Celtic knot accuracy questions

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Mark549

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I've made a couple of pens with celtic knots. I have no instructions to go by, so I was just winging it. They turned out OK, but the symmetry was off a bit and the intersecting/overlaping parts were off a bit.

Any suggestions are appreciated - or point toward an online tutorial. Thanks

Mark
 
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I'm guessing that your problem is that the thickness of the segmented segments didn't match the kerf of the saw blade. In order to achieve the symmetry you mention, its imperative that you check the width of the kerf, and the pieces that comprise the knot need to be exactly the same thickness. Hope this helps you, and please let us know. Good luck!
 
Mark, the classic Celtic Knot can be difficult to do accuratley.
There are a couple of golden rules.
1. The lamination pieces MUST be exactly the same thickness as the kerf of your blade.
2. The blank must be perfectly square. Even the ends.(or one at least)If it is not, the laminations may line up fine, but the bits between the rings will be different sizes.

Another tip is to use a stop block. So always cut from the same reference point as the first cut.
 
What Shannon and Skiprat said! In Shannon's # 2, perfectly squared blanks AND squared ends are necessary, other wise the stop will cause minute differences as the blank is turned to make another cut.

Of course, a good jig is a necessity in all of this.
 
Thanks for the info everybody. I snapped to the kerf thickness being key.

Guess how I learned this on my own: read - " I tried one on the band saw that immediately began to look like the underside of a spiral staicase." I'm gonna turn it anyway to se how whacked it looks.

I've got a better one in epoxy now that I'm about to turn. I used an end board and dial calipers to be exact as I could. We'll see here in a minute.

Mark
 
George(Texatdurango)thank you kindly for a very well presented tutorial. You have removed the "mystery" of the knot for me.

-Peter-[:)]
 
Mike's pen was inspirational and George's worked motivated me to try. Like I said, I have three attempts that won't be shown here (but two of them are still ok, just not something I'd sell).

Mike: if this pic shows up, I hope you see my imitation of your work as flattery.



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Mark
 
Mark, You are going to have to bring your pen to the Bubbasville meeting next saturday. We can sit over in a corner and talk knots![:D] I ought to have a wave pen or two by then also.

George
 
Thank you everyone who contributed to this thread. Special thanks to Gerorge who has provided a great tutorial to get me going.
 
Mark, That looks GREAT! You've done a fine job on the knot. Don't those colors just look great when combined? I'm sure I'm not the first to do a multi-colored knot, but thanks for the compliment. I did study quite a few pictures to figure out the proper sequence to cut them in order to give the illusion of them interweaving.
As to the question of accuracy, once I'm sure my filler pieces are EXACTLY the same as my saw kerf, I attach two stop blocks to the bed of my miter saw, sandwiching the blank tightly between them. I also draw several arrows on the blank to orient it to be cut in the same direction each time.....Also I touch it up on the sander each time I glue it back together....It's gotta be square to rest on the bed right!
Now I've got to go read George's tutorial....to see what I've repeated..lol
Oh BTW George, Thanks for writing it....you saved me a lot of one finger typing!
 
George I just read your tutorial...Only one thing I can say...WOW! You've done a fantastic job covering all the bases for making the Celtic knot on a table saw. I can't think of a single thing I'd be wondering about if I were using it to make my first knot. You might even convert somw of us die hard miter saw users!
 
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