The Celtic knot relief carved on the lid of this box is not as difficult as it looks. It is not a separate sculptured overlay, but a shaped, raised relief created by bevel-sawing and simple rounding over carving technique. To make the box as shown requires four pieces of 3/4 x 7-1/4-inch-square plywood, and one piece of 1/16- or 1/2-inch-thick plywood for a bottom piece. Another piece of 1/8-inch-thick, 7-inch square plywood is required for under the lid to keep it in place. Refer to the New Scroll Saw Handbook for an in-depth discussion of the bevel-sawing technique used to make the lid of this box.
GENERAL CONSTRUCTION TIPS:
1. Make two copies of the pattern: one to saw the box walls and another to bevel-cut the sawn lid pieces.
2. If the scroll saw has sufficient thickness-cutting capacity, glue the three pieces for the box walls together. If not, glue two layers together and add the third piece, sawn separately, later.
3. Cut the outside triangular perimeter of the lid piece with the table set square to the blade.
4. Make a small circular test cut in scrap with the saw table tilted 21/2 to 31/2 degrees with a no. 4 or 5 blade. Make trial-and-error table-tilt settings until the circular scrap cutout becomes wedged against the kerf walls at about a 3/8-inch relief to the back ground when pushed either up or down. Make more practice bevel-sawn cutouts until you know which feeding direction will produce either a relief or recessed surface (9—16).
5. Drill 1/32-inch-diameter angled blade-entry holes through the lid at the inside corners of the design. Be sure to also drill at the correct direction (9—17).
6. Bevel-saw all around the outside profile of the interlocking knot design, with the table tilted left and feeding the stock clockwise (9—18).
7. Bevel-saw the inside pieces free, feeding the workpiece counterclockwise into the blade (9—19).
8. Temporarily press all pieces snugly in place (up or down) and lightly mark with a pencil the height of the relief along all of the sawn edges of the knot as shown in 9—20.
9. Carve, shape, and sand the knot as shown in 9—21 to 9—23.
10. Glue two or three layers together to make the box walls. If you cannot cut three layers at once, saw the third “ring” and glue it to the other two.
11. Cut the triangular box as shown in 9—24.
12. Sand the walls as shown in 9—25.
13. Cut the plywood pieces, one for the lid to keep it aligned and the other for the bottom (9—26).
14. Glue on the bottom and bevel back the edge.(See 9—15.)
15. Sand and finish all surfaces.
16. Tack the plywood to the bottom side of the lid.
This article is excerpted from Fun & Easy Scroll Projects
