Kind of a silly revelation to have but still....

[Joshua Dinerstein]

So I was out in the garage tonight putting in my requisite skew practice. Coming along nicely BTW... I have played with about 70% of 2x2 stock and started to get some seriously nice burnished surfaces regardless of what cut I am working on. Well the planing cut still leaves me a little uneven but I will keep working at it. Oh, and it is almost time to grind my skew again. Alan Lacer's comments about removing the hollow grind through honing are now very clear to me. I can see it happening and it is cool to see first hand and actually understand what he meant. (I will see if I can take a picture that shows it and post it up here...)

But I had worked my first spindle of the night into a cylinder and then done V-cuts and turned them into beads. I was thinking about what to do with it next. Peel it down as I have done in the past to start with a smaller diameter cylinder or ??? When I thought I would try switching over to my fingernail ground spindle gouge and see if I could make some coves with it. I had been using it for about 10 minutes when I had the DUH! moment.

Practice really is the key with turning. Here I was actively practicely with the skew to try and "master" it. Why wasn't I doing the same thing with the spindle gouge?!!? I had had all these nasty spirals and catches when trying to turn something real a few months ago so I start playing with edges and cuts and trying to see what I could do to smooth the cuts.

Since I was still using the super soft 2x2 pine practice blank, with my safe-driver center, it was really interesting. No fear of catches or of ruining something real. If I used the tool "wrong" I would get just a seriously shredded surface. Use it right and sliced rather than ____ (fill in the blank here...) and it was a nice clean surface. Not skew nice but still quite nice for so soft a wood.

I also through trial and error figured out what was causing my spiral cuts from before. Once I caught on I could see exactly why. I had the gouge turned over to far and as a result it wasn't entering the wood cleanly with almost instant support. Instead it was entering at an angle on the blade itself. Hence the spiral... It just automatically starts in the sprial.

Anyway I know is a little but dumb to realize after all this time that I should have found a way to truly practice with these 2 types of tools. But hey... better late than never! :o

Joshua

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Joshua,

I don't a safe center but I should. A former Creeker threw out a challenge 2 years ago. He was going to provide a $250 prize. People would make a project using only a skew....no sand paper......no finish.....Just the skew. He got harrassed and embarrassed and removed the challenge. He is a friend so I decided to master that skew. I'm far from a master with it but I've come a long way and it's my favorite tool. I make complete projects using nothing but that tool. It's an amazing tool that like so many other things in life, requires practice and mileage. I can often turn entire projects....go for days without a catch.

I suspect the same method of hours of practice will apply to most of the turning tools.

Keep practicing and review the video periodically.

You will be amazed how quickly you will improve your skills. And the skills you learn with the skew....most of them will apply to the other tools too! Ride the bevel!

[Bernie Weishapl]

Joshua sounds like you are on the right track. The skew is also my favorite tool like Ken. I do us a safe drive center. It has made a tremendous difference in my practice because you are not afraid to try or to make a cut. Keep at it. It will come together as you have seen.

[Don Orr]

Nothing beats practice for gaining and improving skills-in anything. We turners are so into instant gratification that we feel we have to have a completed project everytime we go to the lathe. And removal of waste wood is the best practice you can get. One of my mentors told me that "every cut is a practice cut til the final cut". Use the waste removal to play with angles and work on tool control. As you have found out if you can do the cuts well on soft wood, those skills will serve you well on harder woods.

Glad to hear you are having fun !

[Joshua Dinerstein]

I don't a safe center but I should.

I would totally agree! You should get one. Cost was a factor for me having just bought a mustard lathe. Amazing how I never have any spare cash anymore. hehehe So I went back to old habits and bought the PSI version of the safe driver for $19.99. I couldn't be more happy with it. it runs very true and works perfectly.

Unfortunately I had whined enough about wanting one but being uncertain that I needed/should get one that the LOML made some arrangements for/with me. Almost a week after I got the PSI one for myself I got a box from Hartville Tools that had the Oneway safe driver in it. Along with a few other goodies. Have I mentioned that I have a pretty darn great wife? Anyway, they apparently had a really really good sale at the time because it was only $29 for the Oneway. :)

So now I have 2. one for each lathe. ;)

Interestingly enough I still use the PSI one just because it is out, open and on the lathe.

While catches with the skew chisel and a standard 4-prong drive center are... extremely vigorous and using the safe drive removes that fear, the same is true to a lesser extent with the spindle gouge. I was trying things that should have caused some real problems. But the worst it ever did was just stop the blank. I really do like the safe center! :D

Joshua

[Joshua Dinerstein]

Nothing beats practice for gaining and improving skills-in anything. We turners are so into instant gratification that we feel we have to have a completed project everytime we go to the lathe.
Yeah... You know that is a perfect description of me. Part of it was that I was only every buying hardwood and the cost makes the kind of practice I have been doing prohibitive. The trick of using a pine 2x2 from the local Home Depot finally started to get me into the right mind-set.

I actually went back and checked out a DVD I got a long time ago. Richard Raffan's Turning Wood. It was the first one I had checked out from the local Library when I got my first lathe. The speed was so daunting and the explanations so meaningless to me at the time that I just kind of... blocked it out I guess. (But man that back hollowing cut still looks amazing and is so fast!) In going back to see is Skew practice I had to watch him go through a spindle practice session. He shows the basic cuts and then mentions that even for professional wood turners constant practice is required. Not sure how that fled from my mind but there it is. :)

So now I just need a life-time supply of 2x2, 3x3, and 4x4's for practice with. :D

And you are right Don. It has been seriously fun. Without the pressure to do it and get it 100% right it has been amazing fun just to make shavings and try ideas. Way way cool!

Thanks,
Joshua