On Fri, 26 Aug 2005 12:36:58 GMT, "Jeff" wrote:

I have a pile of apple sections from the same neighbor's tree, but they've
all dried and have cracked beyond use for faceplate work, even end-coated
with Anchorseal. However they should be okay for spindle work/practice.

Your comment about feeling the tool as opposed to seeing is very true, I've
discovered, especially on harder woods such as the dry ash. In fact I'd
have to conclude that I can tell more about how the tool is cutting by its
sound and feel than visually. I believe I'm getting my tool very sharp and
correctly ground, but I still find the difference between a catch and
properly keeping the bevel rubbing and the skew cutting is a very small
angle indeed. Learning to maintain that angle is the hard part.

Yep, the skew is tricky. I left mine laying in the case for months on
end, because I was tired of them wrecking stuff, until I finally got
tired of leaving them alone, and just spent about 4 hours turning big
hunks of wood down to the size of toothpicks with those darn things,
and now it's like second nature. It's hard to master, and the real
benefit is that it cuts down on sanding. May or may not be worth it,
in the long run. I've found that I get a finish almost as good as the
skews by using a 1/4" spindle gouge with swept-back wings.

I know one other turner in the non-usenet world, and he won't touch a
skew with a 30' pole. He's been production-turning bowls,
bottle-stoppers and chalices and never saw the need for them. And
I'll admit- even after sort of mastering the things, I still end up
just using a good sharp gouge. YMMV!