Preferred tool for turning pens?

I just got the nerve to try my hand at turning pens a few years ago and the ONLY two to tools I use are the CiO roughing gouge and the easy finisher for the contours.forget the skew it just does not like me.
 
Brent,

Bernie and I learned to use a skew on a bet. Literally spent days practicing. It became one of our favorite turning tools.

The two major rules....Sharp....sharp....sharp and ride that bevel!
 
Im not pen turner, but I make a lot of pens.
easy wood carbides, don't know why I have to waste time sharpening chisels.
I used the skew a few times to cut some tenons for one of the pens. Now that pen is tenon free, noticed the new design.
carbide chisels work so well on the acrylics.
 
It's been an interesting week. I've got both some carbide turning tools,and I've tweaked my sharpening setup to get razor sharp skews, and I've watched some skew videos.

I'm at the point where I can see all points of view.

The carbide tools turn like a dream. Sharp, and from what I hear they stay sharp for quite a while.

I've also gotten the correct jigs and have setup my grizzly tormek clone to the point where I can literally shave hairs off my arm with the skew. And I can repeat the sharpening of the skew very quickly.

And I've gotten to where the skew does not scare me anymore, and I can get great cuts with it.

I'm planning on making a few posts later detailing my learning, but I have to say, the only thing they all seem to have in common is if it's sharp, it works much better.

I was working my way through a few pen kits and it was a fun learning experience going from what I used to think was sharp, to what really was. Big world of difference.
 
Yeah, sharp tools are an epiphany, huh? And it doesn't really matter what you're doing with them. Turning, flatwork, carving, cooking, shanking that meathead over in Cellblock D...they all benefit from sharp tools. :D
 
In my woodworking experience I had a plane I inherited, and 2 block planes I bought. I tried using all 3 of them with poor results and they hid in a corner of a drawer.

After taking a Rob Cosman class and learning what sharp really is, I began sharpening my chisels and tuned my planes. Because they are sharp, the chisels are now used often without a mallet for better control and the hand planes used to tune fits on face frames on projects.

Sharpening makes a lot of aspects of woodworking more enjoyable and easier!
 
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