# An alternative to the Celtic Knot? - New Pic Added



## skiprat (May 27, 2007)

Lots of people struggle to get a Celtic Knot or simply don't have the tools. Here is a simple little homemade tool that gives a similar pattern. All it is, is a mini holesaw. Take a piece of steel rod, drill a hole down the middle, cut a short slot in it with a junior hacksaw then file each side at an angle. The wood sample may not look great because I filled the voids with silver glitter and it appears ragged. I am doing another one that I will post later.

The holesaw is about 6mm dia






First attempt in an off cut of Bocote


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## ed4copies (May 27, 2007)

Very clever and nice start on Olympic Rings pen.


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## skiprat (May 27, 2007)

Yep Ed, easy to do. The hard part is waiting for each colour fill to dry before doing the next one[]


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## Ligget (May 27, 2007)

Lovely jubbly, great thinking Steven! You da man []


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## skiprat (May 28, 2007)

Here's a sharper finish. I like the contrast on the blue with white rings. The other is translucent amber and unforunately the black can be seen through it.
I don't know if anyone spotted my mistake? All I will say is thank goodness I've got reverse on my lathe and drill[:I]



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## JimGo (May 28, 2007)

Very cool idea!  What did you use for the inlay on the white and blue?


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## skiprat (May 29, 2007)

Jim, Just acylic paint on both white and black infills.The black one has a quick coat of <s>acylic</s> cellulose sanding sealer to see if I could get a shine. The white one has nothing over it. The original silver one is CA with glitter.

Edit in 'cellulose'. I love the smell of that stuff!!


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## gketell (May 29, 2007)

Only spotted it after you mentioned it.[)]

I love the look.  You really should go after the olympic market.
GK


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## johncrane (May 29, 2007)

Great Idea Skiprat well done mate! also l can see some think l really need in the second photo []


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## hanau (May 29, 2007)

sorry for the ignorance,
but how does it work?


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## kent4Him (May 29, 2007)

Cool.  I don't know if I would be able to keep the spacing even enough.


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## skiprat (May 29, 2007)

Chris and John ( Hanua )

The blank is held in the lathe. The lathe does not turn ( I unplug mine just incase ) The bit is held in a drill or router. An index ring takes all guess work out of the spacing. There are several ways to guide the drill or router, I use a compound table with the machine firmly clamped to it. Someone on this site makes and sells a simple guide that replaces your lathe tool rest that would work perfectly for this. Sorry but I can't remember who. Could it be Paul in OKC?
You would only have to decide how many rings would be appropriate for a given diameter blank. The yellow one above has 12 rings and the blue/white one has 8.

Cheers[]


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## Woodlvr (May 29, 2007)

I believe that it is Fred in NC. I have purchased the tool that you are talking about but have not had a chance to use it.[] With his jig and either indexing on your lathe or just a way to hold your blank and you are set. Great Job Skiprat. I cannot see anything wrong but the rings all look right to me.[]


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## kent4Him (May 29, 2007)

> _Originally posted by skiprat_
> <br />Chris and John ( Hanua )
> 
> The blank is held in the lathe. The lathe does not turn ( I unplug mine just incase ) The bit is held in a drill or router. An index ring takes all guess work out of the spacing. There are several ways to guide the drill or router, I use a compound table with the machine firmly clamped to it. Someone on this site makes and sells a simple guide that replaces your lathe tool rest that would work perfectly for this. Sorry but I can't remember who. Could it be Paul in OKC?
> ...



Given that, I will still with the Celtic Rings.  Your rings still look cool.


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## Lynn Livingston (May 29, 2007)

> _Originally posted by Woodlvr_
> <br />SNIP.. I cannot see anything wrong but the rings all look right to me.[]



Hint: Look at the "clocking" of the tool. 
Still a great job. You could also temper the tip to help it stay sharp longer?????

Lynn


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## LEAP (May 29, 2007)

Steve, 
I've seen something commercially available that was very similar to the tool you made it is used to drill around the outside of a screw where the head is broken off. 

They come in sizes for #4, 6, 8, 10 and 12 wood screws. Of course no one else thought to use them as you did. Thanks for sharing another great idea.




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## Blind_Squirrel (May 30, 2007)

> _Originally posted by LEAP_
> <br />Steve,
> I've seen something commercially available that was very similar to the tool you made it is used to drill around the outside of a screw where the head is broken off.
> 
> ...



Do you have a link to this tool?


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## Chuck Key (May 30, 2007)

Might also be able to use one of these:






Chuckie


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## skiprat (May 30, 2007)

Phil, that little tool for extracting screws looks very interesting, do you have one? The reason I ask is that from the demo pic, it appears to open up over the screw, like a Rawl bolt does.From that, I would assume that it is tapered on the inside? But to keep the tiny bits between the cut rings from getting ruined, the inside of the bit will have to  be hollow and parallel to the outside.
They really are easy to make, there is no reason anyone couldn't make one either on a drill press ( perhaps with a Paul Huffman Vise []) or in a wood lathe. I don't think hardness is really an issue as we normally are just drilling wood or plastic and just a quick once over with a file will bring it back.
If anyone does something like this, my only tip would be, don't drill too far into the blank, just enough for the bit to be in about a mm or so into the blank. The reason for this is that if you go too deep, you will leave no material to support the adjacent little pieces.
Have fun[]


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## skiprat (May 30, 2007)

Chuckie, you posted just before me, so I didn't see the plug cutters till now. They work the same way, but looking at the thickness of the blade I don't think they would leave any material between the overlapped rings? When you did those samples, how wide was the ring before you popped the plugs out? This one I made has about 1mm 'kerf'
Those bigger ones would work really nicely around a bowl or vase though.
Cheers


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## LEAP (May 30, 2007)

Steve, 
I don't have the set have only seen them at Sears, I'll take a look the next time I'm in there to see how they are made. 
Scott The web sight I got the pic from is mcfeelys.com I'm sure there are other suppliers.


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## fstepanski (May 30, 2007)

skiprat, excellent idea!!  Thanks for sharing this.  This is a great idea to grow on, would like to incorporate this concept in other turnings..
Happy turnin'
Frank


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## Snazzypens (May 31, 2007)

I love that. NICE
Toni


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## Texatdurango (May 31, 2007)

Following this discussion, I thought this might be imformative.  I have a few screw extractors that I took photos and measurements of, perhaps this will help with some ideas:

Both extractors are straight wall, no tapers.

1/4" extractor is .247 OD/.192 ID with wall thickness of .023"
3/8" extractor is .371 OD/.317 ID with wall thickness of .027"

Don't ask where I got them, I've had them for probably 20 years and would guess any woodworker supply house would carry them or something similar.

Please excuse the image sizes, I wanted you to see some detail, especially the clean holes they produce.



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## skiprat (May 31, 2007)

George, those are excellent, nice clean holes. Double sided too, so would last for ever. I've never used a screw extractor before but logic says the machine would have to be in reverse as well. So maybe some subliminal message made me file mine the wrong (correct)way.[][][][]


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## fstepanski (May 31, 2007)

Thank Google!!

http://www.shop.com/op/~Shop_Safety_Accessories:_Screw_Extractors-prod-11899077-17979949?sourceid=298


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## johncrane (May 31, 2007)

group buy group buy any one


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## Rifleman1776 (Jun 1, 2007)

The original tip is a great idea and enhanced by the suggestion to use screw extractors. I'll be shopping for a set.


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## GaryMGg (Jun 1, 2007)

Frank,
Please get two; send me one. We'll work it out. []
Gary


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## Pompeyite (Jun 5, 2007)

Hi Steven,
Nice one Matey, great idea and thanks for sharing it.[:X]
Thanks also to all the other guys who gave the ideas of using screw extractors etc.[]


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