Thread: Celtic Knot Re-Visited

Ed very nice where's the WIP it

Ed,
Very nice miniature. Any chance you meant cm. rather than mm? How much is that in inches?

Texian nailed it. If it were truly 16.5mm x 5mm, the kerfs would have to be cut by laser. The attached pic may shed light on the entire problem 'Murricans have with metric. The upper and lower scales are correct; the middle one, used mostly by school kids, is wrong by a factor of ten solely due to the identifier. Construction legend holds that the Sydney Opera House, one of Australia's first metric projects, and built by Italian craftsmen, was almost ten times bigger, because they were accustomed to dimensions in cm, whereas the plans were in mm. Or something like that.

BTW, very well done, Ed.

Joe

Here in New Zealand , when we converted to metric , the building industry wisely decided to work with millimeters and meters only .
For that we are all eternally grateful


Top wee goblet there Ed , cheers

Originally Posted by joe greiner

Construction legend holds that the Sydney Opera House, one of Australia's first metric projects, and built by Italian craftsmen, was almost ten times bigger, because they were accustomed to dimensions in cm, whereas the plans were in mm. Or something like that.

I know the problem Joe. I grew up when metric conversion happened here in the 60's, but I still have trouble figuring out how many centimetres in a kilogram.

Seriously though, nice goblet. I've never tried a celtic knot...yet... but one thing I've noticed with some that have been up here is that unless you get the cuts very clean, the lines can look blurry. Nice clean lines in this goblet and that pleases the eye.

Ed

That looks mighty good mate!
I have a question though, I turned a pen on the weekend employing my first attempt at a celtic knot (no sense in waiting around to get profficient). I used a pen blank made of a black composite material from CT. The inlays were maple and walnut. Even though it turned quite nicely, as I was sanding it smooth, I could not avoid the lighter wood progresively becoming stained from the dust of the black composite material. No matter what I tried there seemed no way to prevent this happening. Obviously it had a negative impact on the contrast I was aiming for. Is there a way (short of not sanding) to avoid the fine pigment of a dark material (or dark wood for that matter) staining the adjacent lighter wood?

All the best Gazza

Beautiful goblet Ed.Stu as got a lot to answer for he's got me doing celtic knots as well I'm trying it on pens.cheers Tony.

We tried an all-purpose conversion factor of kilogram-acres-per-fortnight, and never got it right. (need smiley for BS alarm!)

Gazza, I think the best way to avoid transfer of stain is to use un-stained materials, and/or un-staining material. The information sheet for EEE-Ultrashine (now just Ultrashine) warns about using it on wood adjacent to metal, because goop from the polished metal transfers to the wood. The same thing can happen with Brasso. Each material can still be polished, but only with extreme care to avoid transfer. This is impossible for a Celtic knot. Naturally dark timber, without pigment, should be more successful than the composite.

Joe

Originally Posted by badgaz

Ed

That looks mighty good mate!
I have a question though, I turned a pen on the weekend employing my first attempt at a celtic knot (no sense in waiting around to get profficient). I used a pen blank made of a black composite material from CT. The inlays were maple and walnut. Even though it turned quite nicely, as I was sanding it smooth, I could not avoid the lighter wood progresively becoming stained from the dust of the black composite material. No matter what I tried there seemed no way to prevent this happening. Obviously it had a negative impact on the contrast I was aiming for. Is there a way (short of not sanding) to avoid the fine pigment of a dark material (or dark wood for that matter) staining the adjacent lighter wood?

All the best Gazza

Gazza , for all that , it still has a good look all of its own , and a well made pen it seems too

There might be something in that 'mottled' effect

Originally Posted by Texian

Ed,
Any chance you meant cm. rather than mm? How much is that in inches?

Right Tex....it should be 165mm x 50mm (6.5 inches x 2 inches)

Joe...your right about the school ruler being off by a factor (multipier) of ten.

Now I'm off to Home Depot to get a couple of rolls of duct tape....all this math has given me a headache!

Originally Posted by wheelinround

Ed very nice where's the WIP it

Damn...knew I forgot something!!

Originally Posted by badgaz

Ed

That looks mighty good mate!
I have a question though, I turned a pen on the weekend employing my first attempt at a celtic knot (no sense in waiting around to get profficient). I used a pen blank made of a black composite material from CT. The inlays were maple and walnut. Even though it turned quite nicely, as I was sanding it smooth, I could not avoid the lighter wood progresively becoming stained from the dust of the black composite material. No matter what I tried there seemed no way to prevent this happening. Obviously it had a negative impact on the contrast I was aiming for. Is there a way (short of not sanding) to avoid the fine pigment of a dark material (or dark wood for that matter) staining the adjacent lighter wood?

All the best Gazza

Good work on the pen, Gazza ...I agree with MJ, the mottled pattern looks cool !

Some years ago I ran into a similar staining problem when doing a construct of Maple and Padauk.....the brilliant red of the Padauk completly stained the Maple when I applied tung oil. Just have to careful of the woods we use together.

Thanks for all the positive comments, Guys!

Originally Posted by Ed Reiss

Thanks Stu ...your instructions on the Celtic knot got my butt into gear to make a goblet (really a shot glass on steroids) with the Celtic knot pattern.

Base wood is White Oak, the knot is a three layer lamination of Cocbolo-Maple-Cocobolo. 16.5mm high by 5mm diameter. Two coats of DO and a thin coat of clear Briwax.

Comments welcome!

Yeah, I agree with some previous comments about the cleanness of the lines and transitions. Has been many years since I've done lamination, I should re-fresh my technique one day and see what comes out...!

I'm also a "metric" kind of person from birth, I'm ok with straight inches as reference, feet, miles, yards, hands and km obviously, but I get a little confused when someone comes to me and asks, I need a piece of 4x about 3 paces, 2 an a bit feet, 2 hands, 3 fingers and a little "smidgen", now is some measurement... believe me, put it all together in that order and you will get in within and arms length to what we is was king for...
I would mind to see a proper WIP of one of those Celtic knots been made

Sorry folks, I just have to tell someone. I've not a new 22" across flat screen monitor, there is 1' hight and 18.5" wide and I'm quite impressed the way the hole forum page, colours, distribution and light comes out of this babe. My old 17" monitor (old style) has been only showing image after I would bash it literally with a lamp of wood, and this has lasted 2 month with progressive number and forces required to make it work. The day before yesterday I used the hammer while it was still on, and after a dozen hits, I just gave it one more but by then, it was disconnect from the power and out of the room, I used a 8 pounder wood splitter for better results and get some personal satisfaction, in order...!. My wife Merissa comes over and says, "well, you can not complain now that you cant see what is on it!" V7 model - $290.00, ouch!

Anyway Reiss, I like your goblet!

Cheers
RBTCO