"Derek Andrews" wrote in message
...
... In fact, I'm
discovering just how much fun a skew can be when used properly. I'm
still not rolling nice beads yet, but my surface quality has improved
100%. Thanks to the help from posters here (and some time spent with one
of Raffan's books), my learning curve is steepening.

Glad to hear that you are making progress!

Several things will help with improving the form of the shapes you create.

First is the ability to look at the shape you make and identify exactly
what is wrong with it. This is quite a skill in itself so don't be afraid
to spend time taking a good long look at your work. A piece of black card
held behind the work can help you to see the profile more clearly, but it
is still up to you to decide what is good and bad about it, and what wood
you can remove to correct it.

Many novices have trouble deciding where to start cutting. Always remember
that you can only remove so much wood with a single cut. To turn a square
profile in to a circle, start at the corners with a small cut and work
towards your goal by making successive cuts parallel to the desired
result. Another approach is to take the corners off to create an octagonal
profile, then take a little off of each of the resulting corners. This can
be done very quickly with the short point of the skew. When you are close
to a circle you can make one fine cut all the way around to leave a nice
circle.

All the time of course you need to be watching the shape you are creating.
Remember that with a subtractive process like woodturning, once you have
cut a piece of wood off, you can't put it back on You can either stop
and look at the profile after each cut, or you can take your eyes off the
tool and watch the profile as you cut. This latter approach has the
benefit of teaching you turn by feel, a very important skill which
requires considerable empathy with the tools and the wood.

Keep at. Your perseverance will pay off.

My problem is with small, narrow beads, not the larger ones. I seem to be
able to make wider curves, but the tiny two or three part beads, like those
decorating bowl rims, etc., are the ones I can't seem to create well. They
are harder to visualize, but that doesn't seem to be an issue. What is a
problem is my ability to roll the skew smoothly to round a, say, 1mm bead.
I'm wondering if a skew with rolled edges might help. I can actually do
slightly better with a fine detail gouge, but I'd really like to get these
things down with a skew. I guess I'm just pedantic enough to want to be
competent with every tool.

Thanks for the advice, Derek.

Max