Skew

[Rich Stewart]

Ok, I keep hearing people say how the skew is their favorite tool. All I ever get is catches with it unless I am using it as a scraper. I have an old book on turning and I tried to learn something from that but still only getting catches. Forget who the author is but he is a british guy that says stuff like "cut the wood as the wood wishes to be cut" and "Rest near, stand clear..." stuff like that. A little hard for me to understand as it has a lot of hand drawn diagrams and such. So, where can I learn more about this thing they call a skew?

Rich

[Dario Octaviano]

Allan Lacer video :)

http://www.woodturnerscatalog.com/catalog/videos.html?iorb=4764

Skew is for spindles...can be used for other stuff but that is inviting trouble unless you really mastered it.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Richard......I've not seen the Alan Lacer videos but I've heard the videos and his skews are great!

I had watched the Richard Raffan videos and he uses the skew quite well. I had also heard a lot of the turners here refer to it as the evil skew. But....some really like it. So I decided to learn to use it. I have spent several Saturdays just "wasting" wood to learn to use my skew. My skew is just a standard 3/4" Robert Larson skew. It's ground to the traditional bevel and angle. After spending a lot of hours using it, it has become my most used tool.

On slimline pens....that's the only tool I use.

Roughing out a cylinder.....use the skew....

The neat thing about using the skew ...if you ride the bevel while using it, sanding is almost not needed.

Note, I tried using Frank's skew while I was in Illinois at Christmas. I didn't have as good a luck with his ....his is an oval skew...mine is a rectangular with the sharp corners ground off but still rectangular.

A lot of my bottlestoppers all I use is a skew.

Note.....I keep my skew exceptionally sharp and use the Wolverine jig to keep the angle and bevel constant.......it takes practice.

[Frank Kobilsek]

Rich
Since Ken came to visit I've been practicing. His ideas on sharpening helped, larger included angle. I can go right to left with confidence but left to right is scarey. I am just doing planing cuts, no coves or facing of end grain. I figure small steps and I'll get it. Books, video did not help but one on one at the lathe seemed to turn the light on, dim as it is.

I have hated the skew but I know it will be valuable if I can master it.

Frank

[Gordon Seto]

Allan Batty also has an excellent DVD on skew. Books are not a good medium to learn because when using a skew, the motions are several actions simultaneously. You have to roll, lift and turn in one smooth motion at the same time. Whenever you lose bevel, you will have a catch.

Nick Cook said every skew has a built-in number of catches; you have to use them up.

Gordon

[Jonathon Spafford]

For regular planing cuts just make sure the skew is sharp, make sure the bevel angle is 45 degrees to the rest, and make sure you are rubbing your bevel. It is a wonderful tool once you get the hang of it. Rolling beads is no different except that you just got to make sure that you don't roll your bevel off the surface as you make the cut or you'll get a pretty little spiral.

[Mike Vickery]

The Lancer video I watched (can't remember which one) is really good. But to me if you have been turning any amount of time you have the basic information you need to use the skew (rub the bevel, rub the bevel, rub the bevel).
Practice is the only thing you really need. I made almost nothing but pens for my first couple years turning and so I got pretty good with the planing cut. I do not do very much spindel work so if you ask me to make a bead with a skew I will show you how to cut threads with skew.

[Bob Opsitos]

Rich one of the ways I came to like the skew was to use it on pens. I had a crown 1/2" skew and when attempting to use it on any thing larger than a pen blank; it was a mess. After getting confortable there I found that I was better able to use it for larger size cylinders.

HTH
Bob

[Rich Stewart]

Thanks fellas. I found a place (Smartflix.com) that rents videos about wood turning. and I rented the Alan Lacer dvd. Can't afford to buy one for 35 bucks and watch it once. 10 bucks to rent. I'll check it out then do some practicing and let you all know how i make out.

Rich

[Bill Boehme]

Forget who the author is but he is a British guy that says stuff like "cut the wood as the wood wishes to be cut"......
My thought about that statement is that most wood does not wish to be cut -- so there! And making a statement using catchy phrases like that certainly isn't helpful when you didn't even suspect that the wood was interested in being cut. I would suggest hooking up with a turner in your area for some one-on-one tutoring -- reading about it is almost useless -- watching a video is a bit better -- having someone show you how to use the skew and guide you along is the real way to do it.

Bill

[Dario Octaviano]

-- reading about it is almost useless --


Bill,

I learned on my own from Raffan's books and I've used all my tools that way.

I did watch Bill G's and Ellsworth video and learned the bowl gouge shear scraping that way but that is it.

So to say "it is almost useless" is not accurate from my point of view and I beg to differ.

I agree that having someone to show you will be much better though.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Ditto what Dario said. There are some of us out here in the sticks that are 300 miles or more away from any kind of turning school. All of the turners here in my neck of the woods and I mean all 3 of them are not as far along as I am. One supposedly has been turning for 3 yrs. and I am not impressed. So finding someone to learn from is not a opition here either. Everything I have learned has been reading and video's. Richard Raffan's and Alan Lacer's video's of using the skew are the best I have seen. I did buy Raffans skew and wouldn't be without it. I can honestly say it is my favorite tool. By the way I have learned a lot here at SMC.

[Bill Boehme]

Let me clarify what I said. I also learned to use a skew and other tools by reading and watching videos, but I spent so much more time learning than I would have spent had I utilized some personal instruction which was available and free right in my own turning club. Learning a mechinical skill by reading certainly can be done, but it is far from the best way. I suppose that I also could have learned to play golf by reading ..... maybe. Nothing beat personal instruction.

Bernie, I spent two years in Kansas ....... what woods are you talking about ;). All that I remember is wheat fields and wind (lots of both).

Bill

[George Tokarev]

Ok, I keep hearing people say how the skew is their favorite tool. All I ever get is catches with it unless I am using it as a scraper. I have an old book on turning and I tried to learn something from that but still only getting catches. Forget who the author is but he is a british guy that says stuff like "cut the wood as the wood wishes to be cut" and "Rest near, stand clear..." stuff like that. A little hard for me to understand as it has a lot of hand drawn diagrams and such. So, where can I learn more about this thing they call a skew?

Rich

Ah yes, Frank Pain, the old bodger whose "instructions mean just what they say." In the book, you'll probably notice a couple of things about the skew. First, it's used point down for planing, which makes it consistent with gouge use. Chapter three, first illustration. Second, is that it's used point up only downhill.

I prefer a straight chisel to a skew for beading and rounding, even planing. Easier to use, fine surface left behind. Same principle as the Bedan applies to the single-side chisel, though the double side or "beading" tool can also be used, as long as care is exercised. It requires high angles like double-sided skews. Which is why they used to make single-sided skews for left or right directions for planing. Long bevel made a consistent and thin shaving easier to take.

Take one of your thin scrapers, if you don't use scrapers much, and grind it as a chisel. Single bevel, almost twice as long as the tool is thick. Then try it as the old bodger shows. You'll love it. Reaches in between close beads easily, and using the heel, as he shows, will make a roundover you can see yourself in.

Don't beat yourself up if you don't have to. Try an alternate, and in many ways superior tool to do the same job. Now if you're turning chair legs as piecework and want consistent thickness, maybe you'll want to try the skew as in that illustration.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Bernie, I spent two years in Kansas ....... what woods are you talking about ;). All that I remember is wheat fields and wind (lots of both).

Bill

You better clarify yourself. I also taught myself to play golf and I am proud to say a 10 handicapper.:p ;) I don't think it really matters how we learn. You just use the methods that are available to you.

Bill I live out in western Kansas on I-70 in Goodland. We have 3 tree's out here in our forest.:eek: :rolleyes:

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Bill I live out in western Kansas on I-70 in Goodland. We have 3 tree's out here in our forest.:eek: :rolleyes:[/quote]

And all 3 are nervous since Bernie acquired a chain saw and learned to turn!

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Rich.....If you want some examples of what I do with my skew....go look at the 3 bottlestoppers I put up for the St. Judes auction ......the 1st and 3rd ones were done with just a skew. I can even make slightly...I repeat....slightly concave coves with my skew without changing directions. Using a skew is just like a lot of other turning skills...it takes a sharp tool and practice.

[John Hart]

I learned how to use my skew from Bill Stevener. He didn't show me anything...but offered helpful hints in that subtle way he does. Little things like, "it's the point of things" really helped.....Not to mention many many hours and a ton of destroyed wood, like Ken Fitzgerald, dedicated to learning how to use the dang thing. I have two skews...One is carbon steel with a rectangular shaft...the other is HSS with an oval shaft. I learned the rectangular one fairly quickly, but the oval gave me fits. These days, I use the oval almost exclusively and have learned to use the oval shape to make more graceful moves as I travel through the outside of a bowl or vase. I've become comfortable with it and rarely experience a catch these days.

[Bill Boehme]

Rich,

If it will make you feel better, I saw Alan Lacer have a skate while using the skew during a demo -- and NO, he was not demonstrating how skates happen -- at least, not on purpose.

Sometimes when I fool myself into thinking that I am really good with a skew, I will have a day where it looks like I am using it to chase threads.

Bill