Roughing

?Steel wins the battle against wood every time, even ash. I wouldn'

look any farther than the woodpile for practice material. After all, i it's what you have in abundance - and a fine display wood to boot - you'r going to be turning things out of it anyway.? I agree with George there is nothing wrong with turning Ash for practic and it does make nice finished pieces. The advantage of turning th softwood 2 x 2?s is it will cut faster because it is not as hard and i will show tear out from dull tools or poor technique. You should probabl practice on both. I find that I feel what the tool is doing as much as see what the tool is doing. There is a lot of difference in the feel of dense wood compared to a soft wood. If you get another chance at som apple take it. It turns very nicely, but can be a bit of trouble to dr without cracking. I like the color and grain of apple also. To

my kids got discouraged when after a couple of sessions on the lathe, they couldn't do the stuff that I do.. (and I'm far, far from an expert)

I usually solved patience problems with them with something like "did you learn to hit a pitched baseball on your first day?".. It put things in prospective for them and might explain the difference in you skill/experience with a fork vs. a skew.. *g*

If all else fails, thinking that billions of people around the world don't know that I put a ding in a chunk of wood, and they wouldn't give a shit if they did know..

mac

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I have a pile of apple sections from the same neighbor's tree, but they've all dried and have cracked beyond use for faceplate work, even end-coated with Anchorseal. However they should be okay for spindle work/practice.

Your comment about feeling the tool as opposed to seeing is very true, I've discovered, especially on harder woods such as the dry ash. In fact I'd have to conclude that I can tell more about how the tool is cutting by its sound and feel than visually. I believe I'm getting my tool very sharp and correctly ground, but I still find the difference between a catch and properly keeping the bevel rubbing and the skew cutting is a very small angle indeed. Learning to maintain that angle is the hard part.

Jeff

I did some turning in high school--lemme see, that was about-oh, never mind--and it didn't seem too difficult at the time. Then again I don't recall using a skew chisel at any time--just gouges, scrapers, and parting tools. But I assumed relearning to turn would be a snap. I was very wrong. It's not nearly as simple as Raffan or Ellsworth make it appear. But I am learning and will continue to persevere with the skew. I'll get it, but I was hoping the learning curve with that tool would be steeper than it's turning out to be. i.e.--impatience.

Your last sentence says it all: in the macrocosmic scheme of things, my ability to use a skew is rather like tachyons departing the nucleus of a single atom--no one is going to notice. Except me.

Jeff

Tom.. do you also go by the sound?

I didn't realize that I get a lot of "feedback" from the sound of the lathe rpm, the cutting edge on the wood, etc., until the other night when I was roughing a bowl and my wife turned on a finish sander and shop vac... Everything just "felt" different.. I really hadn't expected noise to make a difference..

mac

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Yep, the skew is tricky. I left mine laying in the case for months on end, because I was tired of them wrecking stuff, until I finally got tired of leaving them alone, and just spent about 4 hours turning big hunks of wood down to the size of toothpicks with those darn things, and now it's like second nature. It's hard to master, and the real benefit is that it cuts down on sanding. May or may not be worth it, in the long run. I've found that I get a finish almost as good as the skews by using a 1/4" spindle gouge with swept-back wings.

I know one other turner in the non-usenet world, and he won't touch a skew with a 30' pole. He's been production-turning bowls, bottle-stoppers and chalices and never saw the need for them. And I'll admit- even after sort of mastering the things, I still end up just using a good sharp gouge. YMMV!

Hi Mac

Better develop that feeling feedback thing, before the hearing catches up with the seeing, etc. damhik.

Have fun and take care Leo Van Der Loo

mac davis wrote:

I don't really have any spindle gouges, save for a very small detail gouge with which I've had no success either. But I'll have to agree that a skew leaves a beautiful surface--just before it catches and ruins the piece. I hate to sound cynical, but even if I master the skew, I'll probably not use it much, as I tend more toward face work. Still, the skill would be a nice one to have. I've certainly created some attractive firewood lately.

Jeff

what?? speak up, Leo..

mac

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