For various reasons we are unable to have a grave marker for my Dads grave.  My Mum therfore asked me to make something that she can put up in her garden so she could at least feel she’d done something.  I came up with the idea of a celtic style cross and drew out some plans for her to approve.  I had some lovely White Ash left over from a previous project so decided to use that.

The design changed as I built the cross.  The celtic halo was dropped since the simplicity of the design was far nice although the idea of the halo is still echoed in the grain of the cross pieces.  Eventually, I ended up with the simple upright and two cross-pieces shown.  The cross pieces were formed using a router and templte to ensure they matched but I did the upright by eye (I didn’t want it too regimented).  I made myself some dowels to act as loose tenons to join the cross pieces to the upright.  Finally the front corner was routed with a 45 degree bit all round to enphasise the cross when viewed from the front.  Mum has now decided it’s too nice to out outdoors so I gave it a few coats of boiled linseed oil then waxed it.  It’s amazing how tactile this piece is – you want to hold it.  Best of all, Mum is thrilled with the result.

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