解:$(1)$原式$=\frac {\sqrt {3}-1}{2}+\frac {\sqrt {5}-\sqrt {3}}{2}+\frac {\sqrt {7}-\sqrt {5}}{2}+\dots +\frac {\sqrt {121}-\sqrt {119}}{2}$
$=\frac {1}{2}(\sqrt {3}-1+\sqrt {5}-\sqrt {3}+\sqrt {7}-\sqrt {5}+\dots +\sqrt {121}-\sqrt {119})$
$=\frac {11-1}{2}$
$=5$
$ (2)①$∵$a=\frac {1}{\sqrt {2}-1}=\frac {\sqrt {2}+1}{(\sqrt {2}-1)(\sqrt {2}+1)}=\sqrt {2}+1$
∴$a-1=\sqrt {2}$
$ 4a^2-8a-1$
$=4(a^2-2a+1)-4-1 $
$=4(a-1)^2 -5 $
$=4×(\sqrt {2})^2 -5 $
$=8-5 $
$=3$
②∵$a^2=(\sqrt {2}+1)^2=3+2\sqrt {2}$
$3a^3-12a^2+9a-12$
$=3a(a^2+3)-12(a^2+1) $
$=3(\sqrt {2}+1)×(2\sqrt {2}+6)-12×(4+2\sqrt {2}) $
$=-18 $