Thread: The beloved skew

I was about 13 (46 years ago) when I first jumped on a lathe. That was back when you had to learn in a vacuum. About 10 years later, after finally buying a couple books (Peter Child and some american mormon guy who I can't remember his name) realised that I had evolved my methods of turning from scraping into the cutting method on my own. I.e. dropping the handle on a gouge and watching the shavings peel off, instead of dust flying off... I got pretty good with the skew but over the rest of my turning career I grew away from it, mostly out of production turning efficiency. Having to reach for a skew to cut a bead or two and then grabbing the gouge again took too long and interrupted the flow of the work. First cuts were to establish a couple reference diameters with a 1/4" parting tool, and the rest done with a gouge. That also evolved from a 1/2" spindle gouge to a 3/8 bowl gouge with very long wings (for lack of a better description). It was about 15 years ago, when I stopped turning for money and only played on the lathe that I realised I'd lost all the muscle memory for the 1/2 skew and became quite unconfident with it. I guess being much older I never seemed to get it back. It was one of the more important things I used to teach people when starting out. Play on wood you don't care about such as firewood. That way new turners coud develop the coordination and muscle memory without the death grip that so many use with their tools as they fret about having a dig in on a project that care about. Which, ironically, I'm not heeding myself these days. So the skew only comes out when I need to spear in on a square shoulder or where the gouge can't reach...

Go on ya for sticking with it. The skew can be a very unenjoyable tool to master.

Good onya!

I also find my skews don't get used as often anymore... mainly because I mostly turn goblets and the occasional bowl nowadays, for which they're not really suitable.

But for spindle turning they're the bees' knees; when one tool does 95% of the job AND can give a finish that doesn't need sanding, why faff around with anything else?

It's a good skill to have in your woodturning arsenal.