Facing cut with a skew - how to?

[ehickey]

I just saw in another thread that it was mentioned that some square their blanks with a skew using a facing cut. I was wondering exactly how to do this, as I can't seem to figure out the right angle/approach/etc.

The story:
A couple of weeks ago, I was making my first peppermill. I was trying to face the bottom with the skew, had a really bad catch and pulled the blank out of my 4-jaw chuck, which promptly thumped me in the chest. Basically, I was holding the skew with the nose on top, and had the tool angled in toward the blank...in essence trying to contact the bevel. Seems to me like there is very little tolerance before the skew pulls itself into the wood.

This has left me super timid to use the skew for this purpose. I really want to, as I have a piece of quilted maple that I am trying to square, and it just keeps tearing out.

My current method of squaring involves the 4-jaw chuck and a forstner bit in the tailstock. It has worked really well and is really fast, until now.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

 

[cnirenberg]

Eric,
What I do is use the long point of the skew to cut/trim/"face" the ends which may or may not be square. I have the flat side of the tool laying on the tool rest and begin cutting with the long point. I haven't had a catch, just make sure the tailstock and center don't get in the way. I don't believe the skew was meant for centerwork. I hope this helps. A sharp parting tool will essentially do the same thing.

 

[Art Fuldodger]

Put the skew on the chisel, aligned vertically, long point on the bottom. Align the bevel with the direction of cut (in this case, perpendicular to the axis of the work, to create a square bottom).

You cut in with the long point. Now, the catch usually comes after the long point has cut in a little bit, and the blade of the skew comes in contact with the edge of the piece. In order to prevent that, you rotate the bottom point away from the piece just a *little* bit. In Alan Batty's video on the skew, he calls it "1 minute past 12". You might want to buy, borrow, or rent a copy of it - he makes using the skew pretty simple. I've heard that Alan Lacer's "The Dark Side/The Light Side" is even better, but haven't seen that for myself.

 

[Russianwolf]

I'm using the same technique as Cris. Since pen blanks don't have a center, I've run into no problems. The main thing that you have to do first though is make sure the blank is being held such that the tube is parallel to the ways.

I do this by turning the blank between centers after the tubes are in. I then know the tube and sides are parallel. Then I chuck it in a scroll chuck to trim the ends.

 

[ehickey]

Put the skew on the chisel, aligned vertically, long point on the bottom. Align the bevel with the direction of cut (in this case, perpendicular to the axis of the work, to create a square bottom).

You cut in with the long point. Now, the catch usually comes after the long point has cut in a little bit, and the blade of the skew comes in contact with the edge of the piece. In order to prevent that, you rotate the bottom point away from the piece just a *little* bit. In Alan Batty's video on the skew, he calls it "1 minute past 12". You might want to buy, borrow, or rent a copy of it - he makes using the skew pretty simple. I've heard that Alan Lacer's "The Dark Side/The Light Side" is even better, but haven't seen that for myself.

Now that I sit here and really think about what happened with the peppermill, I think that the nose was on bottom. Otherwise it wouldn't have pulled itself into the wood. However, I think my problem is that I've been engaging too much of the edge of skew. What I'm not following is the "1 minute past 12." Does that mean that the nose is going to stop contacting shortly after it enters the wood? Doesn't that leave the rest of the edge available to pull itself in?

 

[jttheclockman]

I use a different method if I do not have to take much off. I am doing it with the metal blanks. I position the tool rest in front of the end of the blank. I use the skew as a scraper. Start in the center and work the skew outward and after a pass or two I place a straight edge on the end to see how flat. Do this a few times and you don't even need to use a straight edge. Your eye can tell. Meant to say I am also using a pin chuck to hold the blank.

 

[Art Fuldodger]

Now that I sit here and really think about what happened with the peppermill, I think that the nose was on bottom. Otherwise it wouldn't have pulled itself into the wood. However, I think my problem is that I've been engaging too much of the edge of skew. What I'm not following is the "1 minute past 12." Does that mean that the nose is going to stop contacting shortly after it enters the wood? Doesn't that leave the rest of the edge available to pull itself in?

I'm not sure which point you mean by "nose", so I'll say the "long point". You want the long point to slice into the wood and do the facing, but don't want to engage any more of the blade. A tiny bit of the blade will, of course, be engaging at the point, but that's all.

Here you go... http://wiki.woodbase.org/index.php5?title=Skew_chisel_(woodturning) Look at "facing cut". It even links to a YouTube video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXB3_Hb8wCM). He's not squaring, but by aligning the bevel differently, he could be.

 

[marcruby]

If I read right you are trying to put a clean bottom on end grain. I'm going to tell you how I was taught, which seems to be a bit contrary to what I read here.

1) basically, you are trying to take of thin slice of wood - two things about the skew. It has to be razor sharp and it's a whole lot better if the edge is curved - like an Alan Lacer skew.

2) you want the leading point up. Your enemies on this cut are the two 'points.' the curve relieves the the back point, but you are goint to have to keep the leading point away from the wood. But not very far away. The closer you can bring the bevel to the wood, the cleaner the cut.

3) cut down into the wood. As the cut deepens move carefully into the center.

4) keep the surface flat. Once you've learned to control the cut, it's perfectly possible to make the surface slightly concave but until you always know what the corners are doing I'd keep it simple.

5) If you want concave try very very fine passes with a scraper after you get the surface flat. I don't like to do that because there's a risk of a catch if you get the scraper angle wrong.

The other tool to try is a spindle detailing (not roughing) gouge.

Marc

 

[Texatdurango]

Eric, They say a picture is worth a thousand words so I figure a video is worth five thousand words. One of the best things you can do is to visit http://www.yoyospin.com/video/ and watch a few of his videos. Ed (Yoyospin) is a member here or used to be, and has produced some excellent free videos. Just watching a few will give you an idea how to hold and use the skew.

I was taught how to use a skew by a noted local turner but afterwards learned more about skew useage from just watching Ed's videos. And like Ed points out in his videos, practice, practice. practice is what makes you good.

I cut up a pine 2x4 into blocks and blanks and started turning them down to nothing just to practice. It amazes me to hear folks say... "I ruined half a dozen nice blanks trying to learn....(to use a skew, to learn a CA finish, to learn using a gouge, etc)"

I can gaurantee you, it would not be a waste of time!