The cross is a gift to my Church.  The cross is hollow.  The center joint was a challenge to make, both from a design and woodworking perspective.  To make the cross, the first thing I did was laminate two 2 inch wide strips of bubinga with one 1 inch wide strip of maple in the middle.  Next I edge glued and biscuit joined four of these laminations together to make a hollow square channel.  My old miter saw could not handle making the 45 degree cuts I needed, so I convinced my wife I needed to buy a new 12 inch sliding compound miter saw for the job.  Even with the new saw, I just made it.  I had to make 45 degree bevel cuts from the left side of the saw.  The cuts had to be spot on, as any imperfections were magnified 8X. 

To make the center joint I made a cross within the cross.  I laminated together 8/4 maple to make a maple 4×4 of sorts.  I cut two pieces about a foot long and cut a half lap joint in the middle of each and glued them together to make the internal cross.  Then I glued each of the four cross pieces onto the outside of the internal cross to make it nice and strong.

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