skew chisel bevel and grind

[stevo wis]

Folks,
I am trying to perfect my skew chisel technique. My question is is there any advantage to using a flat grind, versus a hollow grind on the skew. For me, a flat grind is much more work, and it seems that a hollow grind, followed by a small micro bevel should work as well, as even with a straight guide, a very small amount the bevel would actually rub the wood. I have an 8" grinder that I use for hollow grinding.
Thoughts?

Stevo

[Mel Fulks]

My first job was working in a turning shop. Did mostly grunt work. The proprietor was a great turner. His work was shiny as he
mainly used the gouge, and let the steel burnish as it cut. He had a few customers who always told him “no sanding”, they loved the
look. I couldn’t do the burnish. But NOW I’ve burnished my old boss’s reputation ! That’s a start !

[Scott Winners]

I hollow ground my skews, and the good skew was the only chisel I kept when the beginner lathe went down the road.

I am pretty sure I used 55 degrees total, 27.5 degrees per side. With the hollow I could (carefully) freehand on the hollow up to 8k diamond grit.

The point is not how you sharpen the tool, but what the tool does to your work piece. If some other method gives you better results, do that other thing.

[roger wiegand]

I'm not aware of anyone who advocates or uses a flat grind on a skew, I can't imagine what the advantage might be. I hone most of my tools, but the skew in one where honing is essential to a sharp edge and consistently good cut. I hone many dozens of times before returning to the grinder. Without a hollow grind you'd either need to hone the whole big surface rather than just the leading or trailing edges, which would take forever or, perhaps more likely, end up with a microbevel on the cutting edge that would make it really hard and awkward to present the tool at the proper cutting angle. When you hone you rest the hone on both the leading and trailing edge to avoid creating a bevel at a different angle than the primary sharpening angle.

At a recent demo I did recently learn about using a convex grind on a skew for doing facing cuts on end grain and have to say it works spectacularly well. That's a fairly special case, the tool would be impossible to use for most of the usual skew cuts. That tool never sees the grinder, I sharpen it on the leather power honing wheel I use for my carving tools.

[Reed Gray]

The advantage of the hollow grind is that you can hone it several times before needing to go back to the grinder. I don't even have a way to do flat grinds. I do have one that has a convex grind. I found it easier to do shallow arcs and even beads and coves, but more difficult to do a straight line. I do strop after every trip to the grinder. That burr has to come off! plywood or alder or poplar with some 'polishing' compound on it. The big box stores don't know what 'stropping' compound, but they do know what polishing compound is....

robo hippy