timsickels
Member
I'm still somewhat of a newbie, but enjoy trying new things, so I decided to try making a pen with a celtic knot in the blank. I read some posts and watched some videos, and came to the conclusion that cutting a kerf in the blank most of the way through was the best way to insure your knot stayed accurately positioned. I'm old and set in my ways, so I prefer Titebond to CA glue, but I hate clamping, and waiting for the glue to dry. So I started with 8/4 lumber, and ripped it down to 1- 1/4" sq. for my blanks. The extra thickness allows me to cut my knot kerf 1" deep. I can put the knot pieces in without clamping, and within 10 minutes or so they're ready for the next kerf. After all 4 kerfs are cut and filled, I let set over night. Next day, I rip 1/4" off each side of the blanks, and I end up with a 3/4" blank with the knot perfectly centered. I made 15 of these blanks today in about 4 hours. I did some light color blanks and some dark, so I used the cut-offs from the 8/4 to make my knot inserts. I bought the lumber at Paxton here in Denver, so my blanks ended up costing under $1.00 apiece. Let me know what you think.