Phil Greene demonstrates the smoothing stage on the outside of the hull of a canoe he is building.

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Phil Greene demonstrates the smoothing stage on the outside of the hull of a canoe he is building.

Spotlight
Episode 1

Video

The ability to work with wood was an asset on rural farms where lifestyles required self-sufficiency and living off the land was common. As a boy, Tom carved his toys - small boats that he floated...
Making a Duck Decoy
Episode 3

Video

Ducks use their tails to signal whether they are at rest or in danger. Tom carves the tail so that it feathers slightly upward, a sign that the duck is at ease with its surroundings. The process uses...
Making a Duck Decoy
Episode 4

Video

To float properly, the body of the duck must be hollowed out with a hand drill and chisel. Buoyancy and stability are achieved by combining a hollow interior with lead weights applied to the underside...
Tom Boozer's Tool Box | A Natural State
Episode 7

Video

Tom's toolbox is a museum of traditional woodworking implements. It contains a 150-year-old drawknife, a hatchet, his father's wood rasp, his grandfather's brace and bit, a mallet of resilient...
Carving
Episode 8

Video

No carving tool keeps an edge without occasional sharpening on a stone. Farmers and woodworkers brought hand-powered grinding wheels to the Americas during the 16th century. Many artisans and farmers...
Making a Duck Decoy
Episode 2

Video

Tom uses keen eyes and a drawknife to carve the slope of a duck's back from the natural curve along a block of white cedar. The basic forms of a tail and the base of the neck are revealed during body...
Eastern White Cedar | A Natural State
Episode 9

Video

Decoy wood needs to be light and resistant toward water and waterborne, termite-like insects that bore into wood. Atlantic white cedar is an excellent variety of such wood, but the tree’s population...
Baptizing a New Boat | A Natural State
Episode 5

Video

Wood Song Canoes, Phil's business, gets its name from the feeling he gets as he quietly glides through the water in a well made wooden boat. We visited Phil and his son as they "baptized" a new boat...
Wood Canoe
Episode 2

Video

In June 2002, an 18th century Cherokee canoe was found in the cold clear water of the Chattooga River. Early Cherokee canoes called dugouts were burned and scraped out of single tree trunks. The...