The skew is killing me!

[Heartwoodturning]

I have had a lot of success with my skew lately. It is a one inch skew and I am thinking that is helping me. From what I have read, the smaller skews are easier to have issues with, so learning with a larger is probably a good thing for me.

So for me, the SHARP SHARP helps a lot

I taught myself to turn using a Record 3/4 inch skew (which was my only tool) which I find to be ideal. Smaller skews are harder to use in my opinion as you have less of the blade to play with.

I sharpen by hand on my sharpening stone before I start working. Even the best quality skew will catch if it is blunt. I use a flexcut strop to maintain the edge between making each pen. If I work something really dense like ebony I sharpen up again before the next pen.