Celtic Knot French Rolling Pin, Part #5

[lew]

The final part of the Celtic knot French rolling pin covers turning the pin to shape. Most of my pins are turned with the traditional shape which is a gentle arc originating at the pin center and continuing out to each end.

 

Originally, I turned this shape with a gouge; creating the shape by eye. This was totally unsatisfactory. Next, I created an arc template to gauge the shape of the pin.

 

While this worked OK, it was easy to “take off a little more, oops, take off a little on the other end, oops†pretty soon the pin diameter was too small.

 

 

 

 

 

I finally settled on a dedicated jig/cutter that would allow me to turn the diameters and shape all in one step.

 

These are the steps I am currently using.

 

Bring the blank round using standard turning techniques.  The blank, although round needs to have the entire "knot†exposed.

 

 

 

 

The complete knot exposed. This diameter is slightly larger than the finished pin diameter. This is the most exciting part of the entire process- seeing the oval appear from the flat inserts.

 

 

 

 

 

Layout the critical points on the pin- center and each end (10†either side of center)

 

 

 

Turn away waste at the ends of the pin and set the exact center diameter.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At this point I will switch over to the dedicated jig/cutter.

 

The jig locks onto the lathe ways. It is adjustable left to right so that the center of the jig will align with the center of the pin. The back plane of the jig is formed with the profile of the finished pin. I have recently rebuilt this jig to eliminate the slots- which were there because this base was made from another jig.

 

 

 

The cutter sets on the jig surface. The cutting bit is set vertically to be at the center line of the centers. The long bolt adjusts the distance from the cutter to the work. The vertical bolt holds the tool cutter stock. My cutter is a .25 x.25 cutter stock ground to a half circle.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The operation is simply moving the cutter assembly into the pin until the bolt touches the back plane; then moving the cutter left or right removing a little material at a time. The only “trick†is making sure the cutter is perpendicular to the surface of the pin.

Once the pin is completely shaped, I round the ends slightly.

 

Sanding is done using a random orbital sander on the spinning lathe.

 

To finish sanding the ends, the waste is removed. The drive spur replaced with a sanding pad and then work up thru the grits.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finish in just plain old mineral oil from the grocery store laxative aisle.

 

 

 

 

That’s it!

 

Here is a link to all of the photos used and a bunch of extras. Some of these pictures show different angles and/or additional information.

 

http://thepatriotwoodworker.com/forums/gallery/album/103-celtic-knot-rolling-pin/

 

 

 

Thanks for reading along! If you have questions, comments or criticisms please let me know! 

 

[Cliff]

love the jig. wish I'd thought of that when I was turning 2" maple dowels for my tripod.

[lew]

love the jig. wish I'd thought of that when I was turning 2" maple dowels for my tripod.

You would probably have needed a steady rest for that length. Even at only 22" there's a little "whip".

[Cliff]

I've admired your pins esp the celtic knot and wondered if maybe you have a rolling pin  around that is a few years into it's service life and whether you have seen how the joinery  handles the humidity and drying from wipe down to rack time and back again over the years.

[lew]

Cliff,

Here are some photos of the first successful knot. By that I mean the knot was successfully aligned thru each oval. At first I cut the blanks all the way thru and tried to re-glue them.

 

This pin (the prototype made in Sept. 2008) was given to my wife. She has used it continuously since then. Looks like I need to reapply some mineral oil. I used Titebond II for all of the glue joints.

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for the inquiry!

[Cliff]

That's holding up marvelously~!!!

[lew]

Thanks!  I did have to make certain Mimi did not put it in the dishwasher- like she did her Mom's rolling pin.

[Cliff]

We had a rolling pin tested in the dishwasher (it failed after a few tries) and some couple of decades ago,   our first wireless phone was washed in lots of  soapy water to clean it,

[lew]

My cell went thru the washer. Removed the battery and left it set for a couple of months. It actually turned back on!

 

In the early 70's, when Hurricane Agnes went thru here, I had a TV in the basement. When I got to the TV it was completely submerged. Set it outside for a couple of weeks, cleaned the tuner, It Worked! used it for several more years. Did have to replace the speaker, however.

[Cliff]

The cell in the washer surprises me.   Lots of salts in the soap.   I'd have expected that to fry the printed circuit boards.

Fresh water is  another matter. But still no matter the purity of rainwater the crud it picks up as it  floods  - - -.

Well - life is full of small miracles I guess.