# cutting celtic knot on pens



## LOUISIANA MAN (Jan 7, 2012)

HOW DO I CUT A CELTIC KNOT ON PENS I AM TURNING? THEY ALL TURN OUT NOT EVEN ALL WAY AROUND. WHAT AM I DOING WRONG?:huh:


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## john lucas (Sep 18, 2007)

2 things come to mind. One is maybe your not getting the cuts aligned. If you draw a line all the way around the blank. All the cuts should start exactly on the at line. The other thing might be drilling the blank perfectly centered. There might be more, hope someone else who's done more of these that me will chip in.


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## LOUISIANA MAN (Jan 7, 2012)

*celtic knots*



john lucas said:


> 2 things come to mind. One is maybe your not getting the cuts aligned. If you draw a line all the way around the blank. All the cuts should start exactly on the at line. The other thing might be drilling the blank perfectly centered. There might be more, hope someone else who's done more of these that me will chip in.


 i just asked a question about making a celtic knot on a pen. Mine comes out uneven on the different sides. Would this have something to do with the angle at which the saw cuts or what? The vertical sides are different widths, it makes the points come out different. It is hard to explain.


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## Glidden (Dec 2, 2010)

First, make sure the stock you are working with is perfectly square, it will help with all the alignment. If the hole you drill is even slightly off-center you will end up seeing it exagerated once you turn the pen. 

The other thing to consider is to make sure the blank is lining up in the miter saw at the exact same place every time by putting a stop on one end and using it as a constant reference. It will also help to have your line stock the same size as the kerf of the sawblade. 

Good luck!


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## jlord (Feb 1, 2010)

Try reading this.
http://content.penturners.org/library/techniques/celticknot.pdf


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## JTTHECLOCKMAN (Dec 31, 2011)

It really is not that hard. You have gotten some good advice already and I will thrown in what I have found.

As mentioned you need to start with a perfectly square blank such as 1" by 1". You need a jig to do repeated cuts on all four sides. It does not matter weather you use a tablesaw or bandsaw. Just need a jig to hold that same length. You need to keep the same angle when cutting which can be anything from 45 degrees to 60 degrees. Again does not matter as long as the angle is the same every time you cut. The angle just gives you the stretch out look of the knot. A 60 degree will look longer than a 45 degree. 

Now that you have that secured. The material you are using needs to match the thickness of the blade you are cutting with. If you are using a 3/16" saw blade the material you are replacing the saw kerf with needs to be 3/16" think. 

Glueing the blank back together requires the blank is straight and true and the edges are all lined up. I like to take a piece of angled alluminum and set some wax paper on it and set my blank on this. I can now clamp the blank to the angle al. knowing 2 side 90 degrees from each other are perfectly lined up. I then put a clamp to squeese the ends together making sure not to put too much pressure to slide one part of the blank past the other. If that happens then the knot will not line up. 

After I take it out of the clamping jig, I scrape off excess glue and make sure things are square again and proceede to the next side. It really does not matter what order you make the cuts but I like to alternate the top and bottom of the blank. All this does is varies the way the knot looks when put back together. 

Good luck and have it. Pretty soon you will bedoing knots like this.


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## BassBlaster (Nov 21, 2010)

If I understand your question correctly, your asking why your line so to speak is thicker at the tops and bottoms and thin on the sides. Is this correct? Theres nothing you can do about that. Its just the way it is. Its kind of like, if you take a 1/2" X 1/2" block of wood and cut an angle on the end and then measure across the cut, it's not going to be 1/2". Its going to be much longer and the length depends on the angle of the cut. Same idea. For pens, I make my cuts with the band saw and then use strips the thickness of my bandsaw blade. The difference is barely noticeable because the piece is allready so thin.


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