I recently picked up a CryoTek 1" rounded skew. I already had a 1/2" skew for smaller detail work, and I've been using both skews pretty extensively in recent weeks as I make chess pieces.
I was curious to try the rounded style grind after watching some videos on it, which is why I went with this one when I was shopping for a larger skew a couple of months ago. It seems like the primary advantage of the rounded grind is that it's a little more forgiving on planing cuts, while some of the disadvantages are that it's not quite as good for peeling cuts, v-grooves, or scraping cuts in most situations.
I actually love this skew, but after getting in many hours of lathe time with both this one and my smaller skew (which has a straight grind instead of a rounded shape), I'm finding I prefer a straight grind. I don't struggle to get smooth planing cuts with the smaller/straight skew anyway, and I'm finding the rounded shape isn't quite as good of a fit for the way I like to turn. It's also more of a pain to sharpen than the straight skew.
How hard would it be to re-grind this thing to straight? What would the steps for that look like? I have a coarse stone wheel (I think 64 or 80 grit) on my grinder, though it almost never gets used because I have not really had much occasion to re-profile my tools. Mostly I just use my finer white aluminum oxide wheel (I think it's maybe 240 grit?) for regular sharpening on most of my tools, or at least my gouges. Actually I only used the grinder on this skew one time right after I bought it. Everything since then has been touch-up with a drop of mineral oil on my 1200 grit diamond card, and a few passes to get it back to scary sharp when needed.
I can find a fair number of tutorials online for how to take your straight-ground skew and add a radius/curve to it, but nothing for how to go in the opposite direction
I have the Easy Grind system from CSUSA (platform, extendable V-arm, etc.) and it works great. Far as I can tell, it's equivalent to the Wolverine system that I used in woodshop class back in the day.
I was curious to try the rounded style grind after watching some videos on it, which is why I went with this one when I was shopping for a larger skew a couple of months ago. It seems like the primary advantage of the rounded grind is that it's a little more forgiving on planing cuts, while some of the disadvantages are that it's not quite as good for peeling cuts, v-grooves, or scraping cuts in most situations.
I actually love this skew, but after getting in many hours of lathe time with both this one and my smaller skew (which has a straight grind instead of a rounded shape), I'm finding I prefer a straight grind. I don't struggle to get smooth planing cuts with the smaller/straight skew anyway, and I'm finding the rounded shape isn't quite as good of a fit for the way I like to turn. It's also more of a pain to sharpen than the straight skew.
How hard would it be to re-grind this thing to straight? What would the steps for that look like? I have a coarse stone wheel (I think 64 or 80 grit) on my grinder, though it almost never gets used because I have not really had much occasion to re-profile my tools. Mostly I just use my finer white aluminum oxide wheel (I think it's maybe 240 grit?) for regular sharpening on most of my tools, or at least my gouges. Actually I only used the grinder on this skew one time right after I bought it. Everything since then has been touch-up with a drop of mineral oil on my 1200 grit diamond card, and a few passes to get it back to scary sharp when needed.
I can find a fair number of tutorials online for how to take your straight-ground skew and add a radius/curve to it, but nothing for how to go in the opposite direction
I have the Easy Grind system from CSUSA (platform, extendable V-arm, etc.) and it works great. Far as I can tell, it's equivalent to the Wolverine system that I used in woodshop class back in the day.
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