Ken, Bernie and anyone else who hones their skew do you find...

[Joshua Dinerstein]

Alright. So for the first time since I started working with my skews I have reached the point where I have honed out the hollow on the skew on both sides and have made that part basically completely flat. There was a tiny tiny tiny section where I could see it still had a touch of hollow on one side.

So here is today's quick question for Ken or Bernie or well anyone else who hones their skew. Do you find that after that much honing you have to spend a fairly large amount of time and effort re-grinding the skew to get the hollows back on the bevels?

I had expected a quick touch up. I.e. what I get when I re-sharpen my bowl gouge. Just touch and touch and done. However when I tried that I found I hadn't gotten anywhere near the tip of the skew. It was in no way sharp yet. I tried honing it to see if that was the problem and it didn't change.

So i headed back to the grinder for a fairly substantial amount of time, took probably 10 minutes, of careful work to get the hollows back and things reground and ready to go. A quick honing now did exactly what I had expected and gave my a razor sharp edge.

So I was just wondering for those who had blazed the trail before me is that normal? Should I have gone back to the grinder and re-ground sooner or is it just par for the course.

In thinking about I can sort of understand why. When honing for my 30+ hours of practice with the 2x2 pine I was removing enough metal to flatten the bevels. So putting a hollow ground bevel back is going to be a bit of work. But I am sure it needed to be that much work. :eek:

Any thoughts?

Thanks!
Joshua

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Joshua,

I've only been honing for a little over a month....maybe 2 months. I haven't found it necessary to regrind yet. That being said, I would expect what you are seeing is normal.

I'm gearing up to do a few spindle related Christmas presents and I'll know in a couple of weeks.

How's your skew work going? I suspect it's coming right along!

[Reed Gray]

I tried the Eli Alvesera grind which is convex rather than concave like fresh off the grinder. I can't really see that I will ever need to regrind it. I do hone it on a 320 grit diamond stone, but that is all. It keeps a good edge. The one advantage of that grind is that it is more user friendly. It is almost impossible to come off the bevel. It works great for beads and coves, but is more difficult to make a long straight cut as there is no flat bevel to ride and feel with. I am no expert with a skew. I use it on some runs, just enough to get the feel of it, then put it away for a while, and lose a lot of what I learned before the next time when I pull it out.
robo hippy

[Joshua Dinerstein]

I've only been honing for a little over a month....maybe 2 months. I haven't found it necessary to regrind yet. That being said, I would expect what you are seeing is normal.
Well I have been a bit... obsessed is my wife's word, with learning to use the Skew. I have gone through 3 8' 2x2's and 6' of fir 4x4s with my skew. The Sap is pretty heavy in the 4x4 stock and I think that was what had me honing so often. It is just amazing to me how slick the skew is when it is extremely sharp. So I wind up honing perhaps more than I should.

Of course I realized yesterday that I have to find a way to clean my hone. I bought a pretty cheap one from HF because at the time I didn't know how valuable it would be. I actually have some good ones but I wanted to "use this one up" before starting to use the others. Perhaps I shouldn't but it is how I feel at the moment I guess.

Ever cleaned a diamond hone? You know I just ran a search on the DiaSharp brand's website. It had this to say:

Clean your DMT® sharpener after each use with water and wipe dry. After several sharpenings, use a mild kitchen abrasive cleanser and a nylon scrub brush (an old toothbrush works well too). Comet, Ajax, and Zud work well. Make sure the sharpener is dry before putting it away.

So now I know how to clean it. I am not sure I haven't just worn out my hone given it's origin but it is worth trying. I actually have 3 DiaSharp card sharpeners. I got them all on Amazon for $11 for the set. A pretty slick deal. I paid more than that for the crappy ones from HF. *sigh* Just my luck! :p


I'm gearing up to do a few spindle related Christmas presents and I'll know in a couple of weeks. Me too. I am going to try and copy some of Curt Fuller's ornaments. Should be fun! It is my first Christmas with my Wife and I wanted to put some stuff up on the tree that had made. I am pretty excited about doing it. Some of the ornament pics on here are amazing!


How's your skew work going? I suspect it's coming right along!I think I am finally getting pretty good with it. I get a surface that is out and out amazing. Especially when it is really sharp! I have the planing cut down now and no longer get catches but I still at times have one end wind up thinner than the other. So more practice to come on that cut as time goes on.

Just about the only catch I get anymore is when I try to continue on a heel down cut. I try to go back in to refine it just a bit more. Catch the edge instead of the bevel and get that nice skate back cut/catch. I have ruined many a bead doing that! But things really are coming along.

I have intermixed the practice with my fingernail grind spindle gouge, why would anyone EVER use the other shaped grinds!!!, and that has improved a ton as well. Turning beads and coves has become quite easy as a result of all the practice.

I have even trying honing that edge rather than going straight back to the grinder. Doing that has worked amazingly well.

In fact I think I will go out to the garage and play with some finials for the icicles for the ornaments for a few hours.

Fun stuff all the way around!

Joshua

[Bernie Weishapl]

Joshua I hone mine all the time and have been for quite some time. I hone mine while I am turning a piece. When I finished with that piece I go to the grinder to touch it up before starting the next.

[Kim Ford]

Josh;

I have two different sharpners in my shop. One is the 8" slow speed grinder from WC. I sharpen my bowl gouges with a Sorby jig and scrapers on the second wheel from the tool rest with it.

The other is a vertical bench sander. I sharpen the skew's, bedan's, spindle gouges and parting tools with it. My jig is not very complex and works off the end of the handle for these tools. It does not create a convex grind, so honing is very simple. I like the belt sander because it seems to not build up as much heat in the sharpening process and with the 150 grit belt it polishes more than it grinds. I know the slow speed wet grinders are very good also, but I don't have one.

Don't know if the convex grind works better or not on skews, the flat grind seems to work quite well so that is what I stick with.

You know I have a third sharpener also, it is a big rubber eraser. It is what I use to clean up the belt sander and to sharpen that 80 grit gouge I use sometimes.

[Dean Thomas]

Hey Joshua,

One of the reasons that honing can be so effective is that you don't wait so long to reshape the tool! :)

When you hone on a hollow-ground tool, fresh off the wheel, your hone touches only the outer edges of the ground area. A couple of swipes and voilá you've got a new, sharp edge. Once the outer edges start to get bigger than the inner hollow, you have much more than a couple of swipes to get it great again. Law of diminishing returns, y'know? One instructor from years ago in a cabinet class proposed that once the hollow is smaller than the honed area, it's time for the wheel, just in the interest of your time and the cost of the good hones.

FWIW, the opinion of (at least) one person.