Thread: Skew ( curved) advice / practical help

Hi Mark,
You seem to be doing OK so far. 1 Problem, your in SA & I'm in Vic.
So a few Questions.
What speed are you using. What Lathe are you using. Are your Skews High Speed Steel, & what size are they.
Are you using a Scroll Chuck, to hold your wood.
I would call myself a Skew man, as I have about 12 Skews, & all have a particular job, for me that is.
Red Gum can be difficult to work with a Skew.
Richard Raffan likes very short bevels on his Skews for RG.
Personally I don't bother, & seem to get a good finish, but my Turnings are bigger than your Chess pieces.
George Hatfield writes for the Aust. Woodworker, & he likes Long Bevels. So if your Skew is, say, 24 x 8mm. then he likes the Bevel to be twice the thickness ±, & Raffan likes his edge slightly curved.
These days that is what I do, as I combine the 2, being a Curved Blade & approx. 16mm. Bevel.
I also use my Lathe on Flatchat, 3000 RPM. I find this so much easier to Turn On.
If you use a Chuck, then either Spigot Jaws or Shark Jaws would be Ideal, to hold your wood. Although I mainly Turn Small Items, I have never done Chess Pieces.
Are you aware that Mike Darlow has a book out, " Turned Chessman " 2004.
So that is my 2 sense worth, & hope that may help a little.

There is no better advice than that given by a Skew Man (Issatree) and Richard Raffan is the guru.
More practice on scrap pieces required paying particular attention to the angle of approach for your skew to the wood and firm control to avoid those nasty catches plus speed is the essence. I am a long bevel man without curves but I do not do Red Gum.

Are you able to post a photo of your skew edges?

Hi Agent 86

Contact the Northern Turners, via web site or vist 3rd and 4th saturday of the month. They meet at Golden Grove and there are professional, semi pro, top amatuer and all other levels of turners who will be more than happy to give you all the help you need.

web site: Northern Turners

Originally Posted by APD

Hi Agent 86

Contact the Northern Turners, via web site or vist 3rd and 4th saturday of the month. They meet at Golden Grove and there are professional, semi pro, top amatuer and all other levels of turners who will be more than happy to give you all the help you need.

web site: Northern Turners

I agree with APD contact Northern Turners on one of the Saturdays always people willing to help.
Cheers Skewturn

Contact Tim Skilton in Adelaide... He is your man.
Jim

At a recent Woodturners Meeting a couple of members showed how to use a Skew with the point down and the bevel rubbing, basically guaranteeing no catches. I'm now addicted using the skew. Also with the bevel rubbing it burnishes as it goes round. Very little sanding to be done!!!!!!
If you have trouble still, and can see a way to Murray Bridge, I can help if required.
Kryn

I'm also a skew man, I've seen no end of people demonstrate the skew, each with their own twist on how it's sharpened, length of grind or as you ask about, with a curve.

They all claim that their method is the foolproof method and that it will prevent dig-ins and catches.

The truth, find an angle, grind and sharpening method that suits you and practice, practice and practice some more. That's what they have done.

I find that generally softer woods, need a longer grind, but then again splintery woods like Wenge also need the longer grind. So all are different.

When you can make the moves to form the beads and coves you want without thinking about it, without worrying about a dig-in, you'll be getting there, but even then, you'll still get occasional one,

but that, as they say, is life!

Originally Posted by agent86

.I have made up some home made round skews to get the nice round shape of the pawn top but I often catch to pawn top with the round skew and ruin the pawn Mark

The skew can be a great tool or a beast. Another way to do the round top is to use a spindle gouge nice and easy and more forgiving.

Originally Posted by KBs PensNmore

At a recent Woodturners Meeting a couple of members showed how to use a Skew with the point down and the bevel rubbing, basically guaranteeing no catches. I'm now addicted using the skew. Also with the bevel rubbing it burnishes as it goes round. Very little sanding to be done!!!!!!
If you have trouble still, and can see a way to Murray Bridge, I can help if required.
Kryn

I bet that was John Rowe who showed that to you. I showed him at SATurn this year.

I think the point with the skew chisel is that it is not just a matter of knowing what to do but also knowing what not to do. If you know what causes the catches then you know what to avoid and you will learn the skill so much quicker.

The problem with a lot of the skew chisel teaching is that it is all about what you should do, and practise practise, practise. The suggestion being it is a difficult skill to learn. I have asked many high profile turners (including one mentioned in this thread [RR]) "what causes the catches" and I have been given several different answers. It has been a quest of mine to work this out and many of the explanations I have read about or been shown have been either too complicated to work out or concentrate on 'this is how you do it'.

Just ask the 'skew expert' to have a deliberate catch and see how they go. I overheard a guy at SATurn saying that he was teaching someone the use of a skew and tried to have a catch and just couldn't get one to happen. If this is the case doesn't it draw into question whether he really did know what caused the catches in the first place.

The skew is no longer a mystery to me but it has taken me many years to solve the question about why we have catches, particularly when rolling beads or cutting end grain.

So, I would be interested in what the skew aficionados have to say on this issue: ie what causes the catch when cutting end grain with a skew chisel. I would like to hear about a fool proof method of guaranteeing a catch. After all there is a good chance I am totally wrong with what I think.

Originally Posted by agent86

Hi,

I'm looking for woodturner with good knowledge / skill using a curved skew who would be willing to spend any amount of time to demonstrated in person, how to use the tool effectively to create clean beading and round shapes.

....However the question I should ask is why you want to use a curved skew. For what you are doing the more traditional straight grind is what you need; forget about a curved grind it will just complicate the issue.

I am with Jim on the idea of using a spindle gouge and would also add that learning to scrape cleanly is a very easy way to create clean, symmetrical and consistent beads with ease. I teach this technique and it has changed people's lives!!

So, I would be interested in what the skew aficionados have to say on this issue: ie what causes the catch when cutting end grain with a skew chisel. I would like to hear about a fool proof method of guaranteeing a catch. After all there is a good chance I am totally wrong with what I think.

I wasn't going to respond to this thread but...................

the reason for catches is operator error and not understanding the tool.

I can emulate and have deliberate catches on demand as many on this Forum have seen me do at demonstrations (even one at Horsham). I also explain why the catch occurred and then show how & why with the lathe stopped.

The 2 main reasons a catch occurs is lifting the bevel off the work with the cutting edge engaged so it goes looking for it.

Shortening the bevel helps overcome this to a certain extent. I find 1.5 times the thickness of the blade about right for me.

The other reason is that people refuse to use their body and keep the same angle all the time. They tend to "sweep" at the work instead of keeping a constant angle and let the long point engage the work.

I tend to be a traditionalist and use rectangular skews ground straight than curved because you can see the cutting edge clearly IMHO.

If I could find a cameraman with a camera I would do video. Any takers?

[QUOTE=;1533930]

the reason for catches is operator error and not understanding the tool.

Too true. Like all tools its all about practice & not learning bad habits in the first place. Brendan raises good points about learning how a tool cuts & performs & what causes catches. I'm not a fan of the curved grind or oval skews or long grinds for various reasons though some do have a purpose. I favour radiused edge skews with a "traditional" grind & a point to width ratio of about 1.5 times the skew width. My belief is the blunt grind is more forgiving & holds an edge longer than a long grind for the stuff I do. Grind length is a trade off between longevity of the edge, brittleness and the fineness of the detail you are creating (deep V cuts etc). Tuition from a pro with the skew is well worth it in my book so it was a pleasure to watch use the skew at Prossy!

How about Eli Aviserra's skew grind? The heel to toe is a straight edge, the grinds are not flat or slightly concave as most are ground but have a very pronounced convex grind. Or the bedan & spindle masters?

Essentially we are presenting a cutting edge in an efficient & safe manner.

[QUOTE=agent86;1533186]Hi,

I'm looking for woodturner with good knowledge / skill using a curved skew who would be willing to spend any amount of time to demonstrated in person, how to use the tool effectively to create clean beading and round shapes.


Hi to all l,

Thank you to all the people who responded with advice to my original round skew query.
After reading though all the feed back I decided to re ground my home made skews with a straight edge instead of the round edge and just practice like hell on scrap timber to get the clean round shape of the pawn tops needed.

Instead of buffing the edge after grinding it I used a fine diamond chip pad to finished the edge off followed by some hand stropping on a long piece of leather fixed to a block of wood.
This really help as well as all the other suggestions,so will stick to the straight edge skew to finish off this chest set project.

I'll give the round skew a go later as I have seen on youtube people using just the the curved skew to create some incredible detailed work - very versatile once one knows how to use it

I was kind of hoping there might of been some out that lived in Adelaide NE metro area where I might have been able to pop round and see someone using the curved skew competently first hand.

I'm not looking to do any do any course or join any turning clubs at this stage as I have got the basic skills to do the chess set just need a little bit more practice with the skew.

Thanks once again for all the good advice.

regards

Mark

Mark, it might be an idea to visit Northern Turners, just to see what it is all about, as I found that I picked up a LOT of bad habits "teaching myself".
I visited the local turning club where I was shown a lot of different techniques and consequently I joined. Reading all the books in the world and asking all the questions is no substitute for being taught and shown basics on how to do something correctly.
They meet at the Golden Grove High School, Technical Centre between 10am to 3pm on the 3rd and 4th Saturday of each month.
Kryn