First Try At Celtic Knots

Stuart Ablett

Member
Messages
15,917
Location
Tokyo Japan
After seeing the video that Vaughn posted >> HERE << of a very talented young man, AlexL aged eleven. :thumb:

I was watching his well done demo of how to make a Celtic Knot pen and I thought, "I can do that" :D

The tip that I gained the most from, was when cutting for the inlay piece, to not cut all the way through, this certainly has made things MUCH easier.

1ck_maple_blank.jpg
OK, I started out with a simple maple blank, a little under 3/4"

2ck_purple_heart_inlay_cut1.jpg 3ck_purple_heart_inlay_cut2.jpg
I also cut some Purple Heart, to use as the inlay.

4ck_saw_height_set.jpg
I did not use the bandsaw to make the cut, I used my SCMS to make the cut. I do not know if any other saws have this function, I'd have to think they would. I can set the depth of cut for the saw, so I put a piece of plywood on the saw, to give me a flat base, and another piece to bring the blank to be cut away from the fence a bit, then I set the saw to 45 degrees, and set the depth of cut, to just not cut through the blank all the way. Since I'm a beginner on this stuff, I also numbered each side of blank, so I could keep track.

5ck_ready_2_cut1.jpg
Ready to make the first cut

6ck_1st_cut.jpg
First cut made!

7ck_1st_inlay_glued.jpg
I then glued the inlay in place, using medium CA glue, and then pared off the extra wood to make the blank square again.

8ck_2nd_cut_ready.jpg 9ck_2nd_cut_done.jpg 10ck_2nd_inlay_glued.jpg
Ready to make the 2nd cut, 2nd cut made, 2nd inlay glued in place..........
 
11ck_3rd_cut_ready.jpg 12ck_4th_cut_ready.jpg
Ready to cut the 3rd cut, and then the 4th cut.

13ck_quince_ready_2_turn.jpg
I also did a piece with Quince inlay, here it is ready to turn.

14ck_purple_heart.jpg 15ck_purple_heart_close.jpg
Here is the Purple Heart inlay piece, I think I did not bad for a first try.

16ck_quince.jpg 17ck_quince_close.jpg
Here is the Quince inlay piece, again, I really like this, it is almost magical :D

Now these two pieces were just for fun, for practice and to see if this way of making the cuts etc. would work, and I think I like this :thumb:

I can certainly see making some pens from this, and I can see doing this on other items, lets say the toothpick holders or some other items.

Cheers!
 
Very cool, Stu. My brother-in-law is into things like Celtic knots and such. (He's a Viking re-enactor.) I might have to make him a pen or something similar for Christmas. :rolleyes:
 
Frank, for something like tool handles, and rolling pins, I'd use a PVA gule, titebond etc, NOT CA glue, I used the CA glue, as it is fast, but for tool handles, etc, the PVA glue would be a LOT stronger.

Hey, Screwdrivers, or the Pig Tailed Flipper handles, those would look GREAT with this design :thumb:
 
Alex is a pretty cool kid. I've been watching his since he started, which, if I remember correctly, is less than a year!!! When you go over to NCWW check out his gallery!
 
Those knots really look good. I've never done a pen but I've done several goblets. The concept of not cutting all the way through the wood sounds like a good idea. I'm not sure what the SCMS stands for other than a fancy saw. I cut the first ones I made on a table saw using a miter sled. That would allow for not cutting all the way through. The more recent ones I've made were cut with a power miter saw which you have to cut all the way through. Varying the angle of the cuts makes a big difference in how they look too.
 
I'm thinking of making a little sled for my band saw and using the thinnest band saw blade I've got.

there's a couple of ways you can go on these things, and I just cut a few maple blanks that I'm going to try and get some long thin loops.

I've seen guys who have been able to do 6 and 8 sided pens like this as well....
 
I'm thinking of making a little sled for my band saw and using the thinnest band saw blade I've got.

there's a couple of ways you can go on these things, and I just cut a few maple blanks that I'm going to try and get some long thin loops.

I've seen guys who have been able to do 6 and 8 sided pens like this as well....

Brent,

Be sure to take pictures along the way so we can know how to do it as well. :wave:
 
Great job Stuart:thumb:. I love seeing your demos/tutorials. You've done it on a level that now I can try something besides making big round stick to mash supper with!:eek:
 
Curt, on my SCMS (sliding compound miter saw) I can adjust the depth of cut (it is a DeWalt) and not cut all the way through like Stu shows on his pictures. It isn't a normal cutting operation for a SCMS but you might with a little looking find yours does this also.

Stu, great job, great pictures and GREAT timing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My students next semester are being asked to raise the bar on their work and personalize it. I showed this to each class hour. The very first one I made was thanks to tutoring and emails from Eagle. I showed my kids on the bus the square blank and asked them what it would look like when turned round. Little kindergarten student in the front seat squinched his eyes, looked deep in thought and finally looked at me and said, "I think it will be two circles but they will be crossed". :eek::eek::huh::huh::dunno: And he held his fingers up like a pair of eyeglasses and intersected them! :eek::eek:
Heck I can't even see it from the square form in my mind!
Good job, will be utilizing this tutorial for years to come!!
 
I showed my kids on the bus the square blank and asked them what it would look like when turned round. Little kindergarten student in the front seat squinched his eyes, looked deep in thought and finally looked at me and said, "I think it will be two circles but they will be crossed". :eek::eek::huh::huh::dunno: And he held his fingers up like a pair of eyeglasses and intersected them! :eek::eek:
Heck I can't even see it from the square form in my mind!
Good job, will be utilizing this tutorial for years to come!!

Don't kids amaze you!

Stu, great tutorial. :thumb:
 
Tried this technique tonight, but I don't think I was getting enough glue into the inlays. When I got the the last piece, the Top of the blank came off with a nice little pyramid on the top, and a pyramid shaped hole in the blank! :rolleyes:

Nothing more glue and a little clamping can't cure, I'm sure...

But it does seem to yield a much more accureate blank. Can't wait to turn it to see how it turns out. Maple blank and Paduak inlays. Should be able to see the orange paduak against the maple, I'm thinking...
 
Love this new technique. It guarantees getting things aligned correctly.

Here's a maple paduak pen I put together. I used the 1/8" thick blade on my table saw, but I've got more blanks ready to try on the band saw to see how thin I can get these inlays to go.

maplepadauk.jpg
 
Top