I found that a larger skew was easier to control - probably due to Charlies point about the points - there is more room between them on a bigger one. I have 2, a 1/2" and 1.25" and almost always use the larger unless I'm working on something really small or just want to practice.. When I started the 1/2 seemed impossible to use, but I went out to whip out a small project last Sunday night and grabbed it just to try and hey it seemed to just work (the finish was better than 220 grit to start - so I was pretty darn happy). For similar reasons I re-ground mine skews to have a curved face which also upped my level of happiness a lot. And then yep practice practice practice.
Remember there are a half a dozen or so distinctive cuts you can make with a skew so I like to practice one over and over until I "get" it and then move on to the rest. The most useful to get down pat is probably the planing cut because a lot of the other (point up cuts) are derivative of it and if you can get it to work well you're a chunk of the way there. Something simple like shaker pegs are nice because you have a few easy curves you can repeat over and over. When I made the warping board I turned ~35 shaker pegs in an afternoon.. and they were to short (loml was out of town) so I turned 4 more longer ones. These were real simple smooth round things with a bit of a waste one rounded end and the other with a slightly back cut tennon so I got to practice planing one way and then the other for the waste and parting for the tennon (I admit to having used a parting tool to finish the tennon
). You probably don't need a warping board, but a set of coat racks or similar might be useful.
ame").
Another point (hah) with the skew is that paradoxically the closer you are to failure the more success you'll have. Getting a smooth cut is riding the edge between a nasty catch and a perfect cut. As best as I can figure the difference is mostly due to some combination of how you hold ("manage"?) the tool and how you present the tool to the work. I distinguish the first from the second because if you hold it correctly any catches you do have seem to be more manageable.. and sorry I still haven't figured out what is "correct" there, I've just noticed that sometimes it works.. and sometimes it don't and I'm doing something different.
Riding the bevel is interesting. I've found myself coming off of it more as I get more confident and there is some weird balancing act there I can't fully explain where at some point the tool cuts properly when (I think) its juuust off of the bevel. Because my large skew is sharpened with more of a spear point as opposed to hollow ground so its probably that I am riding the bevel.. just a smaller part of it.. dunno.. I do think the rounder transition is easier to use anyway (although again my 1/2" isn't sharpened that way and it was working just fine for me so
).
On the other tools.. they're all just skews in disguise
Seriously I actually believe that, the curves and profiles of the various tools are essentially just ways of allowing you to get the edge in at angles not easily achievable with the skew. I use the tip of the parting tool a LOT as a quick skew to touch up beads when I don't want to switch tools, its also a great way to practice control as the tip of it is essentially this tiny little skew (hmm maybe that's why the 1/2 didn't see so bad not
). You can make essentially the same cut a parting tool makes with a skew by "stabbing" (gently!!) the point straight in (ish following a similar curve to what you want to take with a parting tool makes the cleanest cut, coming in slightly low like a scraper is less grabby until you get comfortable with the idea). Once I started thinking about it this way a lot of things came into perspective.. and I practiced more with the skew.
An interesting side effect is that I'm also getting better with my bench chisels. The skew is somewhat unforgiving about always wanting to cut "down grain" (not 100% always the same as "down hill" it turns out). You can cut upgrain but things are a whole lot happier when you don't. So more attention to grain and voila the rest made more sense as well.
If you don't have one, getting a NICE mat can change your life. I have one that came with my PM lathe, its one of the high density gell filled mats and its oh so lovely to stand on. Loml borrowed it a while back to use at the wool carding station and I had a bad case of grumpies (and sore back/hips) until I got it back.