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greenacres2

Member
Joined
May 2, 2017
Messages
1,686
Location
Northwest IN
The first several pens I turned were with gouge & skew, awkward but okay. Then got my carbide tools from John (hanau), and that helped a LOT. Have accumulated resin & alumite blanks (George and Racer3770 have me hooked) and knew I had to work with the skew and learn to keep it sharp. Turned 5 or 6 non-wood pens over the weekend with my gouge & skew and got pretty comfortable with it.

Decided tonight that it was time to test--to see if I could turn wood without sanding. Spectraply seemed like a good test, since sanding dust discolors the bands. The result is below--gouge to round, then skew all the way down. Straight to 12 coats of BSI Super Thin CA then Micro Mesh. It may not show in this pen (just a funline slim), but with the 1" skew it's much easier for me to taper smoothly to center instead of leaving the middle fat.

I can't believe how much I've learned here in 4 months--all are so generous with their time. Thanks too, to those who asked questions I didn't know that I should ask so I could read the answers...and to those who left the Encyclopedia of Penturning in the Library!!
earl
 

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mark james

IAP Collection, Curator
Joined
Sep 6, 2012
Messages
12,720
Location
Medina, Ohio
I'm not a fan of Spectraply, but you nailed it! Well done!

And I will admit to being "Skew Challanged." :mad::mad::mad:!

Maybe next winter!
 

greenacres2

Member
Joined
May 2, 2017
Messages
1,686
Location
Northwest IN
Yeah, it's not my favorite either--the few i'd tried (other than pink) really muted in sawdust. That's where the skew came in. I don't know that i'll ever get to the point of roughing with the skew but it sure looks easy on video!!
earl
 

JimB

Member
Joined
Mar 18, 2008
Messages
4,683
Location
West Henrietta, NY, USA.
I struggled many years with the skew until a fellow member of the local turning club gave me some one-on-one instruction. The skew is a fantastic tool once you learn to use it.

Very nice job on the pen.
 
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