(bright upbeat music) - Hey, welcome to the American Woodshop.

I'm Scott Phillips, and life is good.

We got the chainsaw out.

We're gonna cut this green honey locust, and fill it.

That weighs over a hundred pounds, and we're going to turn it into kitchenware.

So stick around.

(chainsaw roaring) - [Narrator] The American Woodshop with Scott Phillips is brought to you by: - [Advertiser] Woodcraft, since 1928, providing traditional and modern woodworking tools and supplies to generations of craftsmen.

Woodcraft, helping you make wood work.

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(bright upbeat music) (chainsaw roaring) - Look at that.

Okay.

(cheering excitedly) Honey locust, I'll guarantee you one thing, this is gonna be the most unusual salad bowl in Miami County because it came from my property, and this is honey locust, and it's gonna be spectacular.

I'm guessing that weighs close to 45 pounds.

Let's go turn a green salad bowl together.

Let's weigh in on this and see what we're dealing with.

Let's see.

Whoo, 42 and a half pounds of wet wood, and how wet is it?

Well, I'll use a moisture meter to determine that right now through the center cut, and it's coming right in at 34% moisture content.

We need to get it down to 8 to 10 tops.

And this is what we're going to turn out of it.

Now, I turned this one yesterday, and then after I got this turned using this four jaw chuck, grabbing the foot down here and hollowed this out, I released that and I put it in this bag of this dry-fast material.

And it turned pink, which when it turns pink, then the bowl's dry, and then I can put it back on the lathe and sand it down and put a finish on it.

Now, there's another way to do it, and that is you can turn it green, and get the wall thickness, a uniform thickness of half an inch.

But that's more for art, I need this to be three quarters of an inch thick, for a salad bowl, for function, 'cause if you drop this on the floor, if it was half an inch it'd shatter 10 ways come Sunday even though this is a good durable wood.

Now, I'm going to lay out the maximum circle that I can get on this blank by using a Sharpie marker and my fancy popcorn lid, and Sharpie marker, I want it centered up.

And when you cut your billets, or excuse me, the turning blanks as they're called, out, you wanna make sure you cut right through the center of the heart because the heart's going to have all sorts of stresses in it.

So I'll get this marked out, and then over to the bandsaw to cut it round.

Yes, I could use a compass, but when it dips down on the sides, it goes in and it creates an oval.

We want this to be perfectly round.

Bandsaw, here we go.

A word to the wise, work safely.

Be sure to read, understand, and follow all the directions that come with the tools and products you use in your woodshop.

Safety glasses, these are hearing protection, and this is on dust collection.

Now, there is the circle, but this is key, make four straight cuts with your bandsaw using a half inch, four teeth per inch silicon steel blade first.

Here, here, here, and here, straight in to that circle.

That way, your blade, if it gets pinched by the wood, won't get in a bind.

Now, I'm going to cut this blank out, and I wouldn't dream of doing this without dust collection.

So, we'll cut this round and then once it's round, I'll flip it over and I'll fix this face plate, putting a screw in every hole on the bottom, the flat side of this, and then we can mount it.

(bandsaw buzzing) Now, that six inch face plate mounts to this drive spindle.

I have that locked, so I bring that up and carefully thread that on and spin that on.

And that gets locked in place with the Allen in all three locations.

And then we're ready to turn.

So, you bring up the tool rest, and you bring the tail stock up, and you advance the live ball-bearing center in until it captures between the face plate and this side, that work piece, and that's good, that's unlocked.

And you make sure you have clearance with the tool rest.

Right there.

But you want it as close as possible without having the two touch.

Too close, like that.

Check your locks, lock, lock, lock, lock.

Of course, the headstock now is unlocked, and we're ready to turn.

And we're using a half inch, high-speed steel bowl gouge, and what I'm doing is air turning.

Because as it spins around, you see it's going to make contact there, then it opens to a void, contact again, and you want to press this to the tool rest as you make these cuts.

And let's check the speed out.

I have it set at 380 now.

Now watch what you do.

You just gently kiss it, it's not a matter of force, it's a matter of finesse.

You keep taking this down, this is called the overhand technique, and you never ever get your hand past that edge of that steel bar on the tool rest.

And you marry the chisel to your body.

The handle is down on your leg.

And you just take this down, this is not a race, you take time.

(tools buzzing) So, see where we're at.

Turn that off.

Never put your hand up on a spinning work piece because it could swing it down and pinch it between the tool rest.

So, that's perfectly round right now, roughed in.

And now what I need to do is adjust the banjo that holds the tool rest, so we can close down the gap, and I want to make sure as I'm making this cut, the cutting edge of this tool is right at or slightly above center line.

So, I'm going to just take this edge down, and what I'm going to do is turn this foot, or spigot, as it's called, for the four jawed chuck to fit onto.

And that needs to be three and a half inches by three quarters deep.

So, let's make that happen.

This is so much fun, okay.

Now, I'm standing out of the plane so that if bark were to fly off, it would miss me.

(tools buzzing) Okay, now, let's take a look at that, work that- oh boy.

Now that's why you turn.

I mean, look at that grain, that's gorgeous.

So I'm going to adjust this and I do want to pop out that live ball bearing center because honestly, that little sharp point right there, that can be what could harpoon the back of your hand.

So, we're done with that.

And I'll slide that all the way back now.

And I'm going to smooth that out and then create a foot.

And that's easy enough to do.

Everything looks really good.

Everything's locked.

So now, I can dress the bottom.

(tools buzzing) And I have the speed set at 620 right now.

Look at that, it's just so much fun, it's magical.

It brings you right in.

And now, we'll make that the foot, three quarter inches deep, and three and a half inches in diameter.

(chisel scraping) Okay, we're going to be careful not to get into a bind here.

We want to just undercut that ever so slightly right there.

There's my foot.

Let's turn that off.

Or spigot, for those turners that want me to use the right words and we bring that four jaw chuck up, and we close it down on this chuck right, tightened.

I like that because it's natural.

And whatever you do, tighten it down in both sides, so that that squares up the four jaws.

And now the next step is, with it obviously turned off, is I'm going to unlock the face plate, and then, I'll spin this off and thread this four jaw chuck up on the drive arbor.

And that way we can hollow the top of the bowl.

With the four jawed chuck mounted onto the wood lathe now, I do a true cut on the outside to rebalance everything because it's rare when you reverse-chuck it, as it's called, to get everything perfectly lined up.

But that is a beautifully smooth cut right there.

And so, what are we doing now?

That is dynamically balanced.

Turn that off, let that come to a stop.

Take the tool rest off, and bring up this heavy duty, three and a half inch or three and a quarter inch Forstner bit, and what I've done is unlocked the ram, and this acts just like a drill press.

Now let's turn that on, and this will establish the depth of cut.

And I have the speed turned down to 370 right now.

And it's fair game to put your hand on the chuck 'cause it's gonna wanna spin in this number two Morse Taper, nice and easy.

Now, watch what happens.

(tool scraping) This is amazing.

Look at those chips.

And the beautiful thing about this is, this gives you something to turn to.

So I'll get this down to the depth that I want, now I'll have to back this out and advance this, and then we can start to hollow.

Can you see that?

That's nice and deep.

And that's an inch and a half from the very bottom of the bowl because as I hollow this, I want to be able to turn the bottom out, and you'll see what I'm talking about just a second.

Now, that needs to go away.

And that's a handy little tip right there.

If it spins when you make your cut, dial the speed back just a hair, and that makes a big difference.

Now, tool rest up and on, slid into position, and this tail rest now can come completely off, light as a feather.

Okay, just like that.

And now what we're going to do, adjust this so we can hollow this using the bevel, rubbing the bevel at the same time, as we engage the cutting edge.

So, that's just right, right at or slightly above center line, and securing everything, and dialing the speed up to about 700.

That looks good.

So, let's get the front face, then balance.

(tools buzzing) And that is what we do, we continue to make a series of cuts to open this up.

If it vibrates as you make your cut, take a lighter cut.

That lets you control it so that you get the ideal harmonic cut.

Turning is all about using all your senses.

You can smell it, you certainly feel it, you have to see it, you can hear it.

And the only thing you don't do is taste it, not yet, but when this is a salad bowl, we'll taste it.

This is fun.

Okay, now I'll take this halfway down and then we'll take a closer look at how we approach this.

(tools buzzing) You hear that sound?

That's the sound of things that are starting to get thin.

And I like that.

Now, it's grabbing it a little bit right in here.

So I'm taking a lighter cut.

I did dial the speed up a bit, and it's running right at 850 right now, 850 RPMs.

Now this is a carbide cutter, and the beautiful thing about this is, it's very easy to use this.

You can go downhill, down the valley as it were, or you can go up.

But I'll tell you, the tricky spot is right about in here, that's a transitional curve right there, right there.

And that's where the bowl gouge that I've used for most of this project has a nasty tendency to grab.

So I like to go to this round carbide cutter with a heavy duty shank like this so it doesn't vibrate or flex when I make the cut.

And I make it part of my arm as I'm hollowing this.

And I'm gonna take this down to about, a little less than three quarters of an inch in thickness.

And let me show you the high-tech way to gauge the wall thickness.

You turn that off, let it come to a stop, take the tool rest off, you use your hands.

You get in there and you... Calibrated fingers, they are the best way to tell how thick that wall is.

You could use all sorts of gauges and stuff, but I really was taught by a wonderful man, Rude Osolnik, I worked with him off and on over the years.

And Rude just said, you can't beat them, nothing to it.

No fancy layout tools.

Now, I will tell you the cutting edge needs to be right below center line for this to work well.

So I'll just hollow this down, and once we get it nice and thin, then it's on to sanding with dust collection hooked up, and with a dust mask on.

(tools buzzing) So, I have everything rigged up on dust collection right now and I'm gonna sand this, and I got carried away.

I took it down to half an inch, so it's not gonna be as sturdy, but that way I can sand it dry, the sanding friction pushes the moisture right out of it.

And then when we put the salad bowl finish on it, that stabilizes it.

It might dry a little oval.

Now, where I have a couple little cracks, that was too close to the very center of the tree, that's where it cracks out, but it's too beautiful not to use.

So you just use a little super glue in those cracks, being careful when you turn it on, that it's dry.

You don't want it splashing up in your face.

So, I'll just sand this down, get it dry, and then, we'll get the finish on it.

Never wrap the sandpaper around your fingers, keep it loose in your hand.

That way, if it gets caught up in something it just falls out safely.

(Sanding) All right, sanded to perfection and cleaned all the way around with that tack cloth.

Now, let's check the moisture content.

It's saying 6% right there.

And let's just say it's going to be 8 to 10.

And that's good for this salad bowl finish, that's food safe.

So, it does have some mineral spirits and those have to dry off, but I don't want to touch it with my bare hand.

Here, let's just brush this out.

Keeping the finishing off of my fingers.

Now watch this, honey locust.

(laughs excitedly) Honey-colored, thus the name.

Look at that, that's just so beautiful.

I'm loving that.

Now, once I get this brushed on liberally, and let it soak in a bit, then I can turn the lathe on, friction it dry with my face shield down, and you'll get a look at this finished salad bowl.

And speaking of art, what is art?

Is this art?

No, it's salad bowl That's going to enrich our lives.

But everybody has a different take on things, and this guy, Catch My Drift, well, it is time for a road trip, and after that, you'll see this finished work of mine.

(tool buzzing) Who's the man behind the curtain?

Ah ha, that's Blair Brubaker of Catch My Drift.

Thank you Blair for having us to your gallery here.

- Sure.

- And what I've always admired about you is the way you embrace nature and you see things that most people don't see and you do something about that, and you've created these beautiful works.

Now, tell us about your process, how do you create something like this?

- Basically, it's a process of discovery.

And in the case of this piece, it kind of started out looking like this.

So, just either a walk along the shores of one of our beautiful great lakes or in the woods, and finding the piece, discovering it, bringing it home, cleaning it up, power-washing it, wire-brushing it, that's kind of the second phase, again, deciding what it might look like, taking it a step further.

- And that evolves into these magnificent creations.

Let's take a look at the gallery.

Now, Blair, the first time I saw a collection of your work like this, I was just so fired up and, tell us, on a piece like this, that's one major piece with some stones added.

How long do you have in that?

- That's hard to say.

(both laughing) Probably at least a week of working several hours a day.

This piece was actually found in UP, Michigan, and it was in a campfire.

It had been partially burned and charred.

And with all of my pieces, I try not to do any more than I have to, so I leave that, what I call patina, and just try to highlight it, accentuate it, and preserve it basically.

- So, what do people, when they come by your display, how do people react to this?

- You can usually tell the ones that, I'll use the phrase "catch my drift" just by either their expressions or what they may say, and obviously there are those that walk by and say, "What is he thinking?"

So you can kind of tell right away who's making the connection and who isn't, but I get a lot of positive comments, sometimes people will see something and say, "Well, that looks like either an animal," I mean, it might've been an animal in the case of this one, it might be a tree or a sailboat, and I basically just shake my head and say, "Yes, yeah, that's what I was thinking," because I don't try to alter the appearance, I take what I find and really do just to a little bit, remove the rot, clean it up, dress it up, so someone might wanna take it home and put it in their home.

- Well, thank you so much for bringing new life to wood that would eventually have just faded away and enrich an environment like ours.

I have a dozen works of yours and nothing's finer.

Thank you, Blair.

- Thank you.

- Keep it up, Catch My Drift.

- I will do that.

- Okay, now back to the woodshop to finish that unique project.

Wow, can't wait to be able to buy one of these.

Well, what do you think?

I love the grain pattern on this, it just is magnificent.

And to think this came from firewood.

And that's what we can do with wood, never give up on a piece of wood, because you never know what you might end up with.

And the other thing is, this dry-fast stuff, you can now do green wood turnings, use that overnight, seal it off, and when it turns pink, that green wood turning will be dry.

So, that's it for this week, next week we're doing some live edge table work, and a beautiful tool tote, say that three times fast.

And, so won't you join us?

Stay well, get busy in your woodshop.

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

Woodcraft, helping you make wood work.

- [Advertiser] Pro Tools, (dramatic music) for tool pros.

(Intense music) - RIKON tools.

- [Advertiser] Woodcraft Magazine, projects, plans, and weblinks designed to help you make wood work.

- [Advertiser] PS Wood, home of Timber Wolf Swedish silicon steel bandsaw blades and super sharp scroll saw blades.

- [Advertiser] 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.

(bright upbeat music)