Well, the teacher decides, of course :-) Actually, when I teach at
Woodcraft I try not to push any tools on students and encourage them to use
mine and any that they have brought with them. That way they can decide at
the end of the class whether to spend any money. The only time I have done
it different was my last bowl class. We had six students, which is more
than I usually allow. Since we didn't have enough bowl gouges to go around,
I asked how many had planned to buy a tool. Since several said yes, I did
my discussion of bowl gouges first, then they bought, we ground them, then
they got to use their tools. Actually went quite well. But for most of my
classes I want them to learn more and spend money only if the want to. Hope
the manager at my Woodcraft doesn't see this...

As for "V" grooves, I tend to use the point on either my left or right
handed scrappers, or a spear point I have. You are right that those would
be possible cuts with the skew though.

--
Rusty Myers
Austin, TX

"George" wrote in message
...
Sounds great, Russ, but who determines if they're the right tools for the
students? I know I have to buy 'em, but they learn to use what will do
what they want to do after I've shown 'em how I do it. I'm not sure I
have
the "best" way yet.

BTW, use your skew tip for "V" groove decoration or to make the initial
runs
for wire burns if you fancy them for decoration on bowls. They're also
nice
for making a reveal between a "foot" and the piece, or for that chamfer
between the foot and where it will sit.

"Rusty Myers" wrote in message
...

I teach classes fairly often and I would rather have my students get the
right tools for what they are learning than to get a set with tools that
are
a compromise. I haven't seen a full sized set that I could reccomend.
I
have seen some small, pen oriented sets that were fine.