# Crucifix Ratio?



## thiel

Gang,

I confess that I'm not much of a churchgoer, but my wife is trying to avoid that with our offspring. As such, my older son is up for his first communion, and I've thought to make him a cross as an unexpected but apropos gift from the old man.

Having undoubtedly missed the Sunday where they covered this information, can anyone tell me if there is a specific ratio which should be used for a crucifix? Is there any other special information I should know about making one?

I am a protestant living in an old New England town, so I am planning something relatively plain and simple-the cross of a carpenter if you will.

Thanks very much for any help you can provide!

-Thiel


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## rsmith71

Google the fibonacci ratio. I think it is 1.61 to 1. That is the rule of thumb I use with the ones I make and they look nice. I used this ratio on these crosses.


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## devann

I just made one and posted it yesterday as a new project. Here is a quick sketch with the dimensions. You can look at my projects get a better idea of the proportions. The numbers below are overall. I made one on top of the other keeping the same distance around the edges.


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## ghazard

Thiel,

If you have not completed this project yet here are the dims I have used. I feel this yeild a nice looking cross.

*Overall Proportions* (In relation to overall height)
Height 1.000
Width 0.625 
Left/Right 0.25
Top 0.21875

*Stock* 
Width 0.125
Thickness 0.078
(So if overall height is 8" then overall width is 8 x .625 = 5" and so on. This is a general guide…)

Incidentally, this is slightly opposite in porportion to Darrell's cross above in that I make the left and right "arm" slightly longer than the top.

However, maybe this differance in design is the most important point of all…as with many things there is no single correct answer here. Personal preference will drive the final design.

I use a simple excel program where I enter just one of the dimensions and it will calculate the rest based on these proportions…or it can be easilly changed to custom proportions. PM me if you want and I'll email it to you.

I also have a few crosses posted in my projects if you want to take a look at what these proportions look like.

Good luck.

Greg


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## hObOmOnk

There are as many types of crosses as there are types of Christianity.
Find a type of cross you like and study the ratios.


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## mightywombat

I would agree with the suggestion that you use the Fibbonacci ratio, or the Golden Ratio/Phi. Here's a link to the Wikipedia page about the Golden Ratio. Hopefully you should be able to take it from there.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_ratio


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## badgenes

GHazard,

I don't have enough posts yet to send you a message but I'm curious if you still have that spreadsheet referenced above.

Thank you


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## wildwoodbybrianjohns

Guys, sorry to be a stickler, but Fibonacci is a sequence of numbers, from which ratios can be derived in percentages, like 23.6%, 38.2%, 50%, 61.8%, 100%.

What you all are referring to is the Golden Ratio, which is, as stated above, 1.618. This number relates to the Fibonacci series because if you take any two successive Fibonacci numbers, their ratio is Very Close to, but not exactly, the Golden Ratio. As the numbers go higher, the ratio gets closer to 1.618.

Generally, the upper three segments of a cross are the same length, if you divide the horizontal arm in half.


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## JohnDon

one more stickler comment: technically, a crucifix includes an image of Jesus Christ nailed (i.e. "fixed") to a cross, hence "cruci" (cross) + fix. The commonly seen cross with a longer bottom beam is called a Latin cross.


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## SMP

> one more stickler comment: technically, a crucifix includes an image of Jesus Christ nailed (i.e. "fixed") to a cross, hence "cruci" (cross) + fix. The commonly seen cross with a longer bottom beam is called a Latin cross.
> 
> - JohnDon


In German, they usually say "Kreuz mit Korpus", which translates to "cross with body", even though it sounds like "corpse". They do have a word for crucifix but I never heard it used there.


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## Finn

Here in Lubbock Texs amny people have collection of crosses displayed in thier homes. As many as twenty. I make and sell a few types of cross here and I make the top and side "legs" of the cross the same size and the lower "leg" twice the length of the others.


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