Is this a skew ?

[Jim King]

Before I start the contest project please can someone confirm if this is a skew or not ? It sure makes me feel better to know that I am not the only lost turner who doesnt know what he is working with.

[tod evans]

nope, here`s a pic of a few...02 tod

44797

[Jim King]

Tod:

Are you saying that a skew has to have a flat end-no curve ?

[Chris Barton]

Hi Jim,

Your model is close but, a skew have a double sided bevel. Yours is more closely related to a scraper.

[tod evans]

jim, there are radiused edge skews on the market but the radius isn`t that pronounced. and unlike a scraper a skew is ground on both sides....at least as far as i know? .02 tod

[Raymond Overman]

Generally it has two opposing bevels that meet at a sharp edge. There are straight skews, angled skews, and skews with rounded sharp edges. Your example is more like a scraper than a skew.

Hope that helps.

[Jim Becker]

Jim, there are skews with straight edges and skews with a radius. While yours is "really radiused", I suppose it could qualify as a skew since it's flat, but there is that double bevel thing... But I'm not running (nor participating...) in the contest!

[Jim King]

I think I´m skewed. That is as close as I can come. I haver tried a bevel from both sides.

[Jim Underwood]

I'd say that is a round nosed scraper.

As the fellows say, a skew has a double bevel.

A skew can have a radius on the cutting edge, but it will still have double bevel. Some say (like Alan Lacer) that a rounded edge doesn't catch as easily. I prefer (as does Nick Cook) a straight edge on my skew.

[Don Baer]

I think I´m skewed. That is as close as I can come. I haver tried a bevel from both sides.

Jim,
Just flop it over and put a bevel on the flat side and you should be good to go.

[Jim King]

I think I understand what you said. That being said I guess all we have ever used is scrapers. I will have to wait for the homemade tool contest for one tool that is homemade .

[Jim King]

Don: That sounds like how my wife sharpens the kitchen knives but I will try it.

[Mike Vickery]

I would think by definition a "skew" would need to have one side longer than the other . Or in other words a long point and a short point.

[Jim King]

Mike: No problem with each side being different, we could never get them the same. Going to make my first skew, I will be back in a few minutes.

[Andy Hoyt]

For the sake of arguement, because that's the kind of mood I'm in today:

Why does a skew have to have a bevel on both sides?

Why couldn't you put the tradtional bevel on just one side and carry it all the way through?

Of course it would mean that it's only good for cutting in one direction and you'd have to have a whole 'nuther tool for cutting in that other direction, but so what? More tools are fun!

I'm sitting here trying to visualize such a tool and I think it would work.

[Mike Vickery]

Just to be clear I was not talking about the bevels but the profile of the blade. I have read about 20 degrees from the long point to the short point is about right.

long point-
|\
| \ _ Short point
| |
| |

Got to love the asci art!

Dictionary definition of skew -To turn or place at an angle

[Mike Vickery]

For the sake of arguement, because that's the kind of mood I'm in today:

Why does a skew have to have a bevel on both sides?

Why couldn't you put the tradtional bevel on just one side and carry it all the way through?

Of course it would mean that it's only good for cutting in one direction and you'd have to have a whole 'nuther tool for cutting in that other direction, but so what? More tools are fun!

I'm sitting here trying to visualize such a tool and I think it would work.

I agree it would work but it seems silly to not make the tool as versatile as possible. I do not see anything that you would be gaining by doing this but I do see you loseing something.
http://www.toolpost.co.uk/system/index.html
This link shows several skew profiles and as long as you have a long and short point I believe it would be defined as a skew.

[Jim King]

OK guys please someone say this is a skew I can start on the project. If this is now OK I still don´t understand why you would sharpen both sides. Everything is ground or beveled but the handle.

[Chris Barton]

OK guys please someone say this is a skew I can start on the project. If this is now OK I still don´t understand why you would sharpen both sides. Everything is ground or beveled but the handle.

Jim,

Since I am the funding body for this event, I hereby grant your "Frankentool" Skewdom. A very unusual skew but esentially a skew none the less.

[Jim King]

Chris:

Thanks, now we will see what the little beast will do.

Jim

[Frank Fusco]

OK guys please someone say this is a skew I can start on the project. If this is now OK I still don´t understand why you would sharpen both sides. Everything is ground or beveled but the handle.

Not wanting to 'skew' yew :rolleyes: . But that makeshift switch on your grinder looks like an overheat and short trying to happen.

[Chris Barton]

Jim, it looks more like a scraper to me. A skew is faceted on both faces. Looking at the cutting edge, you see a "V". They may be straight, or curved, but the cutting edge is askew (angled less than 90 degrees) to the axis of the tool.

Don't know if that makes sense or not.

Bruce

Hi Bruce,

From looking at his latest picture it would appear that the cutting edge is beveled on both sides. While being round nosed it does otherwise appear "skew-like." Who knows, maybe there is a new innovation in the shape he has chosen here. It might eventually be known as the "King Katchless Skew" since it doesn't have a point and that's the whole point of a radiused skew...:rolleyes:

[Bill Boehme]

A skew traditionally has a total bevel angle of 40 degrees -- that is about the same as the angle of most knives -- this angle is measured between the bevel on each side. Also, the skew angle typically runs 20 to 30 degrees from a piece of metal that would be square across the end. The tool that you pictured looks as though the bevel angle at the front is around 70 degrees -- measured between the bevel and the top surface. I have a round nosed scraper in my arsenal that looks a lot like the tool pictured. Also the way that you hold the two tools is considerably different. A skew is used for spindle turning and rides high above centerline and makes a slicing cut. A scraper is is used for faceplate turning and is held approximately at centerline and points straight at the wood. I could tell you about cutting threads with the skew, but that's another story.

Bill

[Raymond Overman]

Jim,

I think you now have a skew. One thing you may want to look at is reworking it a little so you have a longer bevel on both sides. That will allow you to "ride the bevel" on the spindle work. Of course, this is coming from a blind perspective since I am by no means a skew expert. (Give me a couple of weeks though and like most everything, I'll be an authority :eek:)

[Andy Hoyt]

Well - I like Jim's Frankenskew. If it works there's one thing he'll achieve with that thing better than I could with my grinds - a deeper and shorter cove.

[Bill Boehme]

OK guys please someone say this is a skew I can start on the project. If this is now OK I still don´t understand why you would sharpen both sides. Everything is ground or beveled but the handle.

I think that what you now have is a "negative rake scraper". Put a sharper bevel on the tool and also have a long point on one side and a short point on the other. See the illustration.

Bill

[Chris Barton]

I think that what you now have is a "negative rake scraper". Put a sharper bevel on the tool and also have a long point on one side and a short point on the other. See the illustration.

Bill

What Jim has here is a file stuck into a steel pipe and made into his best effort to replicate a skew and participate in this contest, ingenuity and effort that I find admirable. And, like I said earlier, as the sole contributor to the prize, chairman of the rules committee and organizer of the contest, I have bestowed upon it "skew status." It's in.:)

[Don Baer]

What Jim has here is a file stuck into a steel pipe and made into his best effort to replicate a skew and participate in this contest, ingenuity and effort that I find admirable. And, like I said earlier, as the sole contributor to the prize, chairman of the rules committee and organizer of the contest, I have bestowed upon it "skew status." It's in.:)


Yea for Chris, I agree.

[tod evans]

Yea for Chris, I agree.


me too for what it`s worth...02 tod

[Dick Strauss]

Jim,
You might want to give these skew videos a quick review. I haven't watched them but thought they might be a good review.

http://www.turnwood.net/videos.html

Good luck,
Dick

[Dennis Peacock]

Yup Jim....that looks a LOT more like a skew to me as well. Good show!!!!!!

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Well done Jim! I sure hate the thought of competing with you and your experience and skills! Well done!

[Jim Becker]

But that makeshift switch on your grinder looks like an overheat and short trying to happen.

True, it ain't pretty and isn't something most would do, but Jim lives in the jungle...literally...and you sometimes have to make do with what you have available. There's no Home Depot down the road. In fact, there's no road!

[Joe Fisher]

OK guys please someone say this is a skew I can start on the project. If this is now OK I still don´t understand why you would sharpen both sides. Everything is ground or beveled but the handle.
I will say it's a "skew-like object" at this point :)

I think the biggest problem is the fact that you have a complete radius on the tool. It could lead to some horrific catches. I'll make a picture to explain why in a sec...

-Joe

[Joe Fisher]

Ok, here's what I mean:

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b162/nostalgia75/Turning/skew.gif

See how on the Lacer tool the radius on the edge is less than a quarter circle? The Frankenskew's radius continues past 90 degrees, and I think that's where the problem is (and why you can't really call it a skew anymore. A skew chisel is, well, skewed in one direction).

Imagine you're planing a spindle left-to-right with the Frankenskew. If you were to cut with the top half of the tool, you'd have a nasty catch. So by grinding the tool like this, you've basically eliminated 50% of the cutting edge that you can use.

Hope that helps,

-Joe

[Frank Fusco]

True, it ain't pretty and isn't something most would do, but Jim lives in the jungle...literally...and you sometimes have to make do with what you have available. There's no Home Depot down the road. In fact, there's no road!

I understand the jungle bit. Jim has been kind enough to send me much information about local lore I am incorporating into the latest novel I am writing. It was a friendly jab. Should have included a smiley or two. :rolleyes: :) ;) or three or more. :D

[Joe Fisher]

Why does a skew have to have a bevel on both sides? I would argue that it doesn't. It only has to be skewed to be a skew. Our skews have two bevels so they can be used in either direction.


Why couldn't you put the tradtional bevel on just one side and carry it all the way through? You can, and it works just fine. A blacksmith friend of mine made exactly that, and I used it on a treadle lathe. Worked just like a skew.


More tools are fun! Amen, brother! :D

-Joe

[Chris Barton]

I think the question of what is a skew in this context applies to the contest. Another thread could be started regarding the semantics and philosophical considerations of just what is a skew and if a roughing gouge is nothing more than a single bevel, negative rake, simicircular forged skew.;)

[Joe Fisher]

Ia roughing gouge is nothing more than a single bevel, negative rake, simicircular forged skew.
Well, duh :) hehehehe

My point was not to say that Jim's tool cannot be called a skew, just that the design of that edge is going to be wickedly hard to use, and basically wastes half the tool. Just trying to help the fella grind his way to skewing Nirvana :D

-Joe

[Bill Boehme]

Why does a skew have to have a bevel on both sides?

Why couldn't you put the tradtional bevel on just one side and carry it all the way through?

Of course it would mean that it's only good for cutting in one direction and you'd have to have a whole 'nuther tool for cutting in that other direction, but so what? More tools are fun!

I have a pair of small "flounder" skews -- one for RH cuts and the other for LH cuts.

Bill

[Wally Wenzel]

when i first turned back in the fortys there were right and left skews sharpened or beveled on one side only. Wally

[Jim King]

Joe: I gues I can understand peoples questions about the Frankenskew but some of the tools I see on the internet sites look a bit scary to me. Especially the price. Its all in what you have and get used to.

[Chris Barton]

when i first turned back in the fortys there were right and left skews sharpened or beveled on one side only. Wally

Could you tell us more about your experiences about these tools Wally?