How hard is it to re-grind a skew?

[BHuij]

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.

 

[duncsuss]

It's easy. Use the platform, not a jig, and set the platform position and angle to give you the bevel length (an alternate way of describing the angle of the grind) that you want.

If you mark the desired angle of skew on the platform (maybe put some tape down first so it's easy to remove), one line to the left and one to the right it makes it easier to get both sides the same.

 

[jttheclockman]

Duncan said it all. The idea is to keep both sides equal and use a piece of tape 90 degrees to the sides and tape all around the skew. Figure out what angle you want. That is up to you. plenty of videos of how to select angles. Then set you platform to that and have at it. Slowly gring to shpe. When you marked the tape it should be to the least amount of material need to take off. You can do that with a square held on the side and line up to cutting edge. You can mark that with a sharpie and then put tape on. Try not to go below tape line or you have to move the finish line each time you do. Not hard to do at all. You really do not need to go to a course stone. Your standard sharpening stone will get it done easily.