Skew chisel scraping

[Tiger]

I use a skew chisel mainly on pens that have straight grained timber or on acrylics and use them it in its conventional manner ie with planing cuts. I notice that some turners lay it flat on the tool rest and use it in a scraping mode, I've had less success there. It is useful in this mode because it helps to smooth things out but sometimes it causes chipout or the heel/toe scratches the blank unintentionally. I thought that I would grind the skew with a slight curve so as to avoid the unintentional skew contact but results are not a lot better. So how do those turners who use the skew exclusively on pens grind their skews and also do you use the skew on cross-grain and sensitive timbers like burls? I keep my skew sharp and try to take light cuts.

 

[Gary Beasley]

When I'm doing that I angle the tip down to give it a slight reverse angle. It helps push the wood fibers back down and prevents the tearout. Keep the contact towards the heel of the skew.

 

[Tiger]

Thanks Gary, do you raise the tool rest at all when doing this and how does it perform on cross-cut blanks?

 

[Dan Masshardt]

I use the planing cut too I can see the scraping cut being useful on acrylics but the bevel supported cut makes more sense to me with wood of all grain orientations and works well at leaving a great surface behind.

 

[its_virgil]

I use my skews on all blanks from start to finish and I use them as as they were designed to be used: planning cuts. I then start sanding at 320. If I need to scrape then I use a scaler.
Do a good turn daily!
Don

 

[Tiger]

Thanks Dan and Virgil (loved your book on modified slimlines by the way, it helped to re-generate interest in pen turning after I was tiring of just doing slimlines).
Don, do you alter the angle of your planing cuts at all ie do you vary from 45 degrees on your planing cuts when the grain changes a lot in a blank?

 

[its_virgil]

Thanks Tiger. Glad you like the book and have found it useful. In the book I used a variety of tools but at home I use a skew almost all of the time with pens. If the skew has a conventional straight edge skewed just a little I keep it at about 45 degrees to the axis of the pen blank. And, like Dan mentioned use the bevel for support with the planning cut. Look on p86 at the 3rd picture from the top to see the curved skew which is my favorite.
Do a good turn daily!
Don

Thanks Dan and Virgil (loved your book on modified slimlines by the way, it helped to re-generate interest in pen turning after I was tiring of just doing slimlines).
Don, do you alter the angle of your planing cuts at all ie do you vary from 45 degrees on your planing cuts when the grain changes a lot in a blank?

 

[Dan Masshardt]

Tiger - don't get too caught up with how the grain is running The skew will give you a good cut regardless

A burl would be impossible to follow the grain (I dare you haha) and a skew works just fine.

 

[Tiger]

Tiger - don't get too caught up with how the grain is running The skew will give you a good cut regardless

A burl would be impossible to follow the grain (I dare you haha) and a skew works just fine.

Take your point Dan but I just checked the great Alan Lacer dvd on the skew chisel and even he resorts to scraping with the skew once he hits figured and twisty grain.

 

[Dan Masshardt]

Take your point Dan but I just checked the great Alan Lacer dvd on the skew chisel and even he resorts to scraping with the skew once he hits figured and twisty grain.

Well, you have to adapt to your situation If what you're doing in a given wood isn't working, change up tool or technique

Lacer sure is an expert even if not a pen turner.

Are you having problems with a planing cut with the skew or is this conversation merely theoretical?

Lots of turners use different techniques, I'm just sharing what works for me.

 

[Tiger]

I find planing cut works beautifully when timber is straight grained or near enough to being straight grained. Finish is superb, if the timber is twisted I get tearout and the timber reacts badly, doing a lot more cross-cut pens and really noticing that the skew struggles at times, have then tried the scraping method which sometimes works ok, other times it chatters and leaves a poor finish. How do you find the planing technique on twisted grain?

 

[Dan Masshardt]

I find planing cut works beautifully when timber is straight grained or near enough to being straight grained. Finish is superb, if the timber is twisted I get tearout and the timber reacts badly, doing a lot more cross-cut pens and really noticing that the skew struggles at times, have then tried the scraping method which sometimes works ok, other times it chatters and leaves a poor finish. How do you find the planing technique on twisted grain?

I find it works good in every grain. I actually use a gouge for the bulk of my turning and then the skew to finish But if I'm working with an unstabilized burl or wood that's delicate, I go to the skew much earlier on.

For me personally this is with an oval skew with a long bevel It's what I've gotten used to I can use but am not nearly as comfortable with a traditional skew in difficult woods.

I think it's worthwhile to keep experimenting, trying different tools and techniques in difficult woods and see what the results are

Hopefully some others will chime in with their experiences as well

 

[Tiger]

Appreciate your thoughts Dan, I'm using the traditional skew with a fairly long bevel, never ventured into the oval skew.

 

[Tiger]

Did some experimenting tonight with some cross-cut blanks, found that the planing cut produced the best surface in terms of least tear-out but couldn't get a perfectly straight cut, there were some tiny ripples in there. On the other hand, skew used as scraper produced a nice straight cut but a little more tear-out and the tool squealed at times when i made the cut, if i can get the best of both worlds i'm in business.

 

[kovalcik]

When he uses it as a scratper, Captain Eddie calls a skew a double sided negative rake scraper. I think he heard the term at an AAW workshop.

 

[texta]

a 1" and a 1/2" oval skew do everything i need to do 95% of the time . there is the odd time i will use a small spindle gouge maybe to rough down some ugly antler but i only do that to save the edge on my skews some times .
one thing that is a bit annoying though is the 200 yard long strands of plastic clogging up the dust extractor . they tend to form a big birds nest just before the fan .
scrapers i can not use them to save my life , i have a few and hate it if i have to use one on a bowl or some thing , i never seem to do any good with them at all .

johno

 

[Sylvanite]

I do sometimes present a skew chisel as a scraper, but only at low speed and with a very light touch. I use it to correct an out-of-round blank or to knock down a rough built-up CA finish back to smooth.

It does dull the edge very quickly though, so frequent touch-up (or even ticketing a burr) is necessary.

I hope that helps,
Eric

 

[Gary Beasley]

Thanks Gary, do you raise the tool rest at all when doing this and how does it perform on cross-cut blanks?

I do raise the tool rest a bit and cross cut blanks is what I like this best for. I tried some cross cut jobillo once, they were offcuts from a bowl blank, and the negative rake cutting was the only way I could keep the blank from blowing up on me. Four tries doing a shear cut made the grain lift into the cut and peel off the tube, fifth time I raked it and got perfect results.

 

[Tiger]

Thanks for clearing that up.
Eric, when I use it as a scraper I run the lathe at fairly fast speeds to correct any Out of Round as that is easier on the tool, I'm going to try again at low speeds to see what effect that has.

Gary, I know what you mean about the grain being lifted and the blow-out that results from that. Just a question, did you try moving the skew in the opposite direction? I've had limited success doing this but could be worth a try but as we've both found out eventually you have to resort to scaping.