A Five Sided Carve - A Trefoil Knot

[bergerud]

A old math professor of mine got me excited about carving knots. So I plotted a 3d , mobius knot in the math program Maple, converted to gray scale and produced a double sided carve. Unfortunately, finishing the knot turned out to be a lot of work since there was a lot of wood to be removed from the "blind" spots. This was especially difficult and time consuming with the harder woods. I carved a knot hollow and made a jig to hold the knot vertical so the Carvewright could carve the blind spots.

1. a finished knot of rosewood
2. the sled for the double sided first two carves.
3. a picture showing the blind spot (ebony).
4. the jig to hold the knot vertical. (Note that the knot can be removed and rotated without removing the jig from the Carvewright.)
5. a picture after most of the blind wood is removed (Koa).

I use the knot as a example in calculus of a nonorientable surface. That is: a surface with only one side.

[liquidguitars]

Very nice!

[Digitalwoodshop]

Jaw Dropping WOW....

AL

[Capt Bruce]

Truly slick design and execution, especially the second carving jig for those three passes.

[mtylerfl]

Now THAT is really cool...and a really gorgeous piece! Thanks for sharing the photos and figuring out how to actually do it in the first place. Outstanding.

I've always loved playing around with "Mobius strip stuff". I used to make them out of paper as a kid and had a great time cutting along the surface at various widths to see the outcome - a real brain teaser (for me, at least), even after creating it myself and holding it in my hand!

[easybuilt]

Now that is cool!
I didn't understand it until until I saw your pictures. Thanks for posting!!

[JDPratt]

Really cool. That is a great use of the CW. Electronics, math, and wood = cool craftmanship

[lawrence]

man... that is freakin awesome!

Now I'm going to go stare at the pictures some more... first I think I'll take a motrin

Well Done
Lawrence

[jpaluck]

Wow!!!..very cool

[bergerud]

Some have expressed interest in carving this knot. Here are the files I used. Some experimentation will be required of course. Even if you get set up to carve the three sides, there is still some considerable hand work to finish the knot. I think you will, however, find that it is worth it. In any case here are the files.Trefoil knot.mpcTrefoil knot holder.mpcTrefoil knot side.mpc