(upbeat music) (saw buzzing) - Like a hot knife through butter.

Now, today on the American Woodshop, it's turning these really beautiful tall vases.

So, stick around.

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

Woodcraft, helping you make wood work.

(bright music) (upbeat music) - [Announcer] Pro tools (upbeat music) for tool pros, (upbeat music) Rikon Tools - [Narrator] Woodcraft magazine, projects, plans, and web links designed to help you make wood work.

PS Wood, home of Timber Wolf 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.

(saw buzzing) - All right, whatever you do, whenever you're cutting out your blanks, you what the ends to be square and check free.

So, I'm gonna square this up and do the same for the other work pieces.

Then it's inside to the wood lathe to turn these into some beautiful vases.

(saw buzzing) When I saw these logs, they had character.

See these peck marks?

Those are from sapsuckers.

They're laying out their territory and it also creates a place for them to come and feed on the bugs that feed on the sap.

Thus, the name.

Now, the faceplate down here is a big heavy-duty iron six inch and down here, it's a heavy duty four inch, and that's capturing this work piece between centers.

Now, this is locked in place and whatever you do, be sure to read and understand and follow all the instructions that come with the tools and products you use, work safely.

To that end, thinking about safety, use mega 12, number 12, three and a half inch long screws to hold it, to keep it between centers.

Now, let's turn it on and look at that.

It's rolling at 160 right now, face shield down.

And what I do is I keep this chisel on the tool rest.

I ease it in and I start to take wood off.

This can take a while, but I always keep my hand on this side of that tool rest, I can use the underhand or the overhand technique.

You never use gloves for this.

This will take a while, that's okay.

I love to turn.

So we'll work this down.

And everybody, when they turn has a strong direction, and this is- I'm going in my strong direction, which means I go from left to right.

That's where I feel more comfortable.

Some people it's the other direction.

So I'll take this right on down with this half inch bowl gouge.

And we're working to get this dynamically balanced.

Okay, I have it roughed down and there's excitement here.

The bark is not wanting to stay on, which is a shame.

I wanted to use that as an accent.

So I'm gonna lock this headstock.

And then what I can do is chisel away all the bark, get this down to bare wood.

And once I have that, I'll start turning again, but I just don't need to have flying bark coming at me.

So sometimes it's tight, in this case, it wants to come off, so off it comes.

Get this off and we'll be back to turning.

So all the bark is off now and let's get this back up to speed.

And I checked all the locks, made sure everything's nice and tight.

And what I'm going to do now, this piece of wood is a little bit wonky, meaning, it's out of balance big time.

And when you turn, it's all about getting things in balance.

And so what I'm going to do is I'm going to work it down right in this zone right here.

And with the half inch bowl gouge, right in here I'm going to create a nice deep cut.

And I'm going to... Take this back off the lathe and I'm going to... Now, where that cut is, I'm going to cut that flat so I can get this in better balance out.

So, I have to screw this off, cut it, screw it back on.

And sometimes pieces of wood just tell you that they need more love.

And that's what I'm going to do, I'm going to give it more love.

Okay, let me get that done and we'll get it remounted.

(saw buzzing) Okay, look at that.

It pays to listen to wood, it's much better behaved now.

So what I'm going to do on the other end is balance it down too, and I'll just keep at this until we get this billet, this whole piece is called, nicely balanced.

(wood lathe chattering) The key is don't get in a hurry.

Take your time, take light cuts.

(wood lathe chattering) The whole key to turning a piece, it isn't quite centered up and quite round, is to hold the chisel down to the tool rest and ease that cutting edge in there and keep working it until you're to good solid wood.

And always try to shear instead of scrape.

Now, let's turn this off and see where we're at.

And I'll tell you what, this is a challenging piece.

These checks, this is dried for five years, so it's dry, but you can see this side... Well, there's just not enough wood to turn it into the form I want.

So what do you do when you run into a creative challenge?

I've got just a man to help me out with this.

Let's do a visit.

Now, what do you do when you're at a creative impasse?

I asked Barry Todd to come by (Barry laughs) because you just inspire me 10 ways come Sunday.

- Oh, I just have fun.

- And here's why, the last time you were here, it was the blue nebula.

I mean, just outstanding and you just blow me away.

Now, tell us about this one, Barry.

- This is a piece of Texas ebony from Southern Texas and it is a hollow form.

- Right there, it opens up.

- Yeah.

- With pierce cutting.

And this is sapwood, which is part of the original ebony, okay?

All one piece of wood.

- Yeah.

- And I love the finial on top.

- Thank you.

- Now, this is a...

Describe that.

- I call this yin yang twins, two different woods, just opposing locations.

The dark wood is Texas ebony and the orange colored wood is something they call coma in Texas or saffron plum.

- Those Texans have a different word for everything.

- Yes, they do, and it's hard wood.

- What can you do?

Okay, now you've taken an antler and then... And I love the blue dye on this and I can tell that's oak, but it's a weird one.

- Yeah.

- Tell us about that.

- That's cork oak, that's out of Portugal.

Someone sent me a little piece of that and I thought, what the heck can you do with that?

So I just made that funky looking bowl, mounted it on an antler and put a little lid on it.

- And again, Texas ebony.

- Texas ebony.

- Okay.

- And the Texas ebony sapwood.

- Oh, I see.

Now, this is a strange one, I wanna be very careful with that.

And this is a different type of burl.

- Right.

- What is that?

- That is brown mallee out of Australia.

And I called that a tribute to Goldfield Burls from Australia.

- Oh my-- - Yeah, and the base is a little piece of cherry that I ebonized and pierced.

- Wow, and then look at this.

Oh my word.

- That's just a little bowl I made out of a Bradford pear.

- Wow.

- I did a little bit of texturing and piercing and gave a little bit of color.

- And pear or any fruit tree turns beautifully, right?

- Absolutely.

- And then he's always experimenting and this is all 100% wood.

Tell us how you got this effect.

- Okay, the top is what they call reactive metal paints and you put a primer on it, then you put the metal paint, which is basically just a... Any type of metal paint.

And then you put an acid reactive solution on top and you get this great looking patina.

- Wow, and that's a piece of elm.

Oh no, you said maybe maple.

- Yeah, maple, the same piece, the same tree as blue nebula.

- Okay, here's the big question.

How do you do it?

- I just have fun.

(Barry laughs) - Let the bears out of the cage.

Barry, thank you very much.

- Thank you, Scott, love it.

- Okay, now I'm inspired.

- Okay.

- So, let's go finish that big vase that is just challenging.

Okay, thanks-- - Go get it.

- Yes, sir.

We all need some inspiration in life and oftentimes Barry's just what the doctor ordered.

Now that half inch bowl gouge was what I used to rough in things, but it's such an irregular piece.

I'm going to a three quarter inch bowl gouge.

That means that gap right there, three quarters of an inch.

And it's a heavier shank.

And that means it gives me more stability as I make the cut.

And I have the tool rest adjusted, so when I hold this for shearing cut, when it comes around, it's not going straight in and that'd be scraping cut.

This is a shearing cut.

And so I'm just going to continue to work this down and create the base, the vase then the top.

And so here we go.

Go in and I make contact, and when you start getting shavings like that, ah, that's when things are starting to get good.

So I'll work this on down and get it balanced as best I can.

(wood lathe chattering) When you do a big turning, make sure it's secure and all the locks on the lathe are locked.

And the other thing is use that nice long handle of the lathe chisel to your body to give you a more stable cut.

Now, this is behaving very nicely because this is well balanced now.

And what I'm doing is, I'm sweeping down the cup of the top of the vase and I'll go down to the bottom of the valley here, taking a good steady cut, it's nice and controlled all the way down to the bottom.

(wood lathe chattering) I do not want to go up the other side.

You always start high and go low with this type of cut.

And so it's starting to look like a beautiful form.

These checks will get fixed with epoxy.

I'm going to color that.

And then I need to do some work down here just to make it more graceful.

I like the way this is forming.

I'm going to have a bead here, which is bump, a bead here and a cove here that sweeps to an OG then two beads on the base.

So I'll get that roughed in.

Again, I want to work from the higher to the lower areas that gives me a better cut.

How do I know that's a good cut?

Because I'm getting those nice long shavings.

So, rub the bevel first, then make your cuts.

And I'll get this roughed in and then we'll detail it with some special cutters.

I can't stress how important it is to turn off the lathe and check the workpiece for any defects and make sure it's secure.

So those, again, I'm going to fill with resin in just a second, but I'm going to use some detailers first.

And to that end, I'm going to use this round carbide cutter to make these coves, the caves a little bit deeper.

That's a big cutter, let's do that.

I want this cutter to be right at or slightly below center line and I never get it into a bind.

Here, let me bring it over here where you can see it.

(wood lathe chattering) And on a big turning like this, I like to go from the high to the low as well with these carbide cutters.

(wood lathe chattering) Now, when I'm deep enough, if I need to go little bit deeper, (wood lathe chattering) if that valley or cove gets too tight, what I can do is go to a smaller diameter, like three eighths of an inch carbide cutter.

(wood lathe chattering) Now, I love this tool.

The only limitation is it's a thin shank, so as I'm really in there deep, it starts to vibrate and that's when I get a rough cut.

(wood lathe chattering) And it's...

The details that make all the difference (wood lathe chattering) when you turn a vase, so right there.

I'll take that down.

(wood lathe chattering) And then I'm going to bring it over here and define that as a bead, which is a bump just like that, right there.

(wood lathe chattering) And on top of that, right there, I need a square shoulder.

And to that end to get it, I'm going to change out the round cutter, handy tool, to the square cutter and put it into this chuck and lock it in place.

Again, the cutting edge should be right at or slightly below center line.

And I just establish a shoulder there, (wood lathe chattering) a shoulder there, (wood lathe chattering) a shoulder there, and a shoulder right there.

(wood lathe chattering) And where I found this technique or this form was on the columns at the Parthenon.

It's these crisp shoulders that really make a difference.

I'm rounding that bead over.

There's another tool that's handy for that, it's a diamond point.

Still carbide, but diamond shaped point.

And I can go in there and just make those beads nice and fluid.

And so it's just these little details that make all the difference.

So I'll get this form down low and up high, and then we'll be on to fill in the resin.

Next thing I'm going to do since I like the form now, and before I sand, I'm going to fill any voids and checks with a two-part five minute epoxy.

That looks good right there.

And some people make the mistake of not mixing them in a tray like this first.

On a two-part epoxy, it has to be thoroughly blended, and if it's not, what happens is it doesn't cure properly and you have a mess on your hands.

And this is a five minute epoxy that is going to be pretty clear when it's done.

And some people say, "Hey, shouldn't you be wearing gloves?"

I'm not gonna get it on my hands, so I'm good with this.

And work in a well ventilated place.

And so wherever there's resin, I'll just lock in the head right here with this lock.

There we go.

And now, the clock is ticking.

So I'll get the resin in here, the two part epoxy, stabilize any defects, and then it can be on to sanding with dust collection on and full dust mask on.

And once it's sanded, it's on to finishing.

Well, imagine my surprise.

That epoxy, 5 minute, took three days to cure.

So now, we're back at it and it's well-balanced and everything's looking good.

And I wanna make sure the speed's just right.

When you can take the speed up, it's easier to trim off that glue residue.

So this is going right at 800 RPM now, and I'm really liking the results of that.

With a bowl gouge, you get a much cleaner cut.

It's not a scrape cut, it's a shear cut.

So what happens is you really don't have to do much sanding.

So I'm trimming off all that excess glue and just defining the shape.

And then I'll turn that off and I want to show you something very quickly that we need to do.

We need to define the top.

Meaning right now this isn't working, it has too many cracks in it.

So I'm going to use a parting tool as diamond shape shank, and I'm going to make a cut right here to define what will end up being the top.

And let's get that done.

You don't want to go in more than about three eighths of an inch before you bring it over to open it up a little bit more, and I've already done this down at the bottom.

And I can go in and leave a core that's about two inches in diameter.

And so now, from there what I'll do is I'll take off the tool rest, do a bit of sanding, get it refined and then it's time to put on the finish.

(sander revving) This is the defining moment right here.

I'm using the Japanese razor saw to part this from this, and it's all the way through.

So now what I can do is pull this off and bring that off.

And now I'm going to clean this up a bit by bringing this live ball bearing center forward.

Now that this is balanced and well-behaved, I can do that.

And cup this out, I wanna make sure it's on center.

Okay, just like that.

Advance that.

And now I can smooth cut this.

And then once that's smooth and I like that, I'll put this into this end and I will core this so it will hold flowers.

This container has high performance water-based finish in it.

These are iridescent metal particles.

This is a blue water mixable dye, it's called union blue.

And what I'm doing is creating a glaze for this basswood.

The basswood in and by itself really didn't have a whole lot of character when I turned it, that's why I gave it an unusual shape.

But now, as I mix this up, I want this to be a shiny blue tint.

I want to be able to see some of the grain, but this should make it look absolutely spectacular.

I'm loving the color and I've done some tests.

Now, I think we're there.

And so what we're going to do right now is make a mess.

(Scott laughs) Suzy says I do a good job of that.

Now watch this as we brush this on.

And I want this to be brushed out enough that it dries just a bit translucent, so you can see grain.

Now, some people would say, "Oh, turn it on."

I'll let you do that, I'm going to brush this on instead, because of the way it's going on right now, I like the look at this.

It's staying right where it needs to be.

So I'll brush all of this out and then I'll let it dry overnight.

And we'll get to see the final reveal in the morning.

So see you in the morning.

Whatever you do use a heavy duty face plate on both ends when you do massive log turnings like this and use heavy duty fasteners.

Now, that face plate was right there and it's off of this assembly and I have it almost all the way, there it goes.

It's all the way through, you use a razor saw to cut it off, to get rid of the waste.

And I want you to look at that, it's still drying, so I have to be a little bit careful about this.

And here's why I like it, it the unusual things like that flat spot that just really draws me in.

I look for imperfections in things, I celebrate that.

And I think everybody is a little bit too hard on themselves sometimes.

The flaws make it, and you know, the checks that I filled with epoxy, oh man, to me that just makes it.

And some people are gonna go, "Well, I don't like the color."

Well, shame on you (laughs) because this is mine, and I love it, and I know Suzy is gonna love it too.

So that's how you do turning.

And why should you turn?

It's impossible to have more fun in the woodshop than when you turn, that's why you should turn.

And if you don't know how to turn, take some lessons, that's an easy way to do it.

Well, that's it for this week, go express yourself, use your hands, use your imagination and give it to someone you love.

See you.

Yeah.

(bright music) - Woodcraft, since 1928, providing traditional modern woodworking tools and supplies to generations of craftsmen.

Woodcraft, helping you make wood work.

(bright music) (upbeat music) - [Announcer] Pro tools (upbeat music) for tool pros, (upbeat music) Rikon Tools.

- [Narrator] Woodcraft magazine projects, plans, and web links designed to help you make wood work.

PS Wood, home of Timber Wolf 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.

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

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