(upbeat music) - Hi, I'm Suzy Phillips.

- And I'm Scott Phillips, and welcome to the American Woodshop.

Today, it's all about folk art fun.

Whether it's fleur-de-lis, weather vanes, or pumpkins.

- And it all starts with wood and three key cutting tools, so don't go anywhere.

- [Announcer] The American Woodshop with Scott Phillips is brought to you by, Woodcraft, since 1928, providing traditional and modern woodworking tools and supplies to generations of craftsmen.

Woodcraft.

Helping you make wood work.

Pro tools for tool pros.

(exciting music) RIKON tools.

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.

- So Suzy, what does folk art mean to you?

- Well, it's kind of like your community, where your cultural background, their art, and, kind of, what represents that.

And being from Louisiana, nothing represents the French Cajun heritage of Louisiana like the fleur-de-lis!

- And she has this down.

Now, this is cut out with three different tools, and you're going to learn today, the bandsaw, the jigsaw and the scroll saw in that order.

She'll give you all the tips on that.

- Right.

- And then my roots go back to the farm, the Phillips family farm, and this was the weather vane over the main barn.

And so, what we're going to do today instead of painting this walnut, which is very durable, once it's painted, we're going to carve out a beautifully figured piece of walnut today and sculpt it.

Wall art or weather vane.

Let's get to it.

- All right, let's go!

- Now, whatever you do, be sure to read, understand and follow the instructions that come with the tools and products you use in your wood shop.

Work safely, safety glasses, hearing plugs in, and make sure that you have good dust collection.

That's key.

Okay, now, we have a quarter inch six silicon steel blade, and you're going to whittle this down right now, saving these tight cuts that we couldn't make without hitting the throat for the jigsaw.

Now, okay.

So, we have dust collection.

I'll turn that on.

Let's see your cuts.

- All right, here we go.

(sawing) -Here we go.

- I'm just going to take my time using the line as my go-by, keeping a little pressure on the table.

[Sawing] And just go right through the cut and get this edge worked off.

[Sawing] And just swing around.

[Sawing] You want to make sure you never get your hands right in front of that blade.

That's why I'm keeping my hands on both sides.

[Sawing] Get that going.

[Sawing] Right there.

(Sawing) All right, now it's the fun part to use the jigsaw, my new present.

And I love it, because it's got the quick release or quick insert for the blade.

So, you just pop it in there and release it.

And same thing when you're taking it out.

You just pull it, and the blade comes out.

So, I'm going to get the battery on there.

Love it, it's cordless.

Awesome, don't have to worry about a cord.

Get my dust mask on.

Got to love these.

And, before I get started making my scrolling cuts on here, I'm going to do the big cut right here.

And then I'll go to the scroll saw later.

But, I got to get this where I can cut it and use these holdfasts, and make sure I don't cut the bench while I'm at it.

So, I think if I've got those out, that should be good right there.

(hammering) And you can pretend that's somebody that made you mad if you want.

You know, not condoning violence, though.

Alrighty.

And you just want to make sure and keep the flat of this on there, and you can make some tight turns.

And I love this scrolling blade, it really, it's scrolling because it makes those tight curves.

So, here we go.

And you always wanna start it with the blade not touching your work.

your surface of the wood.

(sawing) Just make those tight curves on around.

You just take your time and let the sawdust, let that blade take the sawdust away, and you can make these tight, tight turns.

It's super easy.

(sawing) (sawing) Okay, I'm almost finished.

I just have the tight cuts to do on the scroll saw, and I will be done.

And then it's all into painting, and to see what Scott's doing.

But, on the scroll saw it's got dust collection, so I don't need my dust mask.

And I'm using a number 12 blade, 9.5 teeth per inch.

Use a little heavier duty, since I'm using this plywood, it's a little bit thicker.

And before- (tapping) Hear that?

Good tension on the blade.

Always want to check that, and it is all good.

And here we go.

And most important thing on the scroll saw, just keep pressure down on the table and give that blade time to take the sawdust away and just don't get in a hurry.

And it's pretty easy and it's a lot of fun.

And it makes such a clean cut too.

I'm just going to swing it around, keeping in there.

And I'm just going to nib away this right here so I can make this tight cut, swing it back.

And there we go and finish that.

[sawing] There we go.

[sawing] I love doing the scroll saw.

It makes such nice little cuts.

I'm almost down here, and I'll cut out and that will be that cut.

[sawing] And then I'll finish making the rest of the cuts.

Let's go see what Scott's up to.

- I just love old things.

And this old weather vane, from the Phillips farm in Indiana, is going on top of this old antique weather vane.

It just needs the ornament as it were, the angel.

And so to do this, I want to give you some pointers.

I'm going to do everything on the bandsaw, except for this little cutout.

We have to do that on the scroll saw.

And I just used a white marking pencil.

These are great to trace out the line.

And on this walnut, there's some beautiful sapwood up here.

I have a check that I'm going to have to work with.

That's okay, I'm not giving up on that piece of wood.

And there's some powderpost beetle down here.

That's a no go.

On walnut, the heartwood stays bug free and lasts forever, especially if you paint it, and you put it someplace where it can dry out.

And that's why it's been around for about a hundred years.

So, let's get to this and then we're going to carve it and shape it, and watch how I use that quarter inch blade, the same blade Suzy used.

I'm really going to tweak it a bit by taking a little bit of the tension off of the blade so I can flex it into the curves more.

So, dust collection on, let's make those cuts.

(sawing) When you get rid of scrap, reach around the blade and don't throw it on the ground.

Set it on something safely.

So, I'm going to sculpt away this part first.

(sawing) Okay, I'll let that come to a stop.

That's good.

And this saw doesn't have a foot brake, so it takes a while.

Respect that blade when it comes down, because, seriously, it can be dangerous.

This is a guard that helps to stabilize the blade as you make that cut.

And now that it has almost stopped, there we go.

It stopped.

I can back out of that cut.

You don't want to do that with the blade running, because you can pull it forward off the tire and hit the metal guard and the blade would be destroyed.

Now, what I've done where I have cuts that I can't make the bend, I can turn a radius of about a quarter with a quarter inch blade a little tighter when it's a little less tension, but now I can come in and make these relief cuts and remove these extra pieces.

And then this, I can't cut through any of the pattern.

We have to do a pierce cut at the scroll saw.

So, I'll finish this.

And then it's over to the scroll saw.

This is just a perfect size for this bandsaw.

(sawing) That's how it's shaping up.

Okay, and boy, look at that lighter wood detail here.

We'll stabilize that crack once we profile it and do some carving.

But, in this area where we can't cut through the wood, the grains running this way on the trumpet, that's the way it has to be for strength.

And that arm is supported there.

Some weak grain right there.

But we'll drill a pilot hole or piercing hole, being careful to avoid the table.

And I'm using a brad point bit.

You don't want a rounded end.

That's a brad point.

See those sharp shoulders?

That cuts through the wood.

It doesn't break through the wood.

And now I release the tension, release the blade like that.

And I can sight straight down that hole and ease that blade through that hole.

And this is called a piercing cut.

Lower the arm, bring the blade back up, lock it in the upper chuck, add some tension.

And this tensioning knob back here, I need to add a little bit more tension right there.

That looks good.

And I'm going to raise this guard so you can see the cut on the blade.

You know better than to put your fingers into that moving blade.

And, as long as you keep your hands on the wood and your fingers out of the plane of the blade, you're going to be in very safe control of that cut.

The table is square to the blade.

I'll bring the puffer up so I can see my cut line.

Let's make those cuts.

And there is one other thing on scroll saws.

This is variable speed.

And on this speed, I want it all the way up.

And I do not want to stress the blade.

I want to give that blade plenty of time to carry away the sawdust in that nine and a half tooth per inch count.

And I'm just holding that workpiece flat to the table.

When I come to a curve, I just take it.

[sawing] I watch what I do when I come to that corner, just pivot on the flat of the blade.

And that's what you can do on a scroll saw that you can't do on either a bandsaw or a jigsaw.

Those super tight curves.

Okay, so now, we're going to finish the angel here, going to sweep down a nice graceful curve along her chin.

We don't want a pointy chin, it has to be fluid.

And then when you come to the exit cut, take your time.

You want to cut out of the cut.

You don't want to break out of the cut.

Now I turned it off.

And that dust collector will go off just like that.

And there you have it.

That's perfect.

Now, I'll go clamp this down, and we'll do some profiling, bring her to life.

So to profile in an angel of any size you can use carving chisels, which we'll use in a second, and micro planes.

But we're going to start by using a round over piloted bit on a router.

This is called a D handle because the power switch is right here in the D handle, and this is a router hood that has dust collection.

Now I took part of the shield off, so you can see the cut, which will mean the chips are going to fly a bit, but it works very well.

So, you always feed into the rotation.

You'll get the best cut that way, and I'll just round over these profiles.

This is secured with the holdfast.

Watch this cut.

(sawing) Okay, now, here's a big mistake people make.

Don't lift that router up and off the workpiece until that bit has stopped.

That's for safety.

So that's a perfect cut right there.

And what I'll do is take the mallet and tap this out and profile the other edges, just like that.

And then we can do some profiling.

(sawing) Look at that beautiful rolled edge right there.

Now, before we go too far, that's where the post goes to the windmill, the antique windmill.

And what I've done is I've used that as my go-by and I've tilted the drill press table, so it's absolutely parallel to the shank of the drill bit and it's square.

And then the other thing is, I want to make sure that I angle this in a way that the trumpet is up ever so slightly.

And that center point is a little bit more than halfway from the back.

You want the back to be heavier, so when the wind blows it rotates.

And then this table can be adjusted, so the center point of that brad point bit is right in the middle of the work piece that it is.

Then I can lock the table in place, so it doesn't move anymore.

Some folks don't have drill press.

You can do this free hand, but boy, you better be on your game.

Okay, so let's make this hole two and three quarters inches deep.

Don't force it.

This is strong wood, but evacuate those chips.

You want this to be a clean, perfect hole.

If it's squeaking at you, it's time to evacuate chips.

I'll get that done.

Then, it's back over to do more profiling.

Now, that's balanced just perfectly.

And I'll put a little WD-40 on there, and that's all it needs.

Maybe treatment every five years is all it takes because that walnut is just perfect to pivot on metal like that.

Now, we have to sand it before we can repair those cracks.

On-demand dust collection.

So, I don't sand without it.

Sawdust, did you know, is absolutely the worst thing you can breathe.

It will tear up your sinuses if you do not wear an N-95 dust mask.

And I even like to wear a shield these days.

Keep it out of my eyes.

Now, working with 100, 150 and 220, I'm going to profile all of this and both the rough side, which I like a lot, and the smooth side.

And right here, there are some cracks.

Once I have it all sanded the way I like it, before I start carving on it, I just use good wood glue, waterproof wood glue, and I work it into that seam and push it hard.

And once I have good glue in there, I pack sawdust in there and that's a good repair.

So, let me sand this down, and I'll work around the edges.

I will say, if you do have a five-inch random orbital sander and you have irregular shapes that you have to get into, use a six inch disc and flex it into those spots, like this.

And that's really a great way to profile hard to reach edges without hurting the pad, the velcro sander, just like that.

And then the other thing is you just can't beat - want a fresh one, line up three holes on dust extraction on the bottom.

And this works well.

You'll still have some dust out and about, but I'm going to profile and sand this entire piece.

And once we get this done, it's on to a little bit of carving.

Looking beautiful.

(hammering) Now, making a stop cut.

And what that does is when I smooth down this trumpet, the mouthpiece will come right into her pursed lips.

And then, everything has to be flowing, because, you have to remember, this is going to be up.

So, you can't see the details and it represents wind.

So, there's my stop cut.

Now, I can come back in here, bracing my arm in a place where it does not have the cutting edge coming towards me.

Now, I have to come back in there and release that.

And, literally, we could spend an entire show on carving, and we still wouldn't be able to cover it all.

But, I will say you have to have good sharp chisels.

And to that end, before the chisels start to get dull, what you need to do, put the handle, the butt of the wood on your chest, and you can sight down the bevel, that's that angled surface on the back of the cutting edge.

And by sighting down the bevel, like this right here, you can bring up a honing stone, and you can hone that by keeping the stone flat on the bevel.

And then you can use the diamond strop.

This is just diamond and, ever so carefully, take off the burr.

There's no burr there and it's super sharp once again.

And it just goes right through the wood.

So, don't let it get wicked dull, and you can hone it back to a keen edge.

Now, I'll do the same on the other side, and I have the lines sketched out with a white pencil.

This right here, a vibrating chisel set, you can put different types of chisels in this, cutters, and you turn it on and watch this.

Across grain.

(sawing) You want to have a plan.

Look at that.

Has it ever been easier?

(sawing) To carve in details.

This is so much fun.

You can get carried away.

And so with that being said, I'm going to finish carving this out.

She needs a flowing skirt.

(sawing) And I have a little bit more to do on the other side, but I'm liking the way that comes together.

I'll get this done.

And then it's on to finishing, and we're going to finish with outdoor oil.

Looking really sweet.

(sawing) So three coats of outdoor oil on that walnut.

And I've combined it with the carving that I did several shows back.

And here we go.

That's going to be a weather vane for the ages.

Now, if I can just talk Suzy into letting me put it up on her barn.

Let's go see what she's done.

Oh my goodness.

It looks like we're ready for the barn dance.

- Yeah, time for a party!

- I'll say that you have the hand in painting.

Now describe the paints that you use for this.

- This one I just used some reds, blacks, golds, a little bit of silver, just kind of wanted it kind of to antique red, I figured it looked good on the barn or inside or front door- - Oil base because it's going to stand the test of time a little bit better, okay?

I love the pumpkins.

- Yeah it's a lot of fun!

- And all the colors.

And that's the cool thing about folk art!

You can make it your own, okay?

- Use simple tools and you're all set!

- She's not shy about that.

Way to go.

I love it.

- Thanks!

- I'm blocking the view.

Now, she has taken possession of this barn, heart and soul, and next time in the American Woodshop, you're going to get to see the inside, which is a work in progress.

- Yes, getting it all set up, it all takes time.

- It's a dream come true.

Now, tune in next week.

Stay well, and go make some folk art of your own!

See ya!

- See ya!

- [Announcer] Woodcraft, since 1928, providing traditional and modern woodworking tools and supplies to generations of craftsmen.

Woodcraft, helping you make wood work.

Pro tools for tool pros.

(exciting music) RIKON tools.

Woodcraft Magazine, projects, plans and web links designed to help you make wood work.

PS Wood, home of Timberwolf Swedish silicon steel band saw 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.

For more information on tips behind the American Woodshop and watch free episodes 24/7, check us out online and like us on Facebook.

(upbeat music)