On Mar 12, 1:05 pm, "NoOne N Particular" wrote:
Hi all. I am new to turning having just bought a used Delta 14" lathe about
6 weeks ago. I found one in very good shape and paid $275 for it. (a side
note: If I hadn't found that one I had made up my mind to go to Woodcraft
and buy a Rikon mini later that afternoon. Was that fortunate???).

Anyway, I was turning some white oak to make an ornament and was having some
trouble with the skew chisel. I was making a ball shape and if I used the
skew from my left-to-right it worked great. If I turned it around and went
from my right-to-left, it wouldn't cut worth a . . .crap. Actually, it
wouldn't cut at all. When I examed the edge there was a beautiful (and
huge) burr on the edge.

I thought I must have done something wrong so I resharpened the skew. I
have been doing this using a 750 grit diamond stone. Could almost shave
with it. Tried cutting the oak again and the skew almost immediately got
the burr again and wouldn't cut. Unfortunately I didn't find it out quite
in time and wound up with a quite nasty spiral that I hadn't planned on.
(insert several of your favorite expletives here).

The skew is one from a six piece set that I got from Grizzly a while back
when I thought I would be getting a lathe, but it didn't work out then. It
is a HSS steel oval skew. I have been reading some books and watching some
videos, but none of them use an oval skew. I have noticed that my skew has
a rather sharp bevel compared to the pictures/videos that I have seen. Most
seem to have a bevel of about 25-30 deg, but this one seems more like about
10-15 deg. It is closer to a knife edge.

So to sum it all up, should I work on my technique more (I need to do that
anyway), get a new skew with a "standard" profile, regrind the one that I
have, or . . .???

Sorry for being long winded,

Wayne

I have had the same observation. I have bought all types of turning
tools from the cheap asian imports to the black handled Crown ProPM
pwdered metallurgy tools, and much in-between. The oak is hard and is
creating a bur (bending the weak tip due to sharp angle on softer
steel) on your not so hard asian metal. By grinding specialty use
tools - I have found uses for most of the tools I bought - even the
crap ones from China - although some (Pinnacle) seem very good for $.
Buy another higher quality steel skew and I'll bet your issues are
resolved. Some might say you only need a few tools to do everything.
Myself - I have been turnig for only about 1 1/2 years and I now have
50 -60 turning tools...and i play with all of em all over a week
period of turning. Buy more and learn by experience - it'sthe only
true teacher. As a side note - I have found some of the older US or
Sheffield made carbon steel tools (not HSS) (Ebay) to be very nice -
can be sharpened to a fine edge and hold a bur nicely ..although of
course you will be going to the grinder much more often than with
harder metal. Also if you want to home hat tereat those older steels -
seems to work well. Some of the asian imports are not hard or hardened
at all...I have put in a vise and bend at 90 degrees without breaking
- that's not hard or hardened. I have never tried home hardening the
asian crap....