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Help with a "Story Board" for Frederichs crosses?


SpankySmith

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I've been asked to produce some crosses for a Charity Art Auction for a local non-profit that I care about. Someone on their board was the recipient of one of my crosses her husband bought from me. I want to create a small "story board" to display with the crosses, showing the progression of a Frederichs Cross from raw material to slit to being opened up, fully opened and then finally polished. I'm thinking each piece in sequence mounted on an attractive piece of wood...but I'm not sure how best to secure each piece? It probably won't be any larger than maybe 12" x 5", but I imagine it's something people will want to pick up and study a bit - it will get handled. So whatever method I use to secure each piece has to be strong. I also don't want the securing method to be really visible, if possible, don't want it to detract. I know from the one show I did, where I only had a slit piece to explain to people how they were made, that everyone was absolutely fascinated with the process, so I'm thinking a visual display at the charity event will be a real plus. I don't want to secure them all on a chain or string (as I've seen done in some of my classes), because I won't be there to explain what it is or the proper sequence.

Any ideas will be greatly appreciated. I've got to get to work on this pretty soon.

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 Hey Spanky....I made up a tutorial I'll call it. I think 7 steps. I had thought of standing them on end and just welding the base to a piece of flat stock. Maybe a little bulky , but a hole would let ya hang it or just leave it sitting flat on a table to be picked up and ogled over.......  Take care          Dave

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You might solder or braze "pins" to the back of each sample.  Say 1/16" tig rod. Then insert the pins in drilled holes in the wood and epoxy them in place. That would hold stronger than simply epoxying the pieces direct and help hide the connection.

 

I'm assuming small crosses. If the crosses are larger so they are easier to see, say 1/2" or larger stock, you could simply driil your stock and epoxy both sides.

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Take a piece of soft wood or Plywood. Burn each piece into the wood, to make a pocket. lightly clean out the char and soak with a wood sealer, Linseed Oil or the like.

Take a piece of plexi-glas and make a cover, (if you don't want hands to loose pieces).

Put in into an old picture frame. A frame of Shame!!

Is there a second hand store near you that may have a frame? or a suitcase, or a briefcase, or a .......... box that chocolates came in!!! (top and bottom layer??)

 

I use a thin VW Torsion Bar blade to open up the cut sections. Kind of like an old wood chisel or a scraper (putty knife is too thin).

 

Enjoy the Journey,

Neil

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Quick and dirty perhaps but do you have any friends in the food industry or who hunt for food? There are some quite cheap vacuum bag sealers for freezing meat. With the cross stages set out in sequence between two sheets they could be handled and looked at from both sides without mishap....

Friedrich is the spelling, pronounced freedrick. Christoph is his first name if you are attributing as well as explaining the process. His forge is the.... alte Hammerschmiede, Sennwald.

Alan

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I have a vacuum sealer, but this is a rather "highbrow" event, not sure that would fit in there.  I like the soldering tips on idea, but my soldering skills suck and I don't own a welder.  May ask a friend to do it, though.  My original thought was to drill TINY holes in the back of each piece, thread a piece of high strength, very thin gauge wire through it and secure it through a discrete hole of similar tiny diameter through the board.  

 

Dave, do you mean you have done such a thing already?  If so, can you share a pic?

 

NJ, I'm planning to run to a place nearby one weekend soon to pick up some salvage board, as it is quite popular and I need it for another coat rack project anyway.  That will indeed make a nice background for this, thanks. 

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Due to the different movements of wood and metal, epoxy will make a poor glue for this project. Use silicon caulk instead. The silicon makes a flexible joint that is quite strong and durable. You can just silicon the crosses to your board and they will stick pretty reliably. Clean the backs well before sticking them on and leave a bit of thickness in the silicon joint (don't squeeze them down tightly). Do NOT use the silicon II, that stuff is garbage! Use pure silicon, not a blend.

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Lots of good suggestions here.  I built several story boards for a local history conservation museum which were intended to be permanently mounted and easily visible rain or shine.  I used some rough cut mesquite boards and mounted those to the wall after fastening the various pieces using stainless steel wire (I predrilled the board and twisted the wire in the back so the pigtail didn't show).

 

All of the iron work had multiple coats of clear polyurethane applied for protection from the elements.  I also gave the museum the electronic file of the written synopsis for each exhibit so they could print and laminate new descriptions when the old ones got ragged.  I put these up over ten years ago and they look pretty good aside from a few rusty spots where the urethane eventually failed.

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HW, that's basically what I was thinking of originally.  I was thinking I'd pull the wire through to the back of the board, pigtail/twist it, then mount it on a contrasting, darker piece of wood to both give it some depth/interest and to hide and secure the pigtails completely.  Don't want someone picking it up, which is probably likely at this auction, and turning it around to the back and seeing the twisties.  

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Perhaps you will post a photo of the finished board so we can see how you did it. I did a similar display of coat hooks made from common objects, but that was easy because they were double punched so I could use one of the holes to attach them with a screw to an old weathered board.
I think DSW's idea of a soldered or brazed pin on the back of each piece would work well.
And Spanky, you just gotta get yourself a welder!

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If you have a vacuum sealer…sorry to go back to it...it will only take you a few minutes to see the effect, and whether there is any advantage to being able to view the workpieces "in the round".

 

It is information about the making of a three dimensional object you are trying present, it is what differentiates these crosses from a cut out piece of sheet….though maybe you can see enough from the side when they are board mounted...

 

I do not know whether the vacuum bag plastic will lose its optical clarity when stretched around sharp edges, or whether the reflections will be confusing, but an experiment to find out will take you a few seconds rather than the time developing the best board mounting system.

 

As far as the presentation and the upmarket nature of the event goes the sheet of elements could be mounted in between a couple of back to back picture frames, or even in a frame which has a handle like the old wooden hand mirrors. 

 

The handle idea could work well on the board mounted systems as well come to think of it.

 

Alan

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You can drill and tap the back of the pieces and attach them to the board with screws, a drop of Loctite will prevent casual removal with a penny, etc. but still be easily removed. A couple seconds contact with a soldering iron softens Locktite.

 

Again drill a small hole in back, a couple thousandths smaller than the wire or finish nail, etc. for the mount pin. Heat the piece till you can slip the wire, nail, etc. in the hole and when the piece cools it's shrunk on. This is called an interference fit.

 

An interesting blacksmitherly way to do the second suggestion is to use a finish nail for the pin and put a clipped little tab of steel on the back of the board punched so the nail extends through. Pein it over for a tenon join.

 

Frosty The Lucky.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Well, thanks all for your helpful suggestions, here's what I ended up with. It still needs a clear protectant coat and I'm considering adding rivet heads in the oak corners, but you get the gist of it. She's not perfect but she'll do to set out at the auction with me not being there, to explain the process.

Before someone rakes me for labeling it a blacksmith cross instead of a Fredrichs cross, which I DO call it ...this was about keeping it simple because I won't be at the event where this is on display. Won't be there to explain what I mean by Fredrichs Cross.

I'm making the charity auction folks give this BACK to me after the auction, if I ever do any more craft shows I'll use it again.

post-53103-0-01309800-1424215366_thumb.j

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That shows the process nicely Spanky, well done. These are also called a "split or spread cross", I may be wrong but I THINK Freidric (sp?) is or was the smith who made it popular again not so long ago.

 

Anyway, you could call it a "blacksmith's split/spread cross". Just calling it a blacksmith's cross is pretty open, we make crosses lots of different ways: welded and slit and drifted for instance. Just a thought.

 

Frosty The Lucky.

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I did consider using "split cross" instead, but decided to use blacksmith on purpose for the "wow, there are still blacksmiths?!" effect. People seem to love saying they have a cross made by a blacksmith. I was afraid if I just used split cross it might get lost on some people that it was created by a blacksmith, especially since they will be displayed amongst a LOT of other kinds of art at the auction. BTW, the crosses on this board, even the final one are rejects...my good ones look much better. This is meant to be just a rough process demo.

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  • 1 month later...

It's obviously to late for Spanky's event but someone could glue neodymium magnets into holes drilled into the backside of the wood. 

Would stop someone from making off with a piece though. Unless you used really strong magnets. 

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I think the last photo I posted of this fell victim to the last site update.  I'll reattach here.  I ended up running a wire through the board to hold each piece, then I mounted the oak on a piece of old barnwood, effectively hiding the wires that were pulled tight on the back.  They ain't going anywhere.  I delivered the story board with the crosses I made for a charity auction, they were thrilled to get the story board to display (though I did threaten them with bodily injury if I don't get the story board back!  I was very careful to write "NOT FOR SALE" on the back.)

storyboard.JPG

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I find that I often do trim between 3 & 4, I've tried various ways to NOT have to do that (at the prep stage), but in reality it probably really has more to do with my being rather Female Particular than any real need to do it every time.  I just always find I want to tweak a bit.  I have been known to take a ruler to each leg and make sure the three top legs are all the same length, exactly.  What can I say....  I'm weird that way.    But take that with a grain of salt looking at this story board, it was more about just outlining the process than any attempt at producing individual pieces that were good.  

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