More skews!

[IanW]

I have been wanting to make another pair of 6mm skew for my brother, and when I saw these HSS carving skews at the show, I decided they should do the job nicely, at $10 each. They were all the same orientation, so I had to regrind one as a ‘left’, & lost a small amount of metal but they are longer than necessary anyway, so no matter.
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I turned a couple of handles from the other half of the crotch piece of Bull Oak that I made the mini skew (http://www.woodworkforums.com/showthread.php?t=183699) handles from. Then I decided that using the same wood on both was a bit boring, so turned up a couple of Myall handles instead. I’ll use the lovely Bull-oak for something else, so don’t worry, they’ll not be wasted! :;
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It all went pretty smoothly, I ground a tang on the handle end of each piece, & fitted them firmly to their handles. But when it came to sharpening them, I found the backs were even less flat than I thought, & it took quite a bit of work to get a flat right across the end. Here you can see the rounded edges quite clearly, & that’s after several hundred strokes on a coarse diamond hone.
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But eventually I got them flat enough, & had two sharp skews, able to give a very good account of themselves in the obligatory ‘paring Pine end-grain’ test.
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Now I have a dilemma – I rather like the new pair. I think I will I give bro the old pair & keep the new ones – they look quite at home with the ½” & minis....
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:U Cheers,

[Christos]

They look good. As long as your brother knows what he gets it's all good.

[tdrumnut]

Nice work Ian, top notch as usual.

[Simplicity]

Top effort Ian
Just tell your brother the OTHER pair are fine tuned originals one offs
I'm sure he will understand

[Robson Valley]

When I do "form-line" relief carvings with some Pacific Northwest coastal influence, almost all of the carving is done with a pair of skews. All I have are 1/2". There have been many days when 1/4" wide would have been a dream to work with. I can see it now!

Good work. What did you establish for a bevel angle? Carving skews are commonly 20dg.
For carving, I'd want a more oval/cylindrical handle as I push the skews around with my thumb. Yes = callused thumb-tips from carving.

[IanW]

....... What did you establish for a bevel angle? Carving skews are commonly 20dg....

To be honest, RV, I don't know what any of the angles are, within 5 degrees or so! The original point was much too acute on both bevels for my purposes, & would have made the tip too fragile, so I eased it back to somewhere around 35*, at a guess. I need a point I can easily get into the far corner of a half-blind dovetail, so I just eyeball the angle to what will do. It doesn't need to be all that acute to do the job, even 15 degrees off square is enough. The sharpening bevel is probably a bit more than 25 degrees, and again, less acute than it came with, which probably was 20.


....... For carving, I'd want a more oval/cylindrical handle as I push the skews around with my thumb.....

I guess skews for carving & cabinetmaking look superficially similar, but are used quite differently. These are used for shallow paring cuts, and pushed mostly with the palm of my right hand. Most cuts require very little effort, but occasionally I need to get a bit more physical, so the handle is shaped to sit comfortably in my palm while I lean on it. Paring cuts also demand a flat back, it can't curve into the edge as on a carving skew.......

I assume the tool blanks this chap sells all come out of China. I've bought quite a few bits of steel from him over the last 5 years or so, some just as raw blanks, others rough-shaped into chisels of various types. So far, they have all been excellent bits of metal, & worth the relatively small price.. :U

Cheers,

[Robson Valley]

Thanks.
Narex 1/2" skews from Lee Valley are 25 degrees. Very good steel to hold an edge.
For me, 25 is a big angle to push wood open so I scrubbed them back to 20. Much less effort.
If you don't have to bash on them, I suggest that 20 is far less work in a paring cut.

Grips: Sometimes, I hold them in my fist for a dragging/paring pull cut in a V-groove, towards me. It's fun to work with one in each hand. Almost like they're crooked knives.
Othewise, fist grip and push with the thumb of the other hand for a push cut.
I have been known to use them in a conventional woodworking manner to cut slots for knife blade tangs.

The real deal with yours would be the ability to push around a tighter radius without chatter.