Popular Post Chestnut Posted December 16, 2019 Popular Post Report Share Posted December 16, 2019 I've been watching too much Frank Howarth wood turning lately but from it I stumbled upon the Celtic Knot on youtube and it looked both easy and awesome. Much more attainable than some of the things Howarth does. Beings that not many turners post her I figured why not create a dedicated post. I found a tutorial that makes it really easy. You start with a piece of square stock and set your miter gauge to 45 or 60 degrees. Really I'm not sure the angle matters a whole lot the outcome will just look a bit different. Se your blade height so you don't cut all the way through. Leave about 1/8" of material. Have a stop block set or if your fancy like me and have one of these over the top miter gauges use the built in stop. First cut. Then take some wood or something else that you have prepped to your saw kerf width. I'm using birch stock and walnut fill. To glue the filler in get CA glue in the slice as well as coat the sides of the infill piece. I used gloves to prevent myself from having to call for help after gluing myself to my table saw or something. After the in fill piece is in I hit the outside of the piece with some activator and sanded everything flush with my belt sander. Yes i have a belt sander, no I don't use it often, this is the first time in about 2 years. After the first cut rotate the stock 90 degrees spindle style and make a 2nd cut. Same thing with CA glue on the infill and belt sanding. This is what my piece looked like after rotation 90 degrees. You can also see the miter gauge setup and stop block After the infill is glued and flushed. Rotate 90 degrees again spindle fashion, cut, fill, sand. This is what it looks like before the 90 degree rotation. As you can see the saw blade is lined up on the walnut from the previous cut. I was rotation counter clock wise from the picture below's perspective. Make sure to always rotate the same direction either clockwise or counter clock wise (anti-clockwise if your from Europe). After 3rd cut. The other side. As you can see the top face does not have a diagional. My last cut will position that side down. After all 4 sides are cut you should have a top line and bottom line with a diagonal on each side. You would see an X if you use other methods where you cut all the way through but those methods leave you with a more difficult glue up. Once you turn the area down a bit you'll see this. This was just a test. It only took me about 2 hours from first picture to last picture. Gotta love how fast you can make things on the lathe. 10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pkinneb Posted December 16, 2019 Report Share Posted December 16, 2019 Nice job! I like his channel as well does some cool stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Beasley Posted December 16, 2019 Report Share Posted December 16, 2019 Nice job explaining this. Ive done quite a few celtic knot pen blanks, pretty much the same way with table saw and band saw. One option is to use multiple layers of colored veneer for the infill, doing contrasting borders on the knot loops look pretty cool. Aluminum and plastic cards are popular for infill borders, recommended to use epoxy for these materials. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronn W Posted December 16, 2019 Report Share Posted December 16, 2019 I really like it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark J Posted December 16, 2019 Report Share Posted December 16, 2019 Great work, Chestnut. I'm impressed. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chestnut Posted December 16, 2019 Author Report Share Posted December 16, 2019 9 hours ago, Gary Beasley said: Nice job explaining this. Ive done quite a few celtic knot pen blanks, pretty much the same way with table saw and band saw. One option is to use multiple layers of colored veneer for the infill, doing contrasting borders on the knot loops look pretty cool. Aluminum and plastic cards are popular for infill borders, recommended to use epoxy for these materials. Part of the motivation to explain this was the fact that my sources didn't do a good job of explaining it. I agree the other fill options are a good idea this was just a quick test. I may prep some material in the future. The stuff i used to do this was material i use for splines which might also benefit from the look. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Beasley Posted December 16, 2019 Report Share Posted December 16, 2019 1 hour ago, Chestnut said: Part of the motivation to explain this was the fact that my sources didn't do a good job of explaining it. I agree the other fill options are a good idea this was just a quick test. I may prep some material in the future. The stuff i used to do this was material i use for splines which might also benefit from the look. I look forward to seeing your projects. Looks like a good setup for a peppermill. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chestnut Posted December 16, 2019 Author Report Share Posted December 16, 2019 2 hours ago, Gary Beasley said: I look forward to seeing your projects. Looks like a good setup for a peppermill. I was thinking once i get sick of my joke knobs on my bench it might be interesting to see If i could make this work there. I might make the knobs a bit larger than they currently are but I'd be OK with that. I want to try some segmented stuff but my trouble right now is i have other things I should be working on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Beasley Posted December 16, 2019 Report Share Posted December 16, 2019 Should be pretty easy, same technique as bottle stoppers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark J Posted December 16, 2019 Report Share Posted December 16, 2019 4 hours ago, Chestnut said: my trouble right now is i have other things I should be working on These wouldn't be dining room chairs, would they ? If you could do little celtic knot knobs that would be super cool, but I have to admit I like the knobs you have made. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SawDustB Posted December 16, 2019 Report Share Posted December 16, 2019 That's awesome Drew, thanks for the tutorial. I might see if I can make up some pen blanks using this technique. I think it might look better on that scale with a thinner kerf blade... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chestnut Posted December 17, 2019 Author Report Share Posted December 17, 2019 21 minutes ago, SawDustB said: That's awesome Drew, thanks for the tutorial. I might see if I can make up some pen blanks using this technique. I think it might look better on that scale with a thinner kerf blade... I was making a handle for real this time and figured out a good tip. Make sure your fill material is if anything slightly under. I found that i could put a clamp along the length and close a slight gap. If the material is too wide it holds the kerf open and you don't get a good glue bond in the center. DAMHIK. 2 hours ago, Mark J said: These wouldn't be dining room chairs, would they ? I don't want to talk about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Beasley Posted December 17, 2019 Report Share Posted December 17, 2019 3 hours ago, SawDustB said: That's awesome Drew, thanks for the tutorial. I might see if I can make up some pen blanks using this technique. I think it might look better on that scale with a thinner kerf blade... Ive used my bandsaw lots of times, made an angle sled for the blanks. You will need to get a solid chunk of similar wood and make a test cut into it to check the sizing on whatever insert you use. It will change with the different blades. It will even change as the blade gets miles on it as the set sometimes gets knocked down a little, best to make a fresh test cut at the beginning of each session. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
legenddc Posted January 8, 2020 Report Share Posted January 8, 2020 That's really cool. It made my brain hurt some with the images but great job describing what to do. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chestnut Posted January 8, 2020 Author Report Share Posted January 8, 2020 1 hour ago, legenddc said: That's really cool. It made my brain hurt some with the images but great job describing what to do. Yeah it's complicated in thought but easy in practice. Have the angle set (can be any angle really) and a stop to hit the same distance each time. Then it's cut, fill, rotate 90 degrees. thinking about it more and more you could do a 6 sided blank and have 6 inserts or 5 sided ect ect and the variations could be interesting and fun to play with. It's pretty flexible. Adjusting the stop location for half the cuts may lead to an interesting effect as well. The options really are limitless. These are things I've thought about playing with since i posted this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jfitz Posted January 9, 2020 Report Share Posted January 9, 2020 I had to dig a little for this, but I remembered this kids that turned pens to make money for college. This was my first exposure to how to make a celtic knot - it's still on my "to do" list. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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