Railroad Spike Cross (New Project)

[Chris Zaker]

I started making this for my Girlfriend earlier today. She's very much into church and God.
While I've never been exactly the church going type because of personal reasons, but I do believe. On top of that.. I love her. Anyhow.. I noticed last week that she didn't have a crucifix or cross hanging anywhere in her bedroom. I didn't say anything, but I figured I would fabricate one and surprise her. Below you will see the design I came up with, along with most of the rough fab work done. ( I didn't have much time to work on it earlier, and I still need to finish filling some voids and the grinding). My buddy suggested to me that should engrave it with a religious quote or scripture, but I might distress it instead. Depending on how much it would cost, I might have it plated in chrome, but I would prefer it in silver as it is considered to be a holy metal. This is my first attempt at making a cross. When I'm finished, I hope she likes it. I'll post updates with pics as I progress. Stay Tuned..
( I uploaded the pic from my mobile, Tap or click-on the pic to view it larger)

[toolish]

Looks alright. Think i remember seeing one a while back where they used a spike, slitted it in the middle along the main section then pulling these two sections create the cross section. Looked really nice all coming from the same piece.

Coating your current piece is will make it look a bit more bedroomy. I see you have not integrated any way of hanging it to the wall, so you will need to find some hooks that work with it as well.

[Chris Zaker]

Yep, I saw it too. The Unity Cross, a very nice piece. Thought about doing something similar but it didn't feel appropriate just yet lol. When I first started on it, I thought about drilling and making a ring at the head for it to attach to the wall but it wouldn't look right for the style. I've actually decided on repurposing some 200 year-old oak and making a wooden cross that it will mount to with braid brass wire around the cross-sections to attach the two and then have the whole piece hang.

[VaughnT]

Very nice work.

 

If you decide to dress it up with some kind of plating, you might think about using a piece of burl for a base.  Since it is a spike, I'd get a chunk of wood with a nice twisted grain (you can buy chunks of raw burl) and drill/gouge a hole for the first inch of spike.  Epoxy it together.

 

There are a lot of nice burls available that are really gnarly..... and they look awfully reminiscent of a mountain top.

 

A silvery cross sitting atop a dark mountain peak.  Yea, that'd shine.

[Chris Zaker]

Thanks Vaughn, all good ideas. Unfortunately, the way things are looking.. I'm going to have to hold off on getting it plated for now ( I'll just have to sneak it back when I can afford to do it). Instead, I'm just going to have polish it to a mirror-like finish. I was able to get get some hours in on it today and I made some good progress. It's pretty much ready for some serious polishing. I have some new pics below ( newest-oldest) the second has markings for where I plan on wrapping the the wire. They're not the greatest with my current light source. I'll try to get some better ones up tomorrow.
Burl would be an awesome choice.. If you don't mind me "borrowing" your idea, maybe I'll do it for my mom's ( she wants one, too! lol). I'll have more pics when I get her shined up.
Thanks for the feedback, ideas, and compliments.