This video follows the process of making a trefoil knot from a solid wooden cube. The object has no purpose- other than to create wonder when viewed, or to serve as a display of the wide range for possibility. ***** The shape is undoubtedly complex, and so it can quickly become confusing to make one; it is difficult to recreate a shape that you do not first understand. To overcome this obstacle, I use a very simple approach: My goal is to reduce its complexity into a series of simpler constituent steps. At first, the cube consists of 343 little sub-cubes (because 7³ = 343). The task is to remove any cubes that are not part of the design.
Along each step, the cubes that can be removed are, much as a reductive artist (such as a sculptor) would do. So now if you imagine our completed trefoil as a continuous string of 48 cubes, we simply must free the 295 cubes that surround it. We only take the cubes that we are certain we can take, so that each step is a step that we understand the purpose of. Understand the parts, and you will understand the whole (at least in this case). ***** With respect to its finish: I am well aware that it could be shinier and more attention-grabbing. I could have lacquered it to 'wow' viewers in the reveal, but I wanted it to look genuine. It has a few flaws, but there are no tricks; this thing was actually carved out of a solid block, and you can tell that when you look at it. ***** Orthographic limitation: According to our orthographic template, after the table-saw actions were complete, the object was done. This was not the case. Additional information was still needed to proceed. The mathematical reasons for this are complex and numerous, but the simple fact is such: Orthographic maps are incomplete tools that serve only to aid in human understanding. Much is missing, but our tools must have limits in their design, because we have limits. We lack the processing power to also incorporate a wire-frame isometric model of the object into the existing (simplified) model already in our heads. I am not belittling our intelligence; I find it amazing that I am capable of rotating an imaginary colored cube in my head, and that ability has been enough for me to get by.
Here is a model that will more clearly expose orthographic limitation to you. Imagine a blueprint with views along the X,Y, and Z axes (front, side and top). The blueprint looks the same in every picture: A circle. It would be natural to conclude that the object is a sphere. But a cylinder would still look like a circle from the end, so imagine cutting out a cylinder along all three planes- the finished object would not be a ball at all. It would still have edges! Our psychology likes to fill in the gaps of what we don't know with assumptions based on our past experiences, and this usually works. But it can be tricked, so we would do well to stay aware of it. Thanks for reading this ;) ***** Template: http://postimg.cc/image/yg3ibhaqb/
Music: "Finding Movement" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License (creativecommons.org)
I find this object more than just a little bit interesting.
If you pay close attention to it, you can see that it's one unbroken, continuous circuit all the way around.
And I finally managed to prove to myself that it's possible to construct it from one piece.
But now I think I want to make a nicer one.
And what could possibly make it look nicer than making it from solid black walnut?
I am presently prototyping a few related puzzle designs, but I haven't finalized any of the designs as of yet.
So for now I'm just going to make a solid piece version.
In case you want to try your hand at making this project, you'll need to print out two of these templates.
One to cut out and affix to the project itself, and one so that you can stare at it in confusion.
It looks like the end grain is wet here, but that's actually paraffin wax.
The wax keeps moisture from exiting the wood too quickly during the drying process,
because it takes a few years to dry a chunk that's this thick.
So drying it out slowly helps to minimize those little cracks.
Crafting a perfect cube is somewhat of an art in itself, so look for that in a future video.
It almost seems a shame to destroy this.
All right, put on your thinking caps.
The first order of business is how to orient the first three templates.
This really isn't so bad if you stop and look at the drawing long enough.
That is that.
This is this.
And this square is this square.
And it would be nice if that were all there was to this process, but it actually gets a lot more complicated.
And the reason for that is there's more information required to make this shape than is actually presented by this drawing.
And even if you were to have a complete orthographic representation,
meaning that if you had an image of all six possible ways of looking at the shape,
it still wouldn't be enough information.
And you'll come to understand what I mean later on in the video.
Now, of course, I'm not trying to discourage you.
You just have to keep your head down, stick with the plan,
and keep picking at complicated problems like this,
doing the things that you know that you can do without messing anything up along the way.
And then eventually, the whole picture will start to emerge.
So for now, just stick with the procedure.
My prototype was considerably smaller, so I only had to put a template on three of the faces.
But because this one's so much larger, I'll have to drill from both sides.
So I will have to use six templates.
If you haven't already, take notice of the corners of the template,
and you'll see that one of these things is not like the other.
This causes a symmetry to it.
So this is the same thing as that.
I'm trying to be as clear as possible, and I know that it's going to look like chicken scratch.
But this will be the opposite of the red, and it will be positioned like that.
Notice that the arrows point to the color side that they are adjacent to.
Well, at this point, I have finished drilling what resembled the eyes and the nose all the way through on both sides,
which leaves me just that mouth-like thing to do, which puts me at about three-eighths of the way done.
But it gets easier as you go, because it becomes increasingly like Swiss cheese in the middle.
So you will see it when it's finished.
See? That's a happy face.
The next step is to cut out all of the white squares.
I definitely want to take it easy and approach my target slowly.
I was a bit conservative, but I think I can take a little bit more off.
If we allow the edges of these holes as evidence,
I think I can make one more adjustment to bring it in a little bit closer.
Right now, it's still pretty easy to see the pattern and to see the three corners that need to be knocked away.
But next, we'll pick another side and do the same thing.
At this point, it's very easy to become confused,
and I know this all too well because I did very much so during the prototyping.
But you just have to keep your mind focused on the relevant parts of the pattern.
So to finish this off, on the blue sides, we will take these three corners away,
which will be these from this perspective.
These colored regions can be safely cut all the way down to where they intersect with this plane.
And the amount that can be taken away is, in my case, two cubic inches.
It's not all that important to consider the color scheme at this point.
It's more important to consider this lightning bolt shape,
which will be found on all three sections.
It's really starting to take its shape nicely.
There are only a few major connections that still have to be broken.
Most noticeably, these three in the center that will release this center bit.
And that will have to be done on both sides.
But after that, really most of the remaining connections are minor.
I'm slowly moving towards the finishing process,
paying closer and closer attention to finer and finer details as I go forward.
I expect to be using some shaping tools.
Rotary sander is very handy.
And a little detail sander like this.
I, of course, won't be able to show you all of the process.
I tried to be as thorough as I could with this tutorial.
But, of course, there's going to be a lot that I can't mention,
because this is a tedious process.
And it mostly comes down to how much you're willing to invest in it.
As for me, I have to get these three remaining connections,
and it will be completely free.
I'm leaving them in for strength for the time being, as long as I can.
And also, I need a more elegant tool to remove them.
I think that I'm finished with the nerve-wracking part now.
All that really remains is to sand, sand, and sand some more.
And then I'll give it a nice finish of teak oil, probably.
I would like to mention that these, before us,
are the tools that I found to be most effective.
That's a hacksaw blade.
This little rasp, round rasp, was surprisingly useful.
And this is especially useful for flattening it out.
It's just a piece of sandpaper, spray adhesive to a stick.
It will stand upright on its own about 50% of the time.
I'm sure if you think about it, you'll understand why.
And that's it for this one.
So I hope that you found this to be of interest.
I would like to leave you with one final afterthought.
This is just electrical tape.
See you next time.
