(energetic music) - Hi, welcome to The American Woodshop.

I'm Scott Phillips.

- I'm Scott Grove, from Imagine Grove.

- This is one amazing woodworker.

And here's a great project, the American flag.

How easy is this to make?

- It's actually very easy.

I simply use a router table and a template, and you're good to go.

- Okay, so this is a fun project today.

So, stay with us.

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(gentle music) (energetic music) - You know what?

Those are perfect seams on this flag.

And this is what we're going to make together today with the expert, Scott Grove.

Now, Scott, walk us through the steps on this.

What's the overview?

- Well, the overview is, you basically start with a master template or pattern.

And this one curve is used for the entire flag.

Based on this curve, I'll make a series of templates.

One template will cut the top curve, the other template will cut the bottom curve.

And the secret is to offset those curves.

That's what makes the flag look flowing or blowing in the wind.

- Okay, now you can check this plan out on Facebook, at The American Woodshop.

So, this looks really good.

And you have 13 stripes.

- 13 stripes.

- Okay.

- I like to use a domestic hardwood from The States.

This is black cherry and hard maple.

- Okay.

It looks beautiful.

- Yeah, yeah.

- And then, doing the glue up, what glue do you like to use?

- I like to use the Tite III.

And Tite III is waterproof.

And I even have a sample where I've put it in a dishwasher and I throw it in a refrigerator.

I've tested it, and it holds up forever.

You could throw it in the pool and let it float around.

It's great stuff.

- Okay, this is where Scott calls, oh, heck no, don't try that at home.

Okay, but let's head over to the bandsaw and make those templates first.

- Sure, that'd be great.

- Okay, let's get to it.

Now, we're about to use some power tools.

But, whatever you do, be sure to read and understand and follow all of the instructions that come with the tools and products you use.

Work safely, right?

- That's right, eye protection, ear protection.

- Absolutely, gotta have that.

And now, this is the artistic part of this project.

How do you make that flowing curve?

- What?

- What (laughs)?

- Yeah, well, I typically just kind of do a offset curve.

I like to freely sketch it and refine it.

Do you wanna give it a try?

- Oh, heck yeah, that's no big deal.

So, let's make that something like that.

What do you think about that?

- [Grove] Yeah, we're gonna try it on this side of the board here.

- [Phillips] Oh, fine!

- And usually, it takes a couple tries.

It's not uncommon for me to sort of work this curve until it looks good.

And then I decide, what line do I wanna follow?

And I'll sort of sketch that in.

It's not that critical.

I'm gonna kind of be loose with this on the bandsaw too.

Then we'll bring it back, and we'll sand and really refine that line.

- And so, this one template so good for-- - Everything.

- Okay, cool.

So, we've got this laid out.

Now, let's make the cut.

- Okay.

- Okay.

Hearing protection's in.

Up to speed, column's locked on the bandsaw.

That's a quarter inch wide, six tooth per inch blade.

So, best one for your money.

(saw whirring) The biggest thing about using the bandsaw, if you don't stay exactly on the line, it doesn't matter.

- [Grove] No, it doesn't.

- [Phillips] But keep going, don't worry about it.

- [Grove] Don't stop.

- Yeah, you want a fluid curve.

Then, with a little bit of sanding, you use that profile to make your template.

- That's correct, I'll come in here, and we're gonna refine this line.

It's really important that this line is smooth with no bumps.

Because those little bumps would transfer onto your flag.

So, let's work this line out so it's just perfect and very graceful.

- So, double-sided tape, powerful stuff.

Now, show us how you use it.

- Yeah, it's really good.

So, first, it's important that you have this refined curve on your master pattern.

I'm gonna used double stick tape, and I'm gonna stick this down onto a piece of half inch to three quarter inch MDF.

Make sure that's nice and secure.

And from here, I'm gonna use this to cut my templates.

- Okay.

- This is where it gets a little confusing.

So, I'm gonna take this off and show you on these here.

So, with the use of an inch and a half template guide.

- [Phillips] That goes on a router.

- [Grove] That goes on a router.

And here, I'm using an offset router base.

Because an offset router base will give you more stability and control.

That's always safety first.

So, I'm gonna just use this here.

So, this inch and a half template guide with a half inch router bit will make an offset cut one half of an inch.

Okay, so that's the cut what it's gonna look like.

And at the same time, it's gonna cut.

So, your waste piece, which is gonna be an inch from that master pattern.

- [Phillips] Right.

- Right, then this is the secret.

Then I take the waste, and I'm gonna use that to cut another piece.

Which, again, we'll cut it a half inch away.

And what that does is it takes the router bit and puts it on either side of the cutting seam.

- [Phillips] Right.

- [Grove] That gives me two templates that perfectly match.

- And they do.

♪ Ah - Okay, now what you just saw were the patterns that make the templates.

Now, to make the templates, walk us through the paces on this.

And then, we'll see how we can get these edges just perfect.

- Sure, so we had our pattern.

And that pattern cut an offset, a half inch offset, to create our templates.

And we did a top and a bottom.

And, as you can see, these templates now perfectly match.

- [Phillips] Exactly.

- That's the whole secret to it all.

So, I label top and bottom.

At this point, I'm gonna put some sandpaper on here to help hold my wood in place so it doesn't slide when I'm routing it.

I wanna now add some hold downs.

So, I countersunk in the Forstner bits and quarter 20 T-nuts.

And that will allow you to add some hold downs.

Now, you can certainly buy hold downs, or you can make the Scott Grove original, patent pending, 2.0 version of the extended hold down.

And just get some quarter 20 rod, bend it over.

I put some electrician's tape on here, some double nuts, a washer.

And this allows me to-- - [Phillips] Brilliant.

- [Grove] Put these in, and extends.

And the beauty of these, if they overhang a little bit, and you hit it with a router bit, the wood, no harm, no foul.

- [Phillips] Right.

- And this allows me to hold my wood in place when I'm routing on a router table.

- And that gives us perfect glue joints every time.

- Every time.

- You have an A side, you have a B side.

You get those edges perfect.

All the pieces have to match.

- [Grove] That's right.

So, these are the pieces, look at that.

- Okay, and so, by doing that, you can get big glue ups.

And the one thing you showed us was that you like to leave the full board on front and back, to be able to clamp.

- That's correct.

Your first stripe, you wanna leave a straight edge.

And then you can add notches to align your clamp direction.

And then, from then on, we're gonna go ahead, and we're gonna make our stripes.

- Now, we're ready to make the first board, Scott.

Run us through that process.

- So, the first board, obviously is the red or the darker color.

So, here, I'm using a piece of cherry.

I'm gonna lay this underneath and I'm gonna use my template just as a rough guide.

Line this up.

And draw that out.

Let's go cut that on a bandsaw.

- Deal.

(saw whirring) - I'll take my first precut board.

Put it on the template.

And just make sure that it overhangs just ever so slightly.

And I check that with my finger.

And move up my clamps.

And I clamp that down nice and tight.

And you can check to make sure there's a overhang here.

We're gonna router that off on the router table.

(router whirring) So, what do you think of that?

- [Phillips] Now that's exactly what you need for a glue joint.

And bringing it up to this edge right here, we can see.

- [Grove] It's a perfect fit.

- It is.

And that's why the templates with the router bit and the guide bushing, that's the way to go.

- That's correct.

- Okay.

So, the next thing you're going to do is.

- Is I'm gonna cut the other side of the stripe.

And this is where offsetting the line gives it that sort of wavy effect.

So, I simply use this template.

Now, normally, I could go parallel to this.

But that doesn't have much expression.

- [Phillips] Right.

- [Grove] So what I found is by shifting this thing over a little bit.

- [Phillips] Very cool.

- [Grove] And making sort of this taper.

So, this is skinnier here, and wide.

And, again, this is still parallel.

So, I wanna shift this over.

So, I shift it over and I tilt it so it's tapered.

- [Phillips] It gives you dimension.

- [Grove] Yeah, it gives you dimension.

And I'm gonna simply trace that.

And there's no rhyme or reason.

I can kind of wiggle this around on every stripe and make them a little different.

- Okay.

- So, we're gonna go cut that on a bandsaw.

- And then, from there, what we obviously want, since this is black cherry and hard maple.

- Yeah.

- We want to alternate the pattern on the cherry and maple.

13 stripes for the American flag.

- That's right.

- And that's done using exactly the technique you already understand.

So, a few more cuts at the bandsaw.

A little bit more routing.

And then it's onto the glue up.

- Exactly, okay.

- Exactly.

(saw whirring) - [Grove] So now we have this narrow stripe.

And, again, we wanna just overhang it.

And this is where these reached, these long clamps really come in handy.

- And it does help to have the brace underneath to help it.

- That's correct.

And I have brace on the bottom of these also.

- Excellent, that's a good little tip.

So, this gets clamped down.

And then, from there, you're using the pattern bit again with that bushing on the bottom to follow the template edge.

And then you get that perfect line.

- Yeah, and I've gone as far down as an eighth of an inch.

You can make this really thin if you want to.

- [Phillips] Wow.

- [Grove] Yeah, this is not going anywhere.

You wanna make sure this is really on there securely.

And I like to have at least five clamps.

You could even do six if you wanted to, and kind of get the inside and outside corner and the ends really secure.

- So, once it's routed and we have all the pieces routed, then it's time for the glue up.

- That's correct, yeah.

- Okay, onto routing then.

- Okay.

(router whirring) - Now, you're making a royal mess here.

Using your finger?

I love it.

- I love using my finger, yeah.

- Okay, spreading it out.

And so, you have glue on all parts of the joints now.

- That's correct.

I put notches in the outside boards to help me so my clamps don't slip.

So, we're gonna wanna also take our calls and put packing tape on.

- Got ya.

- I can put these on the top and the bottom, and that'll help keep the board flat.

- Okay.

- We'll clamp this together lightly this way.

Let's put some clamps on.

- Got ya.

- Go ahead.

- [Phillips] Go for it.

- Just lightly put pressure because they're gonna slip.

You see how this is pulling that one that way?

This is gonna pull that way.

And we wanna sort of play with these, and then align everything up.

- [Phillips] Very good.

And then.

- [Grove] And then we'll clamp it down flat.

- [Phillips] Got ya.

Once the glue has dried for a good 40 minutes, clamp saw, then we can take it over to the bandsaw, and sculpt on the outside edge of the line.

The main thing here is to make that flag proud.

Make those lines curve, don't stop in the cut.

And if you vary a little bit, don't sweat it.

So, once it's cut out, from there, we can take it to the planer, plane it down to see that beautiful grain.

And, boy, the contrasting cherry and maple, it just doesn't get prettier than that.

American woods.

And then, from there, we can take it to sanders to work the edges.

The oscillating spindle sander, disc sander.

You could even hand sand it.

But sand it down, and once it's down, then you can take it to a quarter inch round-over bit that's piloted on a router table and round-over those edges.

Just make sure on the end grain, you take your time.

Start on the end grain and finish on long grain.

That way, if you do have a little bit of tear out on the end grain, you can take it off on the final pass in the long grain.

Now it's time to do the inlay.

Take it away, Scott.

- Okay.

So, with inlay, you wanna use a template guide.

These are available at most hardware stores that sell woodworking tools.

- [Phillips] Sure.

- It's a template guide.

Just miniaturized from the one we were using earlier.

I'm using an eighth inch bit, and I set my depth to be an eighth inch into the wood.

- Okay.

- Roughly.

You're gonna then wanna cut your own template.

You can freehand draw this, or you can lay it out with a compass that's available.

Just check out Imagine Grove, or look that up, how to lay out a star.

So, the next thing I wanna do is sort of figure out where I wanna put it.

So, I'm gonna kind of just set it here.

That kind of looks good.

Either cut out a paper template or kind of move it around if you wanna get a better visual.

But I think that's pretty good.

And we're gonna dog this baby down.

I also have sandpaper on the bottom here so that helps keep it from sliding around.

- Right, and your hand actually the router down to the template's gonna help it too.

- That's correct.

- And the inlays, wait till you see that.

- Yeah, we'll get to that in a bit.

So, I'm gonna go ahead and router this out.

- [Phillips] Okay.

- [Grove] And it's better to start right in the center and tilt the router base in.

- [Phillips] Right.

- [Grove] And work my way around.

And then sort of do a clean out.

(router whirring) - Now that's how you cut a star.

But you had to add some details.

Run us through the paces on that.

- Yeah, so you do wanna sharpen up the points of the star, I simply just take a wide enough chisel so I can use the existing flat as a guide, and I just sort of-- - [Phillips] Walk it down.

- [Grove] Walk it down to a point.

- [Phillips] It does look better when you add those hand touches.

- Yeah, yeah.

Kind of come down like that.

You could also sort of come in this way a little bit.

And then I'll take a X-Acto Knife.

I'm gonna make sure that the tip is really sharp.

So I use one of these diamond card scrapers.

And simply cut that point down.

The work goes pretty quick.

- [Phillips] Very good.

- Yeah.

Now, the next thing is we're gonna inlay it with Easy Inlay's mother of pearl and opal.

- Okay.

- And what I found is two things that, you know, we have two different colors here.

So, we wanna paint the bottom so you don't see the stripes go through.

You could leave the stripes in if you want.

But by painting it a darker color, it really contrasts with the mother of pearl, makes it pop.

You can do that with black, or in this case, we're gonna go with blue.

So, I take a little Shellac.

- Okay.

- And some Inulin powder.

And what I do, I simply add a little there.

Wet my brush, dip it in there, and then I can put it on the edge of the cup.

And I make myself a little palette.

Right, and I can add, and I can get a little more in there.

And I have sort of blue Shellac going here.

I can simply just paint the bottom with this dark midnight blue.

I think that's appropriate.

- We'll let that dry a bit.

- Yep.

- And then, once it's dried, onto the next step of inlay.

- Yeah.

- The hottest thing going right now.

- That's right, and it's Easy Inlay.

(Phillips laughing) So, now that the blue Shellac is dry.

- Right.

- We're gonna inlay it with Easy Inlay's mother of pearl.

- Okay.

- And while I'm doing that, I want you to count out 50 pieces of red opal.

- Red opal.

- Red opal.

Different sizes for representing all the different states.

- Okay.

- And that's Rhode Island right there.

- [Phillips] (laughs) Yeah.

- [Grove] And that's California.

- [Phillips] And there's New York.

That's the Empire State, there you go.

- Okay, so how I like to mix resin, especially epoxy here, it's a two to one ratio.

And I use these little syringes.

This goes up to three CCs.

And I probably only need two CCs altogether.

So, I'm gonna mix three total.

So, I'll have a part A, which is two components, and I'm gonna draw up two CCs there.

- [Phillips] And it's really important to get this ratio correct.

- [Grove] Right on, yeah, I'm gonna double that.

- [Phillips] Because, otherwise, it doesn't cure properly.

And it can really mess up a project.

- [Grove] Yeah.

- [Phillips] Okay, very good.

- [Grove] So, that was four CCs.

And now, I'm gonna do two CCs here.

- [Phillips] Very good.

- [Grove] And now we're right on.

- [Phillips] Okay.

- [Grove] And let's put this in that cup there.

- Okay.

- You have a torch.

- I do.

- This is our favorite part.

So, one thing you wanna do is, release any surface tension and air bubbles.

So, you see there's a couple of air bubbles there.

If I just dust this real quickly with a torch, it's gonna pop those air bubbles.

- You can also use a heat gun if you like.

- Right.

- Okay.

Okay, now we're gonna go ahead and sprinkle in our mother of pearl.

And you can do a lot, you can do a little, and then slowly build up.

- [Phillips] And that really captures the light.

- Yeah, the chatoyance and the iridescence is just wonderful.

What you can do, now that you have some of these holes, I can then take and I can, you know, if I'm not happy, if I think this is too concentrated of mother of pearl here, I can kind of move this stuff around while it's floating in.

But I do wanna sort of evenly fill this all over.

Kind of get that.

- Here you go.

- We can either tap these opals in here.

And we just kind of look at these.

I might wanna move of them around.

Yeah.

- [Phillips] It's looking good.

- Okay, so we're gonna let this gel up.

And then top coat it with some more epoxy.

- To just make it clear.

- Yeah, fill it up.

- Very good.

- One thing I wanna do is I do wanna kind of protect-- - The wood.

- The wood.

So I'm gonna take some tape, and just tape off these-- - [Phillips] Edges.

- [Grove] These edges.

I probably could've done that beforehand if we were thinking.

- [Phillips] Oh, no, this is working great.

- Yeah, it works just fine.

Okay, we've waited a little bit for this to gel up.

Now, we're just gonna cap this off with some clear.

- [Phillips] And look at the star.

- [Grove] That opal really pops, man.

- [Phillips] And the red.

- [Grove] Yeah.

- [Phillips] Good grief.

It's the perfect blend.

- [Grove] It is.

- [Phillips] Who needs 50 stars?

There they are, right there.

- [Grove] All there, yeah.

- Okay, now the bad news is, it's gonna take this two hours to really set.

- Yeah.

- Okay.

So, you know the process now.

And on this unfinished inlay that's cured out.

Actually, this has set for over three days, which is good.

- Yep.

- [Phillips] We're going to use Butcher Block Conditioner 'cause this is going to be a fancy, high end cutting board or cheese server.

And just look at the cherry.

- [Grove] Man.

- [Phillips] Come alive.

And the cool thing about this Butcher Block Conditioner is if it gets dulled down, and it will, because it's going to be used.

- [Grove] You use it.

- [Phillips] That's right.

You just rejuvenate it.

You could sand it down a little bit, clean it off, and get that back out there.

In fact, this is my go-to wax on top of cured out finishes.

- [Grove] Right.

- [Phillips] You know, it's just a wonderful way to go.

- [Grove] Is it for blemishes too?

(Phillips laughing) For the wrinkles?

- [Phillips] It is food safe.

Okay, but right there.

- [Grove] Wow.

- That is a masterpiece.

And I gotta tell you, Scott, this is just so much fun.

Now, there's some steps to it.

For more details, check us out.

- Yep.

- Online and also at Facebook.

Because there are plans for this.

What could be better?

In your own home, as a gift to the one you love, this is the perfect addition to any kitchen.

But it would also look great-- - Just on the wall.

- Yeah, I mean, look at this.

Right there, that's just spectacular.

So, check this man's site out because the furniture inspired work is just spectacular.

You do seminars all around the country.

- I do, and in England, yeah.

- Okay.

- And Scotland, yep.

- Off to jolly old England we go.

- Yeah, yep.

- But here from The American Woodshop, raise a flag.

Go make one, and thank you, Scott Grove.

- Sure, my pleasure.

- Outstanding.

- I appreciate it, thank you.

- [Announcer] Woodcraft since 1928.

Providing traditional and modern woodworking tools and supplies to generations of craftsmen.

Woodcraft, helping you make wood work.

(gentle music) (intense music) - [Man] Pro tools.

For tool pros.

(intense music) Rikon Tools.

- [Announcer] Woodcraft Magazine.

Projects, plans, and web links designed to help you make wood work.

PS Wood, home of Timber Wolf Swedish Silicon Steel bandsaw blades and super sharp scroll saw blades.

A bed to sleep on.

A table to share meals.

A house that feels like a home.

The Furniture Bank of Central Ohio.

Providing furniture to neighbors in need.

(gentle music) (energetic music) - For more information on tips behind The American Woodshop and to watch free episodes 24/7, check out us online and like us on Facebook.

(energetic music)