Making the Celtic Knot Rolling Pin #1: The Jigs

I have had so many positive comments and feedback on the Celtic Knot Rolling Pin. Thank you for all of them. Many LumberJocks asked for instructions on how they are made- so here goes. I am a fan of “Cook Book” style instructions so if I miss any details, please let me know and I will try to flesh them out.

I thought it best to start with the jigs I used to prepare the turning blanks. Please note that I always over engineer everything and hardly ever see the obvious or the easy way to do something so if you see an easier way- go for it!

The first jig is one I made a while back, when I first started thinking about this project. I try to make jigs that have several uses. This one was also used to make the Cheese Knife Handles project.

Special Diagonal Cutting Jig

Sled has 2 movable fences to change the angle of the cut and position of the blank

Originally jig slid over the rip fence. Later modified to ride in miter slot for accurate repetitive cuts.

Two spacer strips on the sled needed for cleaning out the diagonal cut (more later)

Disassembled Fences

Toggle clamp holds blank during cutting operation

Partially Assembled Fences

Normal Taper Jig

During the blank assembly, it is necessary to trim waste material before proceeding to the next step. This simple tapering jig holds the blank for those cuts.

More details for this jig can be seen at http://lumberjocks.com/projects/7848

That’s a start. More in a day or so.

Lew