wolftat
Product Reviews Manager
This is a compilation of all the Skogger reviews without the chatter. I am testing this to see how it works for now.
10-24-2008, 12:14 PM rherrell
The first photo is the tool itself
The square part of the tool is 14mm or approx. 9/16" and it extends 3 1/2". The piece of wood I received was 9" so the overall length is approx. 12 1/2". You'll need a 1/2" bit to drill the hole in the handle. It comes with everything you see and also includes an allen wrench to change the insert, which is also 14mm square.
I tried it on softwood, hardwood, acrylic and Tru-Stone.
This is the softwood Holly. As you can see it left the surface kind of rough.
This is Amboyna burl. It made short order of it and I was able to get a fairly smooth finish.
This is acrylic and it also came out fairly smooth.
Sorry about the photo. I don't know what happened and when I tried rotating the photo it made it worse.
This is Blue Lapis Tru-Stone, probably the hardest Tru-Stone they make. As you can see I was able to get a fairly smooth finish. Those of you who have turned Blue Lapis know how hard it is. I was curious so I timed how long it took to turn this 5" blank to round and I was amazed, 2 min. 45 sec.. With normal tools it takes me about 20 min. to turn one barrel and I have to sharpen frequently.
I found that tilting the tool about 30 degrees and using it like a skew gave me the best results. Hold it like a scraper and it works like a scraper. Dig in the corner and you can remove stock quickly.
Conclusions......
Keep in mind that I used this tool for all of an hour but it doesn't strike me as a shaping tool. Maybe with some practice but not today.
Where this tool shines is with the harder stuff, softwoods are better handled with a skew. It made quick work of the Amboyna and the acrylic and really ate up the Tru-Stone. If you do alot of Tru-Stone you're going to love it but if all you do is wood then not so much.
Am I glad I bought it? Yes. It's one of those tools that you won't use every day but sure are glad to have when you need it. And the BEST part is............................
You don't have to sharpen it!:wink::biggrin:
10-25-2008, 10:20 PM its_virgil
I finally got the handle for my new Skogger made today. I then started playing with it. I also have the Easy Rougher so I was familiar with techniques for using the tool. I did some spindle turning first. I honestly think the Skogger performed better at spindle turning than the Easy Rougher. I don't really know why it should unless Peter used a better carbide cutter. The cutters look very similar. I then turned a pen using the Skogger. I turn pens from start to finish with a skew. After getting the blank to it final (almost) diameter I did my final cut on half of the pen with the Skogger and on the other half with my skew. The two halves were almost equally smooth. The skew cut half was a little smoother but not by much. It was actually hard to tell the difference, but there was just a subtle difference.
I then turned a bowl using only the Skogger. The blank was already bandsawded round. The Skogger did a great job roughing the bowl to round, turning a tenon for chucking and then turning the foot. Shaping the bowl's outside was quicker than with bowl gouges and just as smooth. The endgrain areas showed no tearout. I did apply thinned shellac before making the final cut which helps ease the tearout of the endgrain areas. I was quite pleased with the way the Skogger performed on the outside.
I then reversed the bowl and hollowed out the inside. I again used only the Skogger for the inside. Performance was equally well as it was on the outside. Shaping the inside was more difficult than with bowl gouges. The bottom is flat instead of curved as are the inside walls of the bowl. The Easy Rougher has two cutters with a radius which makes inside curves a bit easier. Maybe Peter could make those available also. I will try attaching the radius cutter from the Easy Rougher to the Skogger to see what happens.
My only complaint about the Skogger was found when turning the inside of the bowl. The handle furnished with the Skogger is a bit short for hollowing bowls. I was able to move the tool rest inside the bowl and that helped a lot. I will probably be making a new handle for my Skogger and I will make the handle longer.
I did not try any plastics. Maybe tomorrow. I may see how it performs on a set of my snake blanks.
I really like the tool and I do not regret purchasing one. Anyone considering the Easy Rougher should just get the Skogger from Peter and maybe consider a longer handle for use with bowls. The pictures shows the bowl and pen I made using this tool. No sanding has been done on the bowl. Sorry, no pictures during turning.
Do a good turn daily!
Don
Attached Thumbnails
11-01-2008, 07:28 PM Daniel
OK I turned three pocket pens today with the skogger.
First keep in mind I have never turned the pocket pen before or the acrylic I was turning which was woodpro solid Black, Blue and Pink.
My first blank was the Black. I got everything set up. got the little mandrel thing figured out etc and started turning. I had the rest set up at mid point to the Blank (I later figured out I want it just a touch high of center) and had a hard time getting the tool to get a good bite. this was a combination of the blank material and working very close to the drill chuck that holds the mandrel. I toyed with different attack angles etc but still felt I was struggling to much. I switched to my 1/4 inch carbide tipped spindle gouge. I still could not get a good bite in fact I was not doing as well with the gouge as I had been with the skogger. so back to the skogger. after some experimenting with rest height and how I was handling the tool I started getting some pretty good smooth cuts. in finishing the closed end of the blank though I actually turned it to then and the end came off. OK pen one in the trash.
Blank two was the Blue. correcting the length of my blank so I did not turn the end off like before. And having some experience with the skogger under my belt. I was able to actually try some different ideas on this one. I figured out how to get a parting cut with the tool this giving me more room at the head stock. with this advantage I was able to turn the blank down all the way to the bushing and get a very smooth finish.
I was trying to shape the end on this blank with my skew and actually switched back to the skooger and was able to shape a semi bullet shape to the end of the barrel with it. This also happens to be the only pen out of three that I did not manage to mess up.
Pen three was the Pink. now feeling comfortable with the skogger I concentrated on getting smooth even passes taking off as much material as possible. It reminded me very much of watching my metal lathe take off the next pass. I need some more practice with keeping the cuts good and straight but they came out smother than any thing I have ever gotten with any other tool.
The feel of the tool is very silky smooth once you get comfortable with it. It cuts like butter.
One problem with my testing is that the Pocket pen mandrel does not hold with that much friction. I have no dought that I can make even deeper passes with the skogger when I turn a pen on a regular mandrel. I was getting a little over an 8th of an inch turned off per pass. trying to go deeper caused the blank to catch and spin on the mandrel. I never did get a since that the skogger was getting over worked. I don't think my metal lathe would remove this much material and leave as smooth a surface on the blank.
I am very happy with the tool and would by it again in a heart beat. it is a tough little tool that will whittle a blank down to pen size in a hurry and that is what I was looking for. That it makes working with acrylic much easier is a big plus.
by the way that last little pink pen. well it met the same fate as the black one. I gotta figure out how to determine where the drilled out portion of the blank is better and stop wasting blanks.
__________________
The first photo is the tool itself
The square part of the tool is 14mm or approx. 9/16" and it extends 3 1/2". The piece of wood I received was 9" so the overall length is approx. 12 1/2". You'll need a 1/2" bit to drill the hole in the handle. It comes with everything you see and also includes an allen wrench to change the insert, which is also 14mm square.
I tried it on softwood, hardwood, acrylic and Tru-Stone.
This is the softwood Holly. As you can see it left the surface kind of rough.
This is Amboyna burl. It made short order of it and I was able to get a fairly smooth finish.
This is acrylic and it also came out fairly smooth.
Sorry about the photo. I don't know what happened and when I tried rotating the photo it made it worse.
This is Blue Lapis Tru-Stone, probably the hardest Tru-Stone they make. As you can see I was able to get a fairly smooth finish. Those of you who have turned Blue Lapis know how hard it is. I was curious so I timed how long it took to turn this 5" blank to round and I was amazed, 2 min. 45 sec.. With normal tools it takes me about 20 min. to turn one barrel and I have to sharpen frequently.
I found that tilting the tool about 30 degrees and using it like a skew gave me the best results. Hold it like a scraper and it works like a scraper. Dig in the corner and you can remove stock quickly.
Conclusions......
Keep in mind that I used this tool for all of an hour but it doesn't strike me as a shaping tool. Maybe with some practice but not today.
Where this tool shines is with the harder stuff, softwoods are better handled with a skew. It made quick work of the Amboyna and the acrylic and really ate up the Tru-Stone. If you do alot of Tru-Stone you're going to love it but if all you do is wood then not so much.
Am I glad I bought it? Yes. It's one of those tools that you won't use every day but sure are glad to have when you need it. And the BEST part is............................
You don't have to sharpen it!:wink::biggrin:
I finally got the handle for my new Skogger made today. I then started playing with it. I also have the Easy Rougher so I was familiar with techniques for using the tool. I did some spindle turning first. I honestly think the Skogger performed better at spindle turning than the Easy Rougher. I don't really know why it should unless Peter used a better carbide cutter. The cutters look very similar. I then turned a pen using the Skogger. I turn pens from start to finish with a skew. After getting the blank to it final (almost) diameter I did my final cut on half of the pen with the Skogger and on the other half with my skew. The two halves were almost equally smooth. The skew cut half was a little smoother but not by much. It was actually hard to tell the difference, but there was just a subtle difference.
I then turned a bowl using only the Skogger. The blank was already bandsawded round. The Skogger did a great job roughing the bowl to round, turning a tenon for chucking and then turning the foot. Shaping the bowl's outside was quicker than with bowl gouges and just as smooth. The endgrain areas showed no tearout. I did apply thinned shellac before making the final cut which helps ease the tearout of the endgrain areas. I was quite pleased with the way the Skogger performed on the outside.
I then reversed the bowl and hollowed out the inside. I again used only the Skogger for the inside. Performance was equally well as it was on the outside. Shaping the inside was more difficult than with bowl gouges. The bottom is flat instead of curved as are the inside walls of the bowl. The Easy Rougher has two cutters with a radius which makes inside curves a bit easier. Maybe Peter could make those available also. I will try attaching the radius cutter from the Easy Rougher to the Skogger to see what happens.
My only complaint about the Skogger was found when turning the inside of the bowl. The handle furnished with the Skogger is a bit short for hollowing bowls. I was able to move the tool rest inside the bowl and that helped a lot. I will probably be making a new handle for my Skogger and I will make the handle longer.
I did not try any plastics. Maybe tomorrow. I may see how it performs on a set of my snake blanks.
I really like the tool and I do not regret purchasing one. Anyone considering the Easy Rougher should just get the Skogger from Peter and maybe consider a longer handle for use with bowls. The pictures shows the bowl and pen I made using this tool. No sanding has been done on the bowl. Sorry, no pictures during turning.
Do a good turn daily!
Don
Attached Thumbnails
OK I turned three pocket pens today with the skogger.
First keep in mind I have never turned the pocket pen before or the acrylic I was turning which was woodpro solid Black, Blue and Pink.
My first blank was the Black. I got everything set up. got the little mandrel thing figured out etc and started turning. I had the rest set up at mid point to the Blank (I later figured out I want it just a touch high of center) and had a hard time getting the tool to get a good bite. this was a combination of the blank material and working very close to the drill chuck that holds the mandrel. I toyed with different attack angles etc but still felt I was struggling to much. I switched to my 1/4 inch carbide tipped spindle gouge. I still could not get a good bite in fact I was not doing as well with the gouge as I had been with the skogger. so back to the skogger. after some experimenting with rest height and how I was handling the tool I started getting some pretty good smooth cuts. in finishing the closed end of the blank though I actually turned it to then and the end came off. OK pen one in the trash.
Blank two was the Blue. correcting the length of my blank so I did not turn the end off like before. And having some experience with the skogger under my belt. I was able to actually try some different ideas on this one. I figured out how to get a parting cut with the tool this giving me more room at the head stock. with this advantage I was able to turn the blank down all the way to the bushing and get a very smooth finish.
I was trying to shape the end on this blank with my skew and actually switched back to the skooger and was able to shape a semi bullet shape to the end of the barrel with it. This also happens to be the only pen out of three that I did not manage to mess up.
Pen three was the Pink. now feeling comfortable with the skogger I concentrated on getting smooth even passes taking off as much material as possible. It reminded me very much of watching my metal lathe take off the next pass. I need some more practice with keeping the cuts good and straight but they came out smother than any thing I have ever gotten with any other tool.
The feel of the tool is very silky smooth once you get comfortable with it. It cuts like butter.
One problem with my testing is that the Pocket pen mandrel does not hold with that much friction. I have no dought that I can make even deeper passes with the skogger when I turn a pen on a regular mandrel. I was getting a little over an 8th of an inch turned off per pass. trying to go deeper caused the blank to catch and spin on the mandrel. I never did get a since that the skogger was getting over worked. I don't think my metal lathe would remove this much material and leave as smooth a surface on the blank.
I am very happy with the tool and would by it again in a heart beat. it is a tough little tool that will whittle a blank down to pen size in a hurry and that is what I was looking for. That it makes working with acrylic much easier is a big plus.
by the way that last little pink pen. well it met the same fate as the black one. I gotta figure out how to determine where the drilled out portion of the blank is better and stop wasting blanks.
__________________
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