Max. spindle diameter for using a skew?

[Ron Bontz]

This may have been asked before. But what is the generally accepted max. spindle dia. for using a skew? (not as a scraper) I use a robust comfort rest. So I can only raise it so high. I've noticed I do much better with smaller spindles. The same with the Bedan as well. I thought in one of Lacer's videos he mentioned 3" or less. Yes?

[charlie knighton]

i would not use it to take bark off

[Michelle Rich]

I don't believe there is a mx diam for a skew..as you suggest it has to do with your equipment heights & other issues. A skew is a skew , and it works at it's parameters. It's your height of entry, not the skew itself

[Dale Miner]

As for max. diameter, don't think there is one. For the heck of it, I've done the final passes on the outside of a few bowls in the 8" range. As the diameter gets larger, the sweet spot of the skew gets smaller, and the margin for error gets smaller. Above 3" for me, the concentration required is more trouble than saving one grit of sandpaper.

[Thom Sturgill]

I was watching a demonstration on metal spinning yesterday and there was quite a bit of discussion of the forces applied to the tool from a spinning object. The forces are tangent to the point of contact. Spinners keep the tool in the lower quadrant to pull the tool into the center. With a normal gouge you want the forces pushing the tool down into the tool rest so you cut at the centerline. With a skew, depending on cut, you want the forces pushing the skew away from the wood so you cut high or even on top of the spindle. How high you can raise your rest therefore does create a limit on the diameter you can use to make certain cuts..

[Gary Max]

Someone give Thom a cigar------if used properly. there is no Max diameter for using a skew.

[Luke Townsley]

There may be no max diameter for using a skew, but you will WISH there was, the first time you get a catch with that skew! I have gotten my worst catches trying that. I have tried it several times on bowls in the 5-7" range and will probably never do it again.

I can do basically the same thing coming in sideways with a fingernail ground detail gouge and, so far, I haven't had a bad catch doing that, and it is more versatile giving me more flexibility making that final cut. The finish may not be quite as fine as with a skew, but it is very close.

i agree, the skew makes a wonderful finish if you can get it to work, but it is just too easy to catch the corner of the skew in your bowl. When that happens, it digs in deep and causes bad things to happen.

I will agree there are a lot of variables to this equation including work size, skew size, rest height and so on. I'm not saying it is never a valid technique. I just don't want somebody to send a piece of bowl through their ribs trying this without thinking it through first.

[Roger Chandler]

I have gotten my worst catches trying that. I have tried it several times on bowls in the 5-7" range and will probably never do it again..

Using a skew on a bowl form :eek: is just asking for trouble....:eek:......it wasn't made for that...........maybe as a negative rake scraper, but there are much more safe and effective tools to use on a bowl form............I shudder at the thought! :eek:

[Thom Sturgill]

You can get the same quality cut on a bowl with a bowl gouge. Keep the handle low and behind the point. The flute is about 7:30 or so if cutting to the left, 4:30 or so if cutting to the right. Start with the bevel rubbing but edge not touching and control the cut not by raising the handle, but by rotating the flute counter-clock wise (cutting left). The further you rotate the deeper the cut. rotate clock-wise (cutting left) to come out of the cut. The shavings should be long and thin, hair like. This is a true shear cut, not a scrape.

And by the way - I gave up smoking in '87.

[robert baccus]

Minumum dia.--------------about 1/16"---------------old forester