Another Fat pen and question

I posted a couple weeks ago about a customer who ordered a fat Olympian pen - Photo is attached below (the one with reddish purple segment on tan burl). Well, he ordered another one (this time Padauk with dark blue segments. He really liked this as well. Photos are attached.

My customer just noticed another pen I have, which is an Executive Fountain pen made with Brazilian Rosewood with a white Celtic knot. (see photo). Now my customer would like me to make him another swollen Olympian, with the Brazilian Rosewood, and a Celtic knot. So here's my question: will a Celtic knot even look like a Celtic knot on an oval/fat barrel? I think the knots look best when they are on a constant diameter barrel. I don't want to experiment if someone here already has some knowledge of what this would look like.

Thanks, Kevin

It would look the same providing that the blank is wide enough. That blank will have to be at least 1-1/8" or better depending if you are cutting all the way through when cutting for veneers. What happens if you cut to about 1/16" or 3/32" in a 3/4" blank the knot will not connect all the way around. You need a wide blank

jttheclockman said:

It would look the same providing that the blank is wide enough. That blank will have to be at least 1-1/8" or better depending if you are cutting all the way through when cutting for veneers. What happens if you cut to about 1/16" or 3/32" in a 3/4" blank the knot will not connect all the way around. You need a wide blank

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Great point John. I have had several knots that did not connect because I ran out of wood before I got to the diameter I needed to turn to. So the blank needs to start larger, and I need to make sure the knot slices go as far through as possible. But you think the oval shape of the turned barrel will still show a decent knot, if I take care of the above?

PS - I don't cut all the way through. I have a stop on my bandsaw, and I set it to leave about 1/16" on the blank to keep orientation.

Yes look at bottle stoppers and things like that. Even though it is an odd shape it will show up as the same design.

jttheclockman said:

Yes look at bottle stoppers and things like that. Even though it is an odd shape it will show up as the same design.

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Thank you. I will give it a shot.
KC

I think you'll want to make sure the center of the knot is at the center of the barrel, and the taper of the barrel from the center to the ends is the same. The blue segmented pen you showed above is a good model. Otherwise, the knot won't look symmetrical at the top and bottom.

Brian G said:

I think you'll want to make sure the center of the knot is at the center of the barrel, and the taper of the barrel from the center to the ends is the same. The blue segmented pen you showed above is a good model. Otherwise, the knot won't look symmetrical at the top and bottom.

Click to expand...

Great advice. Thanks!

jttheclockman said:

It would look the same providing that the blank is wide enough. That blank will have to be at least 1-1/8" or better depending if you are cutting all the way through when cutting for veneers. What happens if you cut to about 1/16" or 3/32" in a 3/4" blank the knot will not connect all the way around. You need a wide blank

Click to expand...

So I finished the latest "Fat" pen, an Olympian with Brazilian Rosewood and the Celtic Knot. I took your advice and started with a much larger blank for the Celtic knot (1-1/8"), and it turned pretty well, and the knot turned out ok. Thanks again for the advice!

That did come out real well. Nice job