bruce ferguson wrote:
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 would take a look at Alan Lacers video on the skew. He has a lot of
good information and I think he uses 1 1/2 times the thickness of the
skew for a bevel, but I could be wrong.
The other think I like is he recommends using a dead center to drive
your work. Tighten up on the tail stock for more drive. If you have a
catch the piece will just stop. Removed all the fear out of using a
skew. I understand he has a second DVD on projects using the skew, but
I have not seen it. He also has a web site you can check out.
Bruce
Not having either seen the video or read the book, I would hazard a
guess that you intended to say "Steb" center. A dead center doesn't
rotate at all.
Bill
--
I am disillusioned enough to know that no man's opinion on any subject
is worth a **** unless backed up with enough genuine information to make
him really know what he's talking about.
H. P. Lovecraft
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