(upbeat country music) - Welcome the second show of season 28 of "The American Woodshop."

I'm Scott Phillips.

And today we're turning a work of art, look at this vessel.

What's difference between a bowl and a vessel?

Well, you better stay tuned to find out.

(Scraping sound) - [Narrator] "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.

(classical music) (air whooshes) Pro tools.

For tool pros.

(dramatic 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 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.

- Turning is the most fun you can have in a wood shop.

I guarantee it.

Today, we'll cover turning a vessel.

A vessel is something mysterious that you have to really look into.

And if it's a bowl that's open, you lose a little bit of the mystery.

Okay, so this is called a burl and it's a big leaf maple burl from the Northwest.

I absolutely love the grain on this, and that's the majesty of turning, it's the grain.

Now, it started out as a rough piece like this, and I am going to show you a tip on cutting it round at the bandsaw.

And that is, you take a compass on your blank.

And I've been saving this for a long time.

And I laid out a 14-inch diameter circle there, and I had the center point marked.

And now what I'm going to do is bring up a piece of plywood.

And I have this structural fastener or screw that's six inches long, and right on the compass point center, I'm going to screw that down.

And I wanna hold this level to the workbench as I do that.

(drills into wood) Now, what we can do is clamp this to the band saw table.

I'll get that set up and you'll see how we make the cut.

(wood clinks together) Before you do any woodworking in your wood shop, be sure to read, understand, and follow all the safety instructions that come with the tools and products you use, work safely.

Now, that screw in the bottom of this jig that's clamped square to the blade, and that's a half inch three tooth blade, is ready to pivot.

There's a scrap block here to level this base out.

Watch how this works.

I'll turn on the dust collector.

(dust collector hums) And now, on this edge with the center point right at the front edge of the tooth, I'll rotate this.

Let it come up to speed.

(humming from machine) Now, ease that around.

(machine buzzes) Don't rush it.

That's a thick piece of wood.

You have to give the gullet a chance to carry away that sawdust.

(machine buzzes) Really good right there.

Comes around to the other side.

All right, that's round.

Now, turn it all off.

And I'll unscrew this and we'll put the face plate on.

(air whooshes) Before I can mount the face plate on what will be the top of the vessel with all these epiformic buds sticking up.

And that's what these little mountains are.

They're genetic code to produce limbs.

And it creates this wonderful grain pattern.

This is gonna be the bottom of the bowl when we're finished.

We need to turn a spigot on that, which is a plug that this jaw closes down on the wood lathe.

So to turn that spigot, we have to, on the top, mount this face plate, and I chiseled this out.

So there's a flat zone.

You want the metal plate to be parallel to the work bench, as close as you can eyeball it.

And now what I'll do is join this, keeping it on center with the longest, biggest screws you can manage.

So once we get this, it's over to the wood lathe.

(screwdriver buzzes) (air whooshes) Now, I use the wrenches to secure and snug that face plate onto the drive spindle of the wood lathe.

And I make sure it has clearance with the tool rest.

And then the other thing is it needs to be tightened down with these Allen Nuts, so that it doesn't come spinning off when you turn it off.

That'd be bad.

Okay, and also notice that I do have a full heavy duty face shield on.

I always turn with something like this.

Okay.

It's key.

And these are always safety glasses and that's nicely balanced.

The other thing is I can bring up the tail stock and bring this live ball bearing center forward.

And I'll come around here like that.

Make sure that the tail stock is locked and advanced the ram to secure it.

So that now it's held between two points.

And then the moment of truth here is that looks really good.

We release a safety lock for the machine.

We're gonna turn it on, shields down.

That's nicely balanced.

And that's what cutting it round does for you.

We're running a 340 RPM right now.

And the first chisel I'm going to use is a half inch bull gouge, half inch flute right here.

And the whole idea is to marry this to your body.

So you use the weight of your body and you start to ease this in, (light tapping) and you just make contact and you keep that chisel down to the tool rest.

And you're working it round.

(wood lathe tapping) This takes a bit of time.

I'm gonna do the overhand technique here to really hold that chisel securely to that steel bar that's cast into that tool rest.

That makes it smooth.

So I'll work this round and I'm being very careful with this unnatural edge right here.

It's not uniform.

So this is called shadow turning right here, where that point at times is in mid-air.

So the only way you could do that sort of turning is with a light touch where you're holding that chisel securely in one place to the tool rest.

I'm using my pivot hand right here to do that.

So I'll work this round.

Once it's round, then we can work on the bottom and work on the spigot.

I'm using a technique that was taught to me by Rude Osolnik, and it's really key that you rub the bevel and engage the cutting edge at the same time.

This moisture content, I just checked it right at 9%.

So it's pretty much bone dry.

This is not green turning.

So you have to use sharp chisels and you have to rub that bevel.

(wood lathe hums) Now we're just roughing it in right now.

So I'll come down to the bottom right there.

When I'm into the air, I'll turn that off.

Let that come to a stop and look at that.

That's really looking cool.

Okay, now I wouldn't dream of doing what I just did right there, adjusting this banjo that holds the tool rest with that running.

Some people like to show off when they demo, and it's just like, boy, that's a bad habit to get into because can you imagine what would happen if you got your fingers between that and the tool rest as you're moving that?

That'd be bad.

Okay, let's make sure we have clearance there.

And I want to make it as close as possible without having the two touch.

And then we can round this down and create the spigot that will take the 4-jaw chuck.

Everything's locked in place securely.

Check your locks and that light ball bearing center's there for a reason.

It adds a whole lot of stability to this turning as we create the foot.

Okay.

Easy does it, nice light touch.

(wood lathe clanks) And I'm coming down to the foot, and you'll see very quickly how this foot is key in the design.

Also, this is how I bought the burl.

I didn't cut it out into this rough shape before I started to turn.

It's what I was dealt with.

I wanna show you something that changes the way I'm going to design this.

Need to take this down just a hair more, like that right there.

Still rubbing the bevel.

Let's see how we're doing.

I think we're right about where we need to be size wide.

So again, we'll turn it off.

And I want to undercut that just a little bit.

You'll see why when I bring up the 4-jaw chuck.

This is exciting, oh boy.

(laughs) I'll slide that back.

That point is sharp, so be careful with it.

Now look at this.

Let's use the dividers to see.

That's exactly the size we needed right there to fit the four jaws of this chuck, and see that goes down and grips it.

But I need to make this spigot long enough that it shoulders out on the bottom of this because this is still a big turning.

And the other thing from a design standpoint, there's a big flat spot here.

It'd be criminal to me to turn away all this wood.

So I'm gonna work with this flat spot.

That one too.

I'm gonna make it part of the design because again I don't wanna waste that wood.

So I'll get this spigot cutout to perfection and then we'll spin this off the lathe with power off, and we will reverse chuck it.

Looking good.

(air whooshes) On the very bottom of the spigot, I'm using a round carbide cutter.

And what I can do is undercut this foot, the base ever so slightly (machine buzzing) and finish the length to perfect.

Turn that off.

And now what I can do is take off the tool rest.

Looks like it has a mind of its own.

And now these heavy duty four jaws come up and this top lip seats up against the bottom of the bowl.

And the bottom of that spigot is against the chuck, which is great.

And so you close this down and this is key.

You make it snug on one side, roll it around to the other side and make sure it's really tight.

And that way it centers a chuck.

Now I'll spin this off and reverse that.

And we can start to hollow the top.

(wood clinks together) This is what it looks like when I take the face plate off of the top.

And this was mounted onto the drive spindle at the lathe.

And I mounted the 4-jaw chuck onto the drive spindle and locked it in place with an Allen lock.

Threads right on there.

And I want to make sure the jaws are really secure and that they hold that piece.

And then on this end, I've put a Jacobs Chuck with the Forstner bit and watch what we can do now.

We're going to establish the depth of cut.

That's nicely balanced by the way.

So I'm liking that, everything's locked in place.

Now just crank this on in, taking time.

And this is running right around 240 to 260 and this will establish my depth of cut, and it will make it a whole lot easier to hollow this.

The more mass we get away from this turning blank, the better it's going to spin and keep vibration down.

(wood clinks together) I've been turning all my life.

And honestly, there's nothing more fun than this, but here are the two hollowing tools we're going to use.

This is the half inch bowl gouge that I've been using all along.

And this is a Paisley.

That's about almost three 8ths of an inch right there on the curve.

They have them right and left.

This is the left.

So I can go in once I dial the speed up the right way.

And I took the tailstock off, the ability to get in here and hollow this way.

Now this is magnetized right here.

It's the variable speed control.

And I'm going to put it on the backside out of the way.

And I'm going to dial the speed up.

And how fast do I want to go?

As fast as I can without it wobbling.

That looks really good right there.

Dial it back just a hair.

Now I'm taking the bowl gouge, and I'll lay the flute on its side.

And I come up and I rub the bevel first and then I raise the handle.

And then I can take passes, being careful of my fingers on those tips right there.

I can open this up.

(machine hums) Just like that.

Now, this is a push cut.

Some people like to use a fingernail grind with a hold cut.

I don't like to do that.

When it starts to get too rough, that's when I switch to the carbide scraper, the Paisley.

And I like this shank because what happens the way this is formed I can lay it over on its side in difficult grain areas and really do a fine job of cutting.

It's a great tool.

So I'm just gonna work this down, taking light cuts.

Remember, this is bone dry.

So this is not like turning greenwood turning.

We're going to hollow now.

(scrapers grinds against wood) Now when I really start to go deep on dry wood, this is a scraper that I go to and look at how heavy duty that is.

I can marry this to my body because seriously to hollow you can tell that that's eggshell thin right there.

So I need to stay away from that.

Look at what I can do with this.

When it starts to vibrate, I just hold it down through the tool rest and I take a lighter cut.

And this is tough on dry wood.

Greenwood's a whole lot more forgiving, but you never give up on a piece of wood.

Now once I have this hollowed, I'm going to reconfigure the tool rest and we're going to work on the outside form just a bit.

Then it's on to sanding and finishing.

(air whooshes) (light humming) Making a final pass to eliminate a lot of sanding by using a sheer cut.

with the bowl gouge and off of bone dry wood.

Look at those lovely ribbons.

And that's exactly what a shearing cut does for you.

Green or dry wood.

You will get ribbons of wood just like that.

And I need to go in there, right in there, and just define that a little bit more like that, just like that.

And that's it for the turning.

I like the way everything's coming together on this.

And now it's time to sand.

So the first thing you do is remove the tool rest 'cause you don't want your fingers getting caught in between the tool rest and the spinning work piece.

And so I've got dust collection right back here and I can sand on the downside to shoot the dust into the collector and just do it by hand.

Another wonderful tool is a Sandoflex right here.

When that gets going into these tips, it's a perfect way to clean it up.

So now I'll work through 100, 150, and 220 and make this smooth on the outside and on the inside very carefully.

(machine hums) (sander tool sputters) (air whooshes) Now look at this.

It's all sanded to perfection.

I love the shape.

I love the fact that it's wild.

That's what I like about burls.

I like the grain structure.

Some people call that flame figure right there, as it's burning up the wood as it goes up to the rim.

And so what I can do as I brush this out, I let this soak in and as it's soaking in, I keep it brushed down.

I don't want drips and runs.

This is Arm-R-Seal.

This is the gloss, builds to a wonderful sheen.

And so I'll take care of the outside of this first.

And then what I can do is friction the finish on by carefully using an all cotton pad, just loosen my hands small.

And I turn on the lathe.

Then I buff that to a glorious sheen.

And I do that several times to develop that beautiful grain.

And then what I can do is brush in the top.

And once I brush around all those epiformic buds, then we'll take a look at the finished piece.

I'm loving the way those buds just explode off the top rim and the grain is just spectacular.

So big leaf maple burl out of Washington State.

from Mr. Kennedy, an old saw mill.

Thank you, Bob.

It's beautiful.

So, turning!

To each their own, make it your own, but most importantly, make it!

Take turning lessons and get inspiration from some unusual folks.

And speaking to that, it's time for a quick visit with Barry Todd to see what he's been up to.

(air whooshes) Barry, this is amazing.

Tell us about this piece.

- This was a piece of red maple that was given to me, and I thought with all these knots and gnarly looking places that this might make something that's kinda nice.

- And it's so light, it's hollowed.

Remember a vessel has mystery to it and that's why you hollow these wonderful things.

- Absolutely.

- Now wait.

What do you call this turned burl?

- Burl Ivies.

- And see this bottom was turned.

And then he used a dremmel-like tool, moto tool to sculpt out the leaves.

And then this burl, what wood is that?

This is a Brown Mallee burl, a little tiny burl that I found.

- Wow, and then this again is Brown Mallee.

- Yes, it is.

And with this, when I just cut off the sapwood on top and turned it into the lid.

- Oh wait, let's show folks.

Now this is called a lidded box.

Whenever you have a turning with the lid, it's a box, go figure.

And then this right here is spectacular.

- Another little piece of Brown Mallee.

And once I turned this, I thought, well, what in the heck am I gonna do with that?

So I started scrounging around and got some scraps out of my shop.

This is spalted maple.

This is Rosewood.

And this little piece up here is a piece of Ebony.

Put them all together and you have a little display piece.

- Okay, now off to the wood lathe to see you turn some of this.

- Absolutely.

(air whooshes) - All right, Barry, show us how to hollow.

- I'll give it a shot.

- Okay.

- I'm new to this.

(men both laugh) Love use this bowl gouge.

- Absolutely, go for it.

- Nice clean cut.

Ease it in.

(wood lathe sputters) Get the chips flying.

And it will jump up and down because of the uneven surface on the top of the burl.

But then you just start riding the bevel and take it on down into the piece.

Wrap it around and then ease into the center.

- [Scott] Now, Barry, why do you turn?

- [Barry] Scott, this is something that's just a matter of necessity.

I have to turn because it's the greatest way to release the inner, I don't know, artist, spirit of creativity that everybody has.

And I can't think of a better way to do this, have fun, be safe, and let's your spirit run free.

- You can't have more fun in the woodshop.

Well, now you know, all the tips on how to turn and you can't beat hands-on lessons.

So that's it on turning from "The American Woodshop" this week and next time in "The American Woodshop," we're going to build this tall display case because we have to have someplace to put our turnings.

So I'm Scott Phillips.

- And I'm Barry Todd.

- Signing off.

See you next week.

Now let's get onto hollowing this.

Come on.

(upbeat music) (sputtering) - [Narrator] Woodcraft, since 1928, providing traditional and modern woodworking tools and supplies to generations of craftsmen.

Woodcraft, helping you make wood work.

(classical music) (air whooshes) Pro tools for tool pros.

(dramatic 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 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)