Lacer-esque DIY Skew

Stuart Ablett

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Tokyo Japan
OK, I got some HSS for making tools, in this case, I made a skew from the 1/2 x 1" piece.

I cut the piece to just around 12" in length, then I used a 4" angle grinder to make the tang for the tool...........

skew_tang.jpg
Let me tell you, that took a bit of grinding, this stuff is HARD!! :D

I then used the 4" angle grinder to do the majority of the griding on the point, I finished with the slow-speed 8" grinder..........

skew_ground1.jpg skew_ground2.jpg skew_ground3.jpg

and a close up of the tip........
skew_ground_close.jpg

I then put a handle on it............

skew_handle_done.jpg
and it is done.

Boy let me tell you, when you pick this sucker up, you know it, it is heavy! :wave:

I honed it and used it a bit, WOW just don't cover it!!

Took about 3 hours total.

Cheers!
 
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That's just like you, Stu...spending three hours just skewing around in the shop. :rofl: Nice-looking tool. I gotta learn to use one of them one of these days.
 
That's just like you, Stu...spending three hours just skewing around in the shop. :rofl: Nice-looking tool. I gotta learn to use one of them one of these days.

Yep, skewing around, that's me :wave:

A point, when you decide to come over to the dark side of the skew, get yourself a good one, not some oval punny thin little flexy cheap poor quailty steel one........... DAMHIK :doh:

makes learning to use it a whole lot better when you start with a decent tool................... also you will be much less likely to pitch it accross the shop when you remember how much you paid for it :rolleyes: :rofl:

Cheers!
 
Great looking piece Stu. I have the big Raffan skew and compared to the ones you get in turning kits there is no comparison. Now quit skewing around and do some work.:rofl:
 
Yep, hard to compare a normal skew with one of these monsters.

I think Ken F. said he has a 1 1/4" x 5/8" Lacer skews, that must have some heft to it as well.

I used it this morning, boy does it cut! :D

Cheers!
 
Stu....I bought the 5/8" Lacer skew in Houston and my son is to deliver it in a couple of weeks when he drives to Lewiston. I bought the 1 1/4" Lacer in Spokane before I got home from Houston. I hope to try the 1 1/4" later today or maybe tomorrow. Both of them have some heft to them!

Nicely done Stu! I don't have patience to do something like that or the access to HSS.
 
The 5/8" is the width, right?

Two skews, 5/8" and 1 1/4" (yet to be delivered) right?

How thick are the Lacer skews?

Cheers!

PS, I bet you can get the HSS a LOT easier than I could :wave: :D
 
Stu....Yeah....5/8" and 1 1/4" are the widths. I didn't want to pack the 5/8" Lacer in my bags when we flew back from Houston. So it'll be coming with the kid. The 1 1/4" I bought in Spokane on our way back and I have it. I ordered a large diamond stone sharpener for use with these skews and it's supposed to be delivered tomorrow. I wanted one bigger than the little credit card diamond hone I have now. I wanted some more room between my meat hooks and the edges of these skews. I'll check the thickness of these but I'll bet it's either 5/16" or 3/8" thick steel.

The Lacers are made by Hamlet....they have the short point side rounded over and the corners knocked of the long point side. Lacer teaches one to use the short point end for turning beads and thus the rounded edge there. He teaches cutting grooves with the long point side and thus the corners are knocked off but the flat portion remains.......

I'll take some photos when the other one gets here from Texas.

I also go Lacer's vide "The Skew" which is IMHO a good video!
 
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I thought the Lacer video was great, but I wish I had not rounded the short point side of my skew as he recommends. Maybe I have soft floppy skin, but now the skew tends to roll up, off the rest, and what follows is not pretty. Or maybe I need to buy an Ablett skew.
 
Alfredo, I'd think there would be a lot of places you could get this stuff, Grainer, etc...........?

BTW, here is an side view comparison...........

HI371616.JPG
New skew on the bottom, P&N skew in the middle, and my thin oval skew on the top.

:D
 
Thanks Stu,
I am going to check it. I read somewhere else
about enco. I check it and they haven´t long
hss steel.
I am making my first turnings and I have
some basic gouges. And as somebody wrote,
the tools are like the money, we want to have
more.
Thanks for your reply. I like very much the pictures
of your projects.

Regards
Alfredo
 
Stu.............I am turning some couch legs and while in the shop I measured my Lacer 1 1/4" skew.....it measures just under 3/8" thick....I suspect it might be metric.
 
Thanks Ken, I wonder if mine it too thick? :dunno:

Alfredo, someone mentioned before that things like the shafts from shock absorbers, or hydraulic cylinders are good steel, you might want to check a junk yard?

Just a thought.

Cheers!
 
Stu....It depends on what you want to do with the skew. Have you seen Lacer's video "The Skew"? In it he arcs the long point down into the wood to turn a "V". He demonstrates that it bottoms out into the "V" without catching and both sides are rubbing. I tried that this evening while making some of the couch legs for my brother using my 3/4" straight edged skew. It bottomed out without catching. I'd think the thickness of a skew would only limit the depth and minimum width you could make a "V" cut. He also states he likes heavier skews because the increased mass helps stabilize them when making planing cuts. JMHO based on what little I know about turning with a skew....
 
Just to add this to the mix, one of the guys on my Japanese turning site asked me if the HSS was hardened, and to what Rockwell hardness......:huh:

I know what that all means, but it got me wondering, would they sell the steel in an annealed state? :dunno:

I looked it up on the web, and hardening this stuff is NOT easy to say the least, and well beyond what I can do.

Anyone know if HSS (M2) is usually sold ready to use, or in an annealed state?

I'll have to get my wife to fire an e-mail to the guy I bought it from.

This stuff sure seemed a heck of a lot harder than mild steel, and I'm talking of a LOT harder.

We shall see, I guess...... :wave:
 
Stu,

Not sure if this helps any.

High Speed Steel, sometimes abbreviated to HSS, comes in various different grades generally used in the metalworking industry to make drills, end mills, turning tools, and other tools designed specifically to cut metal. In woods and plastics, all grades of HSS far outlast the cheaper Carbon Steel or Stainless Steel. The various grades of HSS we use are identified by M1, M2, M7 and M50, M1 being the most expensive grade. Very few woodworking tools are made from HSS. It is too expensive to use for large tools, very tough to machine and can be subject to breakage with rough treatment in hand held equipment. M1 is the hardest and also the most brittle of the bunch. You can’t have your cake and eat it too! We use M1, M2 and M7 for applications when better tool life is required and breakage is not a problem. M50 is used when breakage could be an issue. Tools made of High Speed Steel will always have HS or HSS stamped or etched on them. Don’t be fooled by imitations. We recommend HSS for most applications because the tools are reasonably priced, last a long time in woods and plastics and have more sizes and lengths available than any other type of material. However, if you are cutting thousands of holes in hard materials, you need some type of Carbide Tooling. Sharpening HSS tools requires a grinding wheel made of stone or one that is Borazon plated.

http://www.wlfuller.com/html/steel_types.html

Randy
 
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