Celtic Knot for Me, too...

[allisnut]

I didn't want to high jack Sawduster's thread, so here's mine.

I made this pen in March of 2011. I made the cuts on a 10" miter saw by holding the blank against a board which I had mitered at 30 degrees. In case you can't visualize that, that is my fingers WAY too close to a 10" saw blade.

I made this jig tonight out of scrap stuff I had laying around. I envision making a nice one, with an adjustable fence for different angle knots, but knowing me this one will do for a while.

My junior assistant was in the shop wanting to make her pens, so I got some action shots.

Two sides done, two to go.

I used a piece of walnut ripped to fit the saw kerf. Ideally, I would like the inserts cut at the same angle as the knot cut, so the grain all runs the same direction. I didn't want to take time to build a jig to cut slivers at the right thickness without them being launched across the shop.

Finished blank - I'll make a cigar pen out of it tomorrow night.

I cut the angles at about 55 degrees. I had planned on 60, but that looked a bit too steep. We'll see tomorrow.

Thanks for looking, and comments are welcome!

 

[ScottM]

Sweet!!!!

 

[ChrisB]

I had not seen how this was done before now. Thanks for enlightening me!

Chris

 

[allisnut]

I finshed the Celtic Knot Cigar pen tonight. I misjudged the width of the walnut inlays, so I wound up turning the knot section of the pen smaller than I would have liked. I am also thinking now that the knot should be in the bottom section of the pen instead of under the clip. I welcome any thoughts you may have.

 

[tryingtokeepmyfingers]

thanks for showing us how to do this....

 

[David Dunn]

what a cool idea!

 

[ChrisB]

The pen turned out really nice! I think the knot in the lower section would display nicely though it looks great the way it is. I can imagine rolling the pen around and around following the lines of the knot and getting a bit mesmerized!

Thanks for sharing this!

Chris