Praying Hands, 3.5" tall ornaments, 1/4" cherry.
Most people who commented on the last posting (including at home) preferred the thinner (FDUR#9) veining in these hands, and suggested orienting the grain to follow the fingers. But when I went out to the shop, I did not have enough 1/4" oak to make another set. I looked around and found a small piece of 1" thick cherry.
I was going to resaw the cherry to make the 1/4" blanks, but then realized I'd just be stacking the pieces together to cut the hands. Stacking this type of cut is a problem because cutting around the outside will cut the tape holding the stack together, so why not cut the hands first? With the pattern on the full 1" cherry, using the FDUR#9, I cut the pattern, then used the band saw to resaw the thick hand into 4 thin ornaments. The cherry burns easily, and after resaw these looked like hands that had been tarred-and-feathered. The belt sander took the surface back to flat, and a strip of stiff paper was used to clean the dust out of the veins.
I was happy with the results - the wood is beautiful, flat and hard, with a slight hint of grain. I may go back and try the oak with the grain oriented along the fingers, but these will do for now.
