. Take care to not sand too much from any one quadrant – they all need to be the same thickness for the final step.  Pay attention to the inside corners where the light & dark woods meet – it’s easier to address these areas at this time.  Sand parts up to 180 grit.  You can sand to 220, but it’s not necessary for spray lacquer.

The final step is to glue the quadrants together.  At this point, you should have one 4” piece and three 2 ½” pieces left.  The 4” piece will be the lower spacer, and the 2 ½” pieces will space the top and sides.  I make a mark about ¾ in from each end – this will be the amount protruding when the parts are glued up.  Once you have them marked use a modest amount of glue up to the mark.  Too much glue here will be hard to clean up any excess during clamping.  Use the jig to align the horizontals, and glue the long spacer between the lower legs.  Glue the top spacer the same way.  With this complete, you should have a top, a bottom, and two 2 ½” spacers.  Place a modest amount of glue on the spacers – up to the mark, and join the top half to the bottom.  Make sure the two halves are aligned, and the spacers evenly protruding, and clamp together. Like before, wipe any excess with a damp cloth.

Let the final glue-up dry overnight, and remove the clamps.  Sand the final assembly, making sure to address any excess glue squeeze out.  Take care with this step, as the glue squeeze out will take finish differently and actually be more visible after finish is applied.  When sanding is complete, wipe with a tack cloth and spray with your favorite finish.  I prefer sprayed lacquer, but polyurethane will work nicely too. 

Enjoy your hand crafted cross!