turning instruction/class

Hi MinnJim,

I took a turning class from a legend in turning Ernie Conover. It was a great class. His web site is

I took a course at a local HS. 8 nights, 3 hours each, for $80. Must have them in your town.

That would be the type of thing I would look into first. The nationally known guys are sure good, but they aren't cheap. I would suggest getting more time with the basics before you jump into one of those really expensive classes. Get to know your lathe and your tools, then you can have better questions for your instructor.

While our high schools or community colleges have nothing around here, we have couple of small studios that teach. One night a week (3 hr sessions, no more than six in a class for 6 - 7 weeks) for $275. Easy to get to, and no charge for parking.

If all else fails, if you have a Woodcraft in your town, see if they know about anyone locally that would work with you. Most likely they know something about a local club, and those guys might be willing to help.

Good luck!

Robert

Go here

Big "names" and big bucks may feed your need to get the "best," but it's what you internalize, not the source, so play the field and see/try all kinds of things.

Hi Jim-

I don't offer any *classes* of the type you probably have in mind, but I do have a turnery in my basement, and would be willing to work with you some weekend if you need some pointers.

I am located in Bloomer, WI (about 15 minutes north of Eau Claire)- which is probably much less than 5-600 miles from you. E-mail me at prometheuscharter.net if you'd like to set something up.

Jim... Please don't take this as a commercial, just something that helped me quite a bit (Changed my turning, actually)

Buy Bill Grumbine's "bowl turning made easy and watch it several times, preferably in the shop with the lathe handy so you can STOP THE DVD and try his stuff as you watch...

mac

Please remove splinters before emailing

If you are using that skew on bowls, lock it in a drawer somewhere until you get some instruction. That is a spindle tool. And, in my opinion, not a very good one. Almost all the cuts you can make with a skew can be made more safely with something else.

Bill

M> Hi everyone,

Hi Jim--

I too am from Minnesota, and am interested in similar instruction.

Minnesota is a big state, from whence cometh thou? I'm from the Mankato area.

Please contact me off list--possibly we can work on something together.

Old Guy

WaltC***@mc***hsi.com (delete the *)

I was getting ready to suggest a trip to Craft Supplies in Provo for a

As another poster has opined ... bowls are seldom skew work ... it's just not the right tool for anything more than just a VERY few inches in diameter.

I turn pens pretty much 100% with a skew ... it's a great tool for shallow curves. Don't give up on the tool ... but don't use it on bowls, either. Richard Raffan (ISTR) has a two part video set (um "Taming the Skew" and "Son of Skew"?) on the use of the skew chisel and, wielded properly, it's a thing of beauty. Handled ANY other way and things get real ugly real fast.

Bill

Alan Lancer did those (I watched him last weekend at the AAW meeting), what he can do with a skew is amazing

Thanks for all the advice. I may try the videos. I've never ordered any official instruction videos, but may give it a try. I'm glad it's not just me on the skew. I've done some spindal

le turning over the years, but never used a skew much. This will be a tool to try on the next spindle.

Thanks for all the replies and more are welcome. MinnJim

Jim... If you want to have fun skewing around, try an oval skew... much safer and easier to use, IMO..

Also, you might try grinding off the sharp 90 degree angle on the sides/shaft/whatever of your present skew, so it moves smoothly on the rest and you can roll it a bit....

Rolling is a huge help, something I learned here in the group... most problems with the skew seem to be digging the point in, and I find that rolling the point downward a bit goes a long way towards avoiding a catch...

I might use a skew on the outside of a bowl once in a while for cleanup or shaping, but NEVER on the inside... I want to be turning for a few more years and would like to still have all my fingers intact...

mac

Please remove splinters before emailing

Mac and I are in 100% agreement on this. Roughly 5 minutes after taking my first cuts with an oval skew I had belt-sanded the edges off my rectangular skews.

Using the skew is a LOT more fun now!

Bill