Turning off the Tenon

I have a definite passion for my skew! Last fall a turner Chris Barton attended a turning class and came back all excited about using a skew. I couldn't afford the week long class...but I had a lot of scrap wood and a skew. I worked on getting a good consistant grind and spent several days playing with waste wood. Now it's one of, if not, my favorite tools. On a lot of projects I can get by with the skew....take bottlestoppers for instance. Visiting in Illinois in December, I met with another more experienced and formally turning educated turner Frank Kobilsek. As we traded techniques we talked about the skew. Frank didn't have the skew jig for his Wolverine jig and we had to work for a while getting a good grind freehand. After we got a good grind, I proceeded to turn a piece of cocobolo into a bottle stopper using the skew. Frank now practices with his skew. A wonderful tool but it takes time......but certainly worth the effort, IMHO. Note I use a 3/4" traditional skew that I've ground the sharp corners off. I want to get a couple more skews so I can try an oval one and one with the end ground in an arc. I definitely want to get the Alan Lacer video!

turning bottoms off

Like Stu I also use a donut chuck....On NEs...I tape several layers of 2" rigid foam together using doublesided tape. I then use doublesided tape to tape the foam to the base plate of the donut chuck. I spin it up and turn the foam to tapered cyclinder. You want enough layers of foam so it will hold the sides of the NE off the donut chuck base plate. Place the NE over the foam and capture with the ring of the donut chuck and turn off the tenon.

Hey Ken!

Skews are us eh?

Forget the Oval Skews, I have one, waste of money. They are not nearly as rigid as the usual ones, and, IMHO not as easy to sharpen.

I have a big P&N Skew, it is nice, and has a rounded grind on it, love it, it is my "Got to" skew, I use it for roughing pens, and then finishing them, the whole pen, one tool!

I need to get a couple more, the 3/4" and maybe a 5/8".

On my list of "wants"

For NE bowls, I have various pieces of PVC pipe cut off, at say 4", 5", 6" and so on, at the 3" dia, up to the 6" dia, one end goes on the face of the donut chuck, the other end, gets a foam pad, and then the NE bowl mounts that, works slick, cheap and easy to do, the only thing is, you might need some longer bolts.

Cheers!

Yup...skews are us!....Sunday while Joel was practicing his beads and coves with a 3/8" spindle gouge, he was taking off the beads so he could practice his coves. He was using my freshly sharpened Sorby 3/4" roughing gouge. Now mind you, I dearly love my Sorby tools, but we were talking about the skew and I warned him it wasn't for everybody......Let me...I told him. I picked up my freshly sharpened and honed 3/4 skew and in seconds flat had a cylinder. I stopped the lathe and he looked at it "Wow! No sanding needed"....Yup said I but.....You could have a hole about this deep in it too if you don't practice with it regularly! The catches with a skew in my experience are puncture wounds rather than tear outs. You can penetrate the side of a bowl you're are finish turning if you aren't careful! DAMHIKT.....

Stu the oval skew aren't worth having in my opinion. The big Raffan skew I have I took to the belt sander and round off the edges slightly per Alan Lacer. I like my skew's so much I am also thinking about getting the big Lacer one. I used one in Denver and it is nice. Big, heavy and fits my hand good.

Bernie Weishapl said:

Stu the oval skew aren't worth having in my opinion. The big Raffan skew I have I took to the belt sander and round off the edges slightly per Alan Lacer. I like my skew's so much I am also thinking about getting the big Lacer one. I used one in Denver and it is nice. Big, heavy and fits my hand good.

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Mine too, that is why I said "Forgetaboutit"