On Wed, 04 Mar 2009 13:39:11 -0800, mac davis
wrote:

On Tue, 03 Mar 2009 15:50:32 -0600, wrote:
Many Thanks to all that replied to my plea for help. All the
information is appreciated. I will try and apply all of it as I
practice on the lathe on much smaller wood stock. One thing that I
wish could be answered is, would using a larger than 1" skew reduce
my chance of a catch? Looks like it might keep the toe and heel
further away from the cutting area. I am working on 4" popular
stock "trying to turn" the legs for an Island.

Thanks again

Everett

My personal favorite is a 3/4" oval skew, but I use the 1" "normal" skew a lot,
also..
For my use/ability, smaller skews are for small work or tight spots..
Why try to use a 1/4" skew on a 3' long cut, for example..

If you DO stay with a normal, flat skew, save yourself a lot of grief and file
or grind the edges of the shaft, where it rides on the tool rest, round..
Even if you don't want to roll the point down to avoid catches, the worst time
to find a little nick on your tool rest is when your skew hangs up on it during
a cut.. DAMHIKT

If all else fails, get good with scrapers.. ;-]
I turned a set of stool legs for a friend and used mostly scrapers for the
rounding and shaping..


mac

Please remove splinters before emailing


I just finished rounding the toe and the heel and it is much better. I
can see what was causing it to catch. The 3 1/2" diameter that I was
attempting to turn, presents itself to the 1" skew as a flater
surface than say a 1" dia stock. By rounding the edges I have removed
the sharp points and also moved the threat further away from the
stock. There was some other suggestions that I will also try.

Another suggestion was to use an adapter that mounts on the shaft of
the skew. In effect it lets the skew have a round shaft that rest on
the tool rest. I think this would be considered as a training wheel
for the skew:-). I may give it a try. But first I think I will
purchase a larger skew.

Many Thanks

Everett