Skewering

Good Luck! and I truly mean it. I have never been able to control an Oval. I've taken classes and seminars on the Skew. I also have a few videos. The teacher and videos I prefer are Alan Lacer. It was following his teaching and rules that allowed me to get close to know how to use a skew.

Here is his opinion on Oval skews

Hello Gerald,

I agree with Ralph, I do not like the oval skew. I generally sharpen my skew for an included angle on the edge of about 30 to 40 degrees. I like to put the shaft of the skew a as close to 90 degrees from the wood as possible, with the bevel rubbing lightly and the sharp edge cutting. For beads, I again put the shaft of the skew to 90 degrees from the wood surface with the short point down. I then place the short point just to the right of center of the planned bead and rotate the handle counter clockwise and the tool will cut a nice curve down into the V slot on the side of the bead. Turn the chisel over and repeat on the right side but with the rotation being clockwise.

That is a pretty short description of how to use the skew.

Fred Holder

Lots of videos on Utube, try those first.. If that doesn't help, "Taming of the skew" is highly recommended..

I prefer the oval to the flat because you can roll it downhill.. I like the Penn State version of the "spindle master" a lot better, though..

Other than the nice bowl gouge I have, all of mine are oval. They were called 'Fingernail gouge' and are very versatile in both cutting (slicing ) and in scrapping. I have three sizes of flat Skews. And two or three fingernail gouges. The long sweeping edge allows a variance of cutting surface.

A skew and gouge are not the same tool nor function. Using a fingernail as a skew is as strange for you as it for that work.

Mart> >

Eh, Martin the question was on Skew's not gouges. An oval Skew has an oval body. A standard Skew has a rectangular body.

Gouges, finger-nail, traditional or continental never entered into his question

Sometimes one never knows for sure. It depends on the skill or knowledge of the turner. If what is called a skew is a skew.

I have rounded face scrapers that are flat that look like those - just the top isn't scooped out. Seems like the cutting edge is on the top and not on the face (centered) section of the blade like a skew but on the top like a scraper. Likely called a skew from the use not shape.

Martin

I think you're wriggling on the hook Martin; calling an ant an elephant doesn't make it so :-).

My wood lathe was bought new in 1947 and I bought with my Dad the steel lathe that I have. So turning has been in my life and in my hands for over 50 years.

Mart> >

One would have thought then, at some point, you would have learned the common names for the tools you use

Boys! Boys! Please pay attention!

My first attempt (after watching a couple of videos) was humiliating. The damn thing wouldn't do anything I wanted. It just cut spirals.

If it doesn't learn to do what I want it may just end up as another scraper or parting tool.

Yup, they are very good at that, and I still get that cut WAY too often

The only real solution is practice

It is always very suspensful for me when I use any skew. I like my oval, I also ground down the corner edges of my regular skew so the sharp corners don't damage the tool rest.