Treat the Rowley book as a text book with exercises you should complete. It is not a great book to just read but for basic instructions I think it is the best. Raffan is great but he is so fast, you don't learn much. (Except how much better he is than you!) :-)
Might be a source of some of your difficulty. You cannot get the subtle changes in depth and direction of cut as easily that way. Extremely minor inputs up close can alter your angle of attack significantly and disastrously, versus swinging the handle of the tool, where a few degrees of change may involve a half inch or more of carefully controlled movement. Further, changes in force put on the tool by changes in wood density or flex are more easily resisted using the leverage the handle provides against the close-in fulcrum of the toolrest.
The problem with the skew is that it's designed for planing cuts. When you try to use it as a beading tool you have to get edge clearance only by rolling without help from natural contour. Deeper you cut, the longer the edge you expose to the wood, with what that entails in potential catches. If you use a straight edge like a beading tool, or a convex skew, which is just a flat gouge, you get a bit of natural clearance to protect you.
Sure, but for close/deep beads the extra thickness might interfere. You can even get yourself into a position where the tool can catch the next bead as you try to make a clean transition between them.
I use my old 3/8" forged gouge, which has a longer bevel than the bigger, and it works almost as well as a beading tool.
I might have missed it but I don't think anyone has mentioned Alan Lacer's video "The Skew Chisel". He answers just about all of the questions asked here regarding the use of a skew chisel. Very well worth the money.
Stuart Johnson Red Oak, Texas
I use a 3/8" gouge with a very steep & narrow fingernail grind to roll beads. Gets into almost anywhere a skew will.
Peter Teubel Milford, MA
I use a 1/4" spindle gouge for small beads that are 1/8" - 3/16" across. I use it on both spindles and bowls, and use little inset beads as decorative features on a lot of my work.
The sides of the flute have to be ground way back, and the grind angle has to be quite accute at the tip in order to be able to get in between beads without fouling adjacent wood.
The only time I use a gouge on a larger spindle bead is if the grain is at all cranky and won't respond to the skew without chipping. Otherwise I have not found it to give such a clean cut suface or control over finished shape. OTOH, maybe its time for me to reassess that decision I made a long time ago and give the spindle gouge another chance.
Reassess the beading tool. It's better'n either.
I agree ... I bought a bedan a few weeks ago, and I don't use anything else for beads anymore. One thing that others haven't pointed out is that it's much easier to start off a bead with such a tool than with a spindle gouge, however pointily and swept back its been ground.
I'm fairly new to woodturning but I found that a couple hours intense practice with a number of different tools were all that I needed to learn how to roll decent beads. In fact, I was new enough that I was still using the factory grind on my HF tools. I'm not very fast, but my beads look good and are the size I intended them to be, needing only a touch of sanding to bring them to final size and ready them for finishing.
Keep your tools sharp. Keep the tool rest close to the work. Pay close attention to what is working for you. Practice. Practice. Practice.
Bill
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