my recent activity
 

Briefly, I've been using a lathe to make sawdust for 40 years. I'm
right-handed. I use scraping tools, but have some facility with spindle and
bowl gouges, and a hook. I make some of my own tools. The skew has always
been my nemesis.
Assorted arguments aside, regarding the pros and cons of the skew, I decided
to start practicing with a couple of new skew chisels and alternating left
and right hand techniques.
I have scrap softwood material, mainly 2x4 stuff and have decided to start
out on this stock and just the skew chisels - a 1 inch standard skew, and a
3/4 inch oval cross-section skew. The oval skew has a significantly flatter
bevel grind than the standard skew has.
I'm starting with turning a basic cylinder from square stock. I'm also
working on simple symmetrical beads of assorted sizes. Attempts at coves have
been unsatisfying so far.
I'm using both chisels, trying to learn the differences between them, and
also working on left-handed stances to complement my usual right-handed
stances.
On the basic cylindrical project, I am noticing very smooth surfaces on about
half the cylinder circumference and less smooth on the other half of the
circumference. I believe this to be perfectly analogous to the surface
quality of a planed board edge when going the "right" direction or the
"wrong" direction with the plane. In addition, the circularity of the
cylinder is affected by the alternating hard and soft grain in the wood.
Coves are the worst for me, so far. With no place for the bevel to rub, a
nice spiral catch is almost always the result, unless I make a small notch
first, to start my efforts. Somewhat similar to my turning a bowl, I must
start with a small scraped notch at the rim, so there is a place for me to
start the gouge.
None of these remarks is a complaint, just observations of my early efforts
in retraining myself. I am continuing to study assorted videos for technique,
as I become more aware of what my questions are. A turning club is out of the
question in a mainly rural area like mine.
The turning season is upon me, as my outdoor pursuits wind down, and so this
is what I am doing for now.

Just wanted to post this, as the board seemed pretty quiet except for the odd
spammers. Maybe new turners monitoring this board will be encouraged to
continue their learning, cuz an old fart is still trying and making his
messes.

tom koehler

--
I will find a way or make one.

my recent activity
 

tom koehler wrote:
Briefly, I've been using a lathe to make sawdust for 40 years. I'm
right-handed. I use scraping tools, but have some facility with spindle and
bowl gouges, and a hook. I make some of my own tools. The skew has always
been my nemesis.
Assorted arguments aside, regarding the pros and cons of the skew, I decided
to start practicing with a couple of new skew chisels and alternating left
and right hand techniques.
I have scrap softwood material, mainly 2x4 stuff and have decided to start
out on this stock and just the skew chisels - a 1 inch standard skew, and a
3/4 inch oval cross-section skew. The oval skew has a significantly flatter
bevel grind than the standard skew has.
I'm starting with turning a basic cylinder from square stock. I'm also
working on simple symmetrical beads of assorted sizes. Attempts at coves have
been unsatisfying so far.
I'm using both chisels, trying to learn the differences between them, and
also working on left-handed stances to complement my usual right-handed
stances.
On the basic cylindrical project, I am noticing very smooth surfaces on about
half the cylinder circumference and less smooth on the other half of the
circumference. I believe this to be perfectly analogous to the surface
quality of a planed board edge when going the "right" direction or the
"wrong" direction with the plane. In addition, the circularity of the
cylinder is affected by the alternating hard and soft grain in the wood.
Coves are the worst for me, so far. With no place for the bevel to rub, a
nice spiral catch is almost always the result, unless I make a small notch
first, to start my efforts. Somewhat similar to my turning a bowl, I must
start with a small scraped notch at the rim, so there is a place for me to
start the gouge.
None of these remarks is a complaint, just observations of my early efforts
in retraining myself. I am continuing to study assorted videos for technique,
as I become more aware of what my questions are. A turning club is out of the
question in a mainly rural area like mine.
The turning season is upon me, as my outdoor pursuits wind down, and so this
is what I am doing for now.

Just wanted to post this, as the board seemed pretty quiet except for the odd
spammers. Maybe new turners monitoring this board will be encouraged to
continue their learning, cuz an old fart is still trying and making his
messes.

tom koehler

Good to hear from you. I also have a couple of skews, oval and flat.
I also need to learn how to use them, but never have. Right now I
am turning tree ornaments using a spindle gouge to round the blank
then a bowl gouge to do the shaping.

--
G.W. Ross

I go to bed early; my favorite dream
comes on at nine. --George Carlin

my recent activity
 

Welcome to the World of the Skew Tom,

My first observation is that 2X4 wood is not a good wood to practice
turning with the skew, or really with any tool. Maple, Elm, fruit
woods, etc are much better for practice. Secondly, the skew must be
razor sharp to do the best turning. You should hone the edge until it
is razor sharp, i.e., will shave the hair on your arm.

For initial practice, I recommend a short piece of timber, say less
than 12 inches long. This way there is no chance for the wood to bow
slightly as you near the center portion of the wood. Forget trying to
cut coves with a skew unless they are very wide and shallow.

To make beads, cut a small groove on each side of the bead to be,
actually, I like a small V-groove made by cutting from each side to
the center of the groove. Then mark the center of the space between
the two grooves. Using the heel of the skew, and placing the shaft
vertical to the wood just to the left of the mark and rotate the skew
with your right hand. The skew should then cut directly down into the
groove. At first it may take several cuts to complete this. The flip
the skew 180 degrees and make the same cut on the other side of the
line. Do a few hundred of these and it suddenly becomes easy.

I also recommend with planing cuts that the tool be at 90 degrees to
the wood being cut. The slant of the cutting edge will give you the
angle you need to cut. This should be done with the heel down and
always cut below 1/2 way of the edge.

Then practice, practice, practice until it all becomes automatic. For
spindle turning, the skew is my main tool. But for coves, a spindle
gouge is the tool to use.

Fred Holder
http//www.morewoodturningmagazine.com

On Oct 25, 11:03*am, tom koehler
wrote:
Briefly, I've been using a lathe to make sawdust for 40 years. I'm
right-handed. I use scraping tools, but have some facility with spindle and
bowl gouges, and a hook. I make some of my own tools. The skew has always
been my nemesis.
Assorted arguments aside, regarding the pros and cons of the skew, I decided
to start practicing with a couple of new skew chisels and alternating left
and right hand techniques.
I have scrap softwood material, mainly 2x4 stuff and have decided to start
out on this stock and just the skew chisels - a 1 inch standard skew, and a
3/4 inch oval cross-section skew. The oval skew has a significantly flatter
bevel grind than the standard skew has.
I'm starting with turning a basic cylinder from square stock. I'm also
working on simple symmetrical beads of assorted sizes. Attempts at coves have
been unsatisfying so far.
I'm using both chisels, trying to learn the differences between them, and
also working on left-handed stances to complement my usual right-handed
stances.
On the basic cylindrical project, I am noticing very smooth surfaces on about
half the cylinder circumference and less smooth on the other half of the
circumference. I believe this to be perfectly analogous to the surface
quality of a planed board edge when going the "right" direction or the
"wrong" direction with the plane. In addition, the circularity of the
cylinder is affected by the alternating hard and soft grain in the wood.
Coves are the worst for me, so far. With no place for the bevel to rub, a
nice spiral catch is almost always the result, unless I make a small notch
first, to start my efforts. Somewhat similar to my turning a bowl, I must
start with a small scraped notch at the rim, so there is a place for me to
start the gouge.
None of these remarks is a complaint, just observations of my early efforts
in retraining myself. I am continuing to study assorted videos for technique,
as I become more aware of what my questions are. A turning club is out of the
question in a mainly rural area like mine.
The turning season is upon me, as my outdoor pursuits wind down, and so this
is what I am doing for now.

Just wanted to post this, as the board seemed pretty quiet except for the odd
spammers. Maybe new turners monitoring this board will be encouraged to
continue their learning, cuz an old fart is still trying and making his
messes.

tom koehler

--
I will find a way or make one.

my recent activity
 

On Thu, 25 Oct 2012 17:25:40 -0500, Fred Holder wrote
(in message
):

Welcome to the World of the Skew Tom,

My first observation is that 2X4 wood is not a good wood to practice
turning with the skew, or really with any tool.

well, yeah, it is not the best, but it is a good place to start, for me. it
is available and cheap, and I do actually make some stuff from pine and
spruce and fir. I do get a chance to see just what the tool does. Kind of
like the very wide lined paper we used in first grade when learning to print
with the big fat pencil. Will move on to some hard wood after a few more
board feet of pine have been reduced. (grin)

\Maple, Elm, fruit
woods, etc are much better for practice. Secondly, the skew must be
razor sharp to do the best turning. You should hone the edge until it
is razor sharp, i.e., will shave the hair on your arm.

I do appreciate a nice sharp edge and am attending to this with the equipment
I have. Am using the same sharpness criterion that I use on my gouges and
hook.


For initial practice, I recommend a short piece of timber, say less
than 12 inches long. This way there is no chance for the wood to bow
slightly as you near the center portion of the wood.

we are on the same page here. This also meshes nicely with my inner
cheapskate
Forget trying to
cut coves with a skew unless they are very wide and shallow.

well, this is a relief, thanks! I thought I was being very stupid and clumsy
with my initial efforts on this. I do have a couple of nice spindle gouges to
experiment with. Thanks for this tip.

To make beads, cut a small groove on each side of the bead to be,
actually, I like a small V-groove made by cutting from each side to
the center of the groove. Then mark the center of the space between
the two grooves. Using the heel of the skew, and placing the shaft
vertical to the wood just to the left of the mark and rotate the skew
with your right hand. The skew should then cut directly down into the
groove. At first it may take several cuts to complete this. The flip
the skew 180 degrees and make the same cut on the other side of the
line. Do a few hundred of these and it suddenly becomes easy.

I am working on this process now. Am also working on trying this with
left-handed and right-handed stances, to see if ambidexterity will help me
avoid awkward body positioning on half of the bead work. Since I have almost
no habitual body mechanics with the skew, learning a left-handed stance is
turning out to be no harder than learning the right-handed stance.


I also recommend with planing cuts that the tool be at 90 degrees to
the wood being cut. The slant of the cutting edge will give you the
angle you need to cut. This should be done with the heel down and
always cut below 1/2 way of the edge.

I am also working on this


Then practice, practice, practice until it all becomes automatic. For
spindle turning, the skew is my main tool. But for coves, a spindle
gouge is the tool to use.

Fred, thanks for your generous remarks and tips.

I have a wood burning stove in the living room, and I keep it supplied with
kindling. SWMBO likes the shavings, especially from bowl work, for mulching
her garden.

tom koehler


--
I will find a way or make one.

my recent activity
 

On Thu, 25 Oct 2012 15:04:55 -0500, G. Ross wrote
(in message ) :


Good to hear from you. I also have a couple of skews, oval and flat.
I also need to learn how to use them, but never have. Right now I
am turning tree ornaments using a spindle gouge to round the blank
then a bowl gouge to do the shaping.


Thanks for your response, G.R.
In the early stages of your ornament work, could I encourage you to try the
skews for rounding your blanks? At that stage, there are no mistakes, and you
will start learning about those chisels that are just colleting dust instead
of making shavings. being lighthearted here, and trying to encourage you to
stretch a little. (smiling, now)
tom koehler

--
I will find a way or make one.

my recent activity
 

On Thu, 25 Oct 2012 13:03:27 -0500, tom koehler
wrote:

Hey, Tom... Long time no type...
Confession time: After buying 2 dvds and taking a class I got pretty
good with a skew and could even get lucky and get a good edge on it
once in a while, and now I almost never use one...
I do very little spindle work, and when I do I find that instead of a
skew now my "go to" tool is usually the Woodchuck Bowl Pro..

I could NEVER get as good an edge on a skew as the carbide insert has,
or the precision...

With practice and a light touch, you can sstart sanding with 240 or
320 grit instead of the "80 grit gouge"..
Do a good turn for me, amigo..


Briefly, I've been using a lathe to make sawdust for 40 years. I'm
right-handed. I use scraping tools, but have some facility with spindle and
bowl gouges, and a hook. I make some of my own tools. The skew has always
been my nemesis.
Assorted arguments aside, regarding the pros and cons of the skew, I decided
to start practicing with a couple of new skew chisels and alternating left
and right hand techniques.
I have scrap softwood material, mainly 2x4 stuff and have decided to start
out on this stock and just the skew chisels - a 1 inch standard skew, and a
3/4 inch oval cross-section skew. The oval skew has a significantly flatter
bevel grind than the standard skew has.
I'm starting with turning a basic cylinder from square stock. I'm also
working on simple symmetrical beads of assorted sizes. Attempts at coves have
been unsatisfying so far.
I'm using both chisels, trying to learn the differences between them, and
also working on left-handed stances to complement my usual right-handed
stances.
On the basic cylindrical project, I am noticing very smooth surfaces on about
half the cylinder circumference and less smooth on the other half of the
circumference. I believe this to be perfectly analogous to the surface
quality of a planed board edge when going the "right" direction or the
"wrong" direction with the plane. In addition, the circularity of the
cylinder is affected by the alternating hard and soft grain in the wood.
Coves are the worst for me, so far. With no place for the bevel to rub, a
nice spiral catch is almost always the result, unless I make a small notch
first, to start my efforts. Somewhat similar to my turning a bowl, I must
start with a small scraped notch at the rim, so there is a place for me to
start the gouge.
None of these remarks is a complaint, just observations of my early efforts
in retraining myself. I am continuing to study assorted videos for technique,
as I become more aware of what my questions are. A turning club is out of the
question in a mainly rural area like mine.
The turning season is upon me, as my outdoor pursuits wind down, and so this
is what I am doing for now.

Just wanted to post this, as the board seemed pretty quiet except for the odd
spammers. Maybe new turners monitoring this board will be encouraged to
continue their learning, cuz an old fart is still trying and making his
messes.

tom koehler

my recent activity
 

On Fri, 26 Oct 2012 1:29:19 -0500, Mac Davis wrote
(in message ):

On Thu, 25 Oct 2012 13:03:27 -0500, tom koehler
wrote:

Hey, Tom... Long time no type...
Confession time: After buying 2 dvds and taking a class I got pretty
good with a skew and could even get lucky and get a good edge on it
once in a while, and now I almost never use one...
I do very little spindle work, and when I do I find that instead of a
skew now my "go to" tool is usually the Woodchuck Bowl Pro..

I could NEVER get as good an edge on a skew as the carbide insert has,
or the precision...

With practice and a light touch, you can sstart sanding with 240 or
320 grit instead of the "80 grit gouge"..
Do a good turn for me, amigo..



Thanks for your response, Mac.
Part of my interest in the skew is one of traditionalism and part of it is a
control issue. In an earlier era, the skew was the chief tool in turning,
even though it took more training and practice than scrapers. I feel that the
skew is a tool I need to learn to use, but I am not going to abandon the use
of scrapers, either. In the matter of control, I can control the quality of
the cutting edge on the skew, but can not control the quality of the cutting
edge with a carbide lathe tool, and when it goes bad I have to buy another
one. I do use carbide router bits, but I also have the ability to resharpen
them if need be... ditto for my carbide tipped circular saw blades.
For me, turning is more craft than art, and I want to develop a certain skill
set, which includes the skew.

Please know that I am not disagreeing with you. I'm just trying to show where
my head is at, right now, and what works for me.
tom koehler
--
I will find a way or make one.

my recent activity
 

On Fri, 26 Oct 2012 12:53:39 -0500, tom koehler
wrote:

I agree with you completely, Tom...
When I teach, the student masters the roughing gouge, bowl gouge and
scraper before touching a carbide tool..
I feel that if you know what all the traditional tools feel and sound
like, and what each one can and can't do, then you're ready to use
carbide to take the place of some turning jobs...
Much the same as I believe that the more you know about a car, the
better understanding you'll have when driving it... People that have
done a brake job use the brake pedal a little differently, etc...

Another tool I like is the Versa chisel:
http://www.pennstateind.com/store/LCVERSA3.html

Sort of a combo skew/gouge/scraper, it takes a bit of practice but
it's a great tool for spindle work and for the outside of bowls and
cups..


On Fri, 26 Oct 2012 1:29:19 -0500, Mac Davis wrote
(in message ):

On Thu, 25 Oct 2012 13:03:27 -0500, tom koehler
wrote:

Hey, Tom... Long time no type...
Confession time: After buying 2 dvds and taking a class I got pretty
good with a skew and could even get lucky and get a good edge on it
once in a while, and now I almost never use one...
I do very little spindle work, and when I do I find that instead of a
skew now my "go to" tool is usually the Woodchuck Bowl Pro..

I could NEVER get as good an edge on a skew as the carbide insert has,
or the precision...

With practice and a light touch, you can sstart sanding with 240 or
320 grit instead of the "80 grit gouge"..
Do a good turn for me, amigo..



Thanks for your response, Mac.
Part of my interest in the skew is one of traditionalism and part of it is a
control issue. In an earlier era, the skew was the chief tool in turning,
even though it took more training and practice than scrapers. I feel that the
skew is a tool I need to learn to use, but I am not going to abandon the use
of scrapers, either. In the matter of control, I can control the quality of
the cutting edge on the skew, but can not control the quality of the cutting
edge with a carbide lathe tool, and when it goes bad I have to buy another
one. I do use carbide router bits, but I also have the ability to resharpen
them if need be... ditto for my carbide tipped circular saw blades.
For me, turning is more craft than art, and I want to develop a certain skill
set, which includes the skew.

Please know that I am not disagreeing with you. I'm just trying to show where
my head is at, right now, and what works for me.
tom koehler

my recent activity
 

On Fri, 26 Oct 2012 23:08:19 -0700, Mac Davis wrote:

Another tool I like is the Versa chisel:
http://www.pennstateind.com/store/LCVERSA3.html

Sort of a combo skew/gouge/scraper, it takes a bit of practice but it's
a great tool for spindle work and for the outside of bowls and cups..

Looks like a lower cost version of the Sorby SpindleMaster:

http://www.robert-sorby.co.uk/spindlemaster.htm

--
When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and
carrying a cross.

my recent activity
 

On Sat, 27 Oct 2012 16:52:35 +0000 (UTC), Larry Blanchard
wrote:

On Fri, 26 Oct 2012 23:08:19 -0700, Mac Davis wrote:

Another tool I like is the Versa chisel:
http://www.pennstateind.com/store/LCVERSA3.html

Sort of a combo skew/gouge/scraper, it takes a bit of practice but it's
a great tool for spindle work and for the outside of bowls and cups..

Looks like a lower cost version of the Sorby SpindleMaster:

http://www.robert-sorby.co.uk/spindlemaster.htm

Exactly, Larry....