The Skew

[finneyb]

Reed Gray aka robo hippy posted this on a US forum - I found it useful as a reminder.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KfeLAHQSbqk

Allan Batty walks through how to use the skew in the first half of this 54 min video

Brian

 

[wcndave]

Wish I could get him to teach me, that's probably the most useful video on turning I've seen. I'm getting catches often, going to go and practice all those now.

 

[Dave Brookes]

wcndave,
Have you seen this one by a 'young' Richard Raffan?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpn-kxV_2FQ

Dave

 

[wcndave]

wcndave,
Have you seen this one by a 'young' Richard Raffan?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpn-kxV_2FQ

Dave

"WoodTurning Projects with..." The YouTube account associated with this video has been terminated due to multiple third-party notifications of copyright infringement

not the first time I've seen that no ;-)

 

[Dave Brookes]

That's a bummer, it was available last week. I will have to delete it from the club's reference list.

Dave

 

[Woodchips2]

Here's another demo of the skew by Gary Rance http://www.garyrance.co.uk/skews/demons ... odturning/.

Regards Keith

 

[Dino]

Fantastic video! Learnt so much.

 

[wcndave]

Allan Batty video + this Raffan one where he deliberately gets catches to show how, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jOvF5f1phhY inspired me to try some tests.

I've tended to avoid the skew for anything other than planing on the round, ie no beads etc, and I've avoided beads completely really as got a few catches on spindle gauge too.

I've gone the way of many american youtubers, who whilst excellent woodworkers generally, work on the lathe with a flat skew scraping and work the point into corners etc to make the shape in profile as it were. No catches, rough surface, then sand.

Anyway, I tried again after watching the two above videos, and although I watched many others, read the books, understood the theory, actually seeing someone do it and explain it so clearly got me here:

Every cut done on the Allan Batty video, not one catch, not a single one.

Feeling rather chuffed I must say.

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

Gary Rance demos at our club and he's good

The fundamental truth about the skew is you need two things. The right theory, which all 3 pro turners mentioned in this thread are excellent sources for but also practice. Many many hours of practice

 

[gregmcateer]

Allan Batty video + this Raffan one where he deliberately gets catches to show how, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jOvF5f1phhY inspired me to try some tests.

Anyway, I tried again after watching the two above videos, and although I watched many others, read the books, understood the theory, actually seeing someone do it and explain it so clearly got me here:

Every cut done on the Allan Batty video, not one catch, not a single one.

Feeling rather chuffed I must say.

And so you should be, young man!! Really good work. I'm going to have a look at those videos mesen' now. Thanks for showing your results.

 

[wcndave]

And so you should be, young man!! Really good work. I'm going to have a look at those videos mesen' now. Thanks for showing your results.

You must be very old! :wink:

The hardest one was the large round on the square section (third from left if you include the chamfer on the end).

It's easy to dig in as the square corner comes around and get a large catch. This wood is 2x2, I did start that one on a 3x3 and got quite a few catches due to the extra size. So I started again with 2x2 as per the video, just to make all things equal.

 

[Rhossydd]

Here's another demo of the skew by Gary Rance http://www.garyrance.co.uk/skews/demons ... odturning/.

To be pedantic, that isn't actually a skew chisel at all. It's ground cutting face is perpendicular to the shaft, so more accurately it should be described as a round beading and parting tool IMHO.

 

[Woodchips2]

Here's another demo of the skew by Gary Rance http://www.garyrance.co.uk/skews/demons ... odturning/.

To be pedantic, that isn't actually a skew chisel at all. It's ground cutting face is perpendicular to the shaft, so more accurately it should be described as a round beading and parting tool IMHO.

It is a skew, Gary uses a 2 degree angle which isn't a lot but in Gary's hands it does the trick and at a rate of knots (hammer) . I made a round skew and ground a steeper angle which suited my amateur turning but time was not a priority for me whereas Gary is doing it for a living. :lol:

Regards Keith

 

[Rhossydd]

It is a skew, Gary uses a 2 degree angle which isn't a lot

I stand corrected.
2 degrees ? hmm only just.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

A two degree skew sounds more like an accident.