Just wondering how many of you use the skew, in a planing cut during spindle work and also for cutting coves and beads, using the planing method.
I have been turning for a long time, never read any books and got by real good. Now after researching the subject, I find it hard to change my ways. I normally use a rough gouge for final finish on a spindle and a spindle gouge for the coves and beads.
Replies
I use a skew on tapers and any part without a bulge or cove. i also use one to do shoulders. I am carefull not to do too much with it since I have heard horror stories about what can happen if you are note carefull. So far, so good.
Like you I am self taught on a wood lathe; read a book and just turned to so I dont know if I am doing it "right" or not. The results seem to be ok. I often wonder how many turners get away with very little sanding. Usually I will use a 3-4 part sanding method starting with a course piece of belt from my sanding station ( AA120) to form the piece then work down to a final pass of 220 and a buff with a worn piece of 3M Scotch Brite. Is this a standard practice? I have been wanting to ask this question for a long time but always seem to forget to
Wicked Decent Woodworks
(oldest woodworking shop in NH)
Rochester NH
" If the women dont find you handsome, they should at least find you handy........yessa!"
I use the skew for final smoothing and pummels mostly. I turn a bead with several tools. Mostly a parting tool, sometimes a spindle gouge, usually what ever I have in my hand if it's appropiate. I had a few scary catches when I started turning, Keith Rowlands book helped me immensely. Keith mentions in his book to think of the skew as a handplane, this information and a bit of practice reduced my catches to once in a great while.
mike
Mike,
I tried the skew last night to plane as a final cut on some curly Cherry, after rounding a 4 x 4 block with the roughing gouge. I tried two skews, one made of rectangular high speed steel and the other from oval high speed steel. I sharpened really well and the results were not very good.
I got a nice shiny smooth surface in some places, ridges in others and lost the nice straight profile of the turning in the process.
Either it's the curly Cherry, or I need a lot more practice?
Finishing with the roughing gouge, nice and sharp, riding the bevel leaves me a surface needing only a little sanding.
Go with the roughing gouge, whatever gives you a good finish will work. Some woods do not smooth well with a skew. Curly cherry might be one.
mike
I use a skew for sizing and smoothing spindles, but not too often for cutting coves or beads. I use a roughing gouge to go from square stock to "mostly round," then switch to the skew to bring the spindle to size.
I'm mostly self-taught, and perhaps I've taught myself a bad habit when using a skew chisel. I tend to hold it in one hand at the top of the handle, and with my other hand hold the spindle, with my thumb sticking out and resting against the (blunt!) edge of the skew. The hand on the spindle reduces the spindle from wobbling, and the thumb pressing against the skew is kind of like using two hands on a plane to plane off wood. It's comfortable and I find that I can readily smooth a spindle down to a smooth cylinder to about +/-0.01" along the length.
I don't think that this grip is risking the skew chisel slicing my hand off, because I am careful about which way the business side of the chisel is pointing, and taking care to rest the chisel bevel against the work.
Jelly, If you can cut coves with a skew send me a video <g> It certainly will be an action packed movie , possibly a thriller!!!!Seriously, do some reading but better yet, get someone to demonstrate it live.It requires a 3D view to illustrate the combination of moves to roll a bead.However the finish is great,in a hardwood such as rosewood or maple the surface is burnished.Planing cuts in wood with a curl such as cherry are not as good but a very sharp skew and a fairly fast speed and the finish is good.An interesting party piece is to use a really sharp and polished axe to do planing cuts with.Though I have yet to roll a bead successfully
LOL,
The thriller on the lathe is nothing, wait until I tell you what I do with a shaper.
How hard do you swing the axe, when making the planing cut? I have lots of pen blanks for you to practice with, send me your PO Box number.
Jelly, Pen blanks are cheating they have a mandrel .My two goals in turning are; a lace bobbin with the axe and a lidded urn out of a grain of long grain rice.Has turning made me obsessive? Could be ;-)
How hard do you swing the axe
I place in on the wood and hit it with a hammer!
Well Jellyrug---I know for sure balluster type chair legs can be turned with a skew and do not require any sanding. I took a windsor chairmaking class with Curtis Buchannan a few years ago so I could learn the carving details for the knuckles and volutes on the ears of a comb back windsor. While I focused on the carving, Curtis turned the undercarriage parts for my chair.
He would rough out with the gouge and complete the turning with the skew. He kept the skew surgically sharp. Turn one leg and hone the skew. He had ground a slight curve along the cutting edge(from toe to heel) and resharpened the bevel to a very keen edge. I did not put the first piece of sandpaper on those turnings-----all I had to do was apply finish to them. There are no visible knife marks from the turning process. Believe it or not, but I have the chair to bear witness to it. The man has mastered the skew.
BTW I used ash for the undercarriage parts.
Regards, Jerry
Edited 3/23/2005 7:56 pm ET by walnutjerry
Hi Jellyrug, I use the skew but not for coves. Use what you are comfortable with and what you can sharpen well. It is hard to beat a skew for detail work but many are unwilling to risk a catch on fine objects such as a finial. Bob
I love the skew, but even a well loved pet can bite if misshandled. A well sharpened skew can do most cuts except coves better than any other tool. It can produce the smoothest surface, and in the process give the operator the greatest pleasure. For me the most frequent snags occur when forming beads. I'll sometimes use a gouge for safety on a bead, although it can't do as smooth a job.
I'd strongly urge the beginner to practice extensively with the skew. Most of the books speak of laying the bevel against the work surface, but that is only the starting point. There must be a clearance angle for any cutting tool to work, and that requires gently lifting the bevel from the surface until the edge begins to cut. Some say that turning tools don't need to be honed. The skew, however, does .
Good luck!
Tom
Jellyrug, If you are intrested in some instruction with the Skew,Alan Lacer has 2 vidios out on the Skew. I have not seen the tapes but I know Alan and he is a Very good Teacher and does marvles with the Skew. I would saw his vidios would be very good if you are intrested.
http://www.alanlacer.com/Videos.html
You can do wonderfull work with a Skew once you learn it and now be afraid of it. you can all of a sudden have a threaded part that's not supposed to have threads also!
good luck KK
If you get good results don't change.
I use an oval skew for planing short tapers, large vase shapes such as those on tripod tables, and very large beads. I don't even try it on coves. On small beads I use either a gouge or a little triangular shaped tool sold by Woodcraft some years ago. That tool has now been replaced by the Skewchigouge. For long tapers, I use my block plane. It may sound odd to use a plane on the lathe, but it works very well, because it is immune, to the barber pole effect, caused by stock whip, and if finely set leaves a surface that needs only minor sanding. Of course it leaves some skew work to do at the ends of the taper. I'll stoop to anything that gets the turning smooth and crisp, like files, scraping, and the block plane, but I never rely on heavy sanding, it just looks mushy. Once in a great while I'll use 180 grit, but mostly 220/320.
Rob Millard
That tool has now been replaced by the Skewchigouge.
Rob, can you tell us more about the "skewchigouge?" ever since I first saw one I have wondered how they work.
I don't do much turning lately, but there was a time when it seemed I was doing nothing but tables. I use a skew for everythig I can on spindles: planing, short and long tapers and curves, beads, shoulders, sometimes coves, and even roughing when I'm feeling froggy. I saw a demo a few years back of roughiing with a skew and it caught my attention.
The key on beads and coves seems to be cutting with the very heel of the skew, and keeping the bevel firmly in contact with the wood.
Mike Darlow, in his book, "The Practice of Woodturning" has an excellent treatment of rolling cuts with a skew. That's what got me using it for as much as I can. It gives the fastest, cleanest cuts by far with the least disruption of the surface. I thought I could turn a little before I got that book, but his tips brought my work up a couple of large steps. I stilll get the occasional snag, but seldom on finishing cuts. The time it saves is a big factor, but I have to admit I'm a sucker for a challenge, too.
I try to do table legs in this sequence: Rough to size, layout and use parting tool to set diameters, big skew for everthing I possibly can, little skew, detail gouges, part off with skew using shoulder v-cuts. I try not to have to pick up any tool twice except at the end. I'm curious how other people approach spindles. When I was going good, I could go from a 3 1/2" square, 30 inch blank to a ready to finish, fully turned leg in less than 30 minutes. I suspect that's kind of slow for someone who turns a lot of spindles by hand, but it's about half the time it used to take me before I started using a skew a lot more.
Michael R
Wiz,
Do you use an oval, or a straight skew and also do you grind the skew angle at 70 degrees, with a straight or curved cutting edge? Do you use 1 1/14"?
I tried some planing cuts again and must admit the excellent finish is tempting. Calls for a lot of practice and concentration though if one is not used to this type of turning.
Rob's block plane idea sound good and safe. I'll have to try this.
I just have a 1" and a 1/2", both with the edges rounded off. If I had it to do over again, I would really like to try a 1 1/4" oval. When you want to remove a lot of material fast, the larger the tool, the better, It seems.
Grind is just a standard grind, straight edge. Haven't really experimented with a curved edge.
The plane works fine for finishing cuts, but I've never found the need. I just hold the skew so as to present as long an edge as I safely can to the work and go fairly slow on the last pass or two.
The remark about concentration is right on. That's why I hate to go back and forth between gouges when I'm trying to get things done. I always pay for it when my concentration lapses with the skew. It's kind of like the difference between a race car and a regular car. A skew does some things faster and better, but it's much less forgiving than the other tools. I guess that's why I like it. It's also kind of (dare I say it?) sensual, like a well tuned plane.
MIchael R
Jellyrug -
I no turning expert by any means let alone a master of the skew chisel. But I do use it for a lot of spindle work. Plus in scraping mode it's the tool of (my) choice for creating shoulders for lidded boxes and such. You can't beat the finish of a well sharpened skew and its planing cut.
Don't use it much for coves or beads - I read a tip in Wood Turner Pro magazine where a guy showed a small spindle gouge ground to a long taper for reaching into tight places. Works really well.
From Beautiful Skagit Co. Wa.
Dennis
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