Nice to Meet You

Since I moved to Sterling, Massachusetts, I've been swamped with projects and traveling and had little time to get to know my community or let them know me. That changed when I talked to Dave Gibbs at the Sterling Historical Society about combining our efforts and interests. The Society has a lovely collection of Windsors that were made here in town as well as a barn full of the old tools from its workshops. The first floor of the barn is relatively empty, and I thought it would be a great location to host some 6 person classes. So, next summer, I hope to schedule three classes there, but I'll post more on that once we work out the details.
To help introduce me to the community, the Sterling Historical Society hosted a demonstration at the local American Legion post and Ross Jones of Harvard Video Productions filmed it for us. Here is the video of the demonstration.
If it doesn't appear on your screen, click here to go to the original site.



As you can see, I am elated to be starting this project. I think 6 is a great number of students for a class. Plenty enough for a group energy and atmosphere but few enough for lots of personal attention.

And if I got you interested in my talk with Dudley Hershbach, here is a great interview with him that I found every bit as engaging as sitting next to him on the plane.



and once again, the link if you don't see the video here.

Turning Practice

I recently wrote guest blog entry and made a video for Highland Woodworkings blog and I wanted to make sure that I posted the link. You can click here to view the post and video.
I've finally figure out my new editing software and should have more videos coming soon!


And for all our old friends, here is the Chairnotes covergirl last week on our brief vacation to the Fingerlakes in upstate New York. We were visiting a local goat farm when we came across this pooch who happened to be the spitting image of our beloved Daisy dog. Someone once described heaven as seeing all the dogs you've ever loved running up to greet you. I think the look on her face says it all.

And the Lathe Turns On

Well, it doesn't turn on for long in this video about the skew, but now that the basics are covered, we'll get to the action next!

On the teaching front, it looks like I only have a couple of more slots for teaching at the shop this year, so anyone interested should get in touch with me to secure a slot. Thanks

Movement and the Skew

I'm very pleased to say that Fine Woodworking Magazine has a review of the Galbert Caliper in the May/ June issue. Check it out!

Here is a short video about more steps that can be taken to make your skew work better. As I've said before, there is much to know before starting cutting to avoid that moment where the skew seems like it just won't work for you. Patience and prep are all that's needed.

Grinding and Honing the Skew (Video)

Something besides the skew is giving me trouble these days at the lathe! This is what I get during thunderstorms, and all the reasoning in the world doesn't seem to work.

Here is a video of grinding and honing the skew chisel.



Here is the edge part of the way through the honing process. You can see where the arrow indicates a small portion that the stone hasn't reached. It's vital to easy skewing that the entire edge be honed, so back to the stones. If I experience a catch (and it does happen, I assure you) I immediately check the edge. More often than not, I find a small area that has a burr or some other distortion. Think about the tracks left by a chipped plane blade, and the different force needed to push it. Now imagine that spot engaging a whirling piece of wood.



A few benefits come from maintaining such a large hollow grind.
The tool rides on two distinct edges while on the stone which helps maintain the correct position while honing.
The second is that the area being honed is so small that even a fine stone cuts to the edge quickly.
Also, the smooth stone offers less resistance while honing which increases the sensitivity to the contact between the tool and the stone, which may also help maintaining the correct position.

Below you can see a wonderful telltale sign of correct contact with the stone. You can see the distinct trail marks left where the edge and back of the bevel contact. It is always better to fault by having the edge of the bevel rise up, because it doesn't matter if the back part of the bevel is slightly rounded.



As usual, the real test of a sharp tool is to cut the endgrain of pine.


I feel like I can't stress the importance of sharpening enough when it comes to learning the skew. I can turn with a compromised gouge, but I can't create good turnings with a dull skew. I did check the geometry of my cutting edge and found that the radius edge is at around a 70 degree angle to the length of the skew and the bevels are around 25 degrees. It's the first time I've measured them. I generally look at the length of the bevel for information about its correctness. I know folks who turn beautifully with bevels so long that I get chills!

And as far as the radius goes, I like to keep it subtle so that I can still use the toe and heel of the edge easily. They come into play a lot in more advanced techniques, but we've still got a ways to go before that.

Skew Nitty Gritty

During my turning demonstrations last week, a tense hush would come over the folks watching when I started using the skew. Being a self taught turner, I knew exactly why.

One man came up to me and said that he always had trouble with the skew and I immediately apologized for what I was about to say.

"It's the tool, it's not sharp."

Now, of course, I've never seen his skew, but in my experience, most people learning to use the skew, including myself, never make it out of the gates because of poor edge geometry and maintenance. Of course you can't get the thing to work, it's like trying to drive on 4 flat tires. This should be good news, right?! We get to "blame the tool"!! So my posts on the skew are going to go a ways before we ever see spinning wood.


There are different sized skews for different jobs. The larger skews tend to dampen vibration easily with their added mass and excel at long planing cuts, while the smaller skews are nimble in tight spaces and offer increased sensitivity. But that's not to say that both cannot perform all tasks. Even though I own both skews shown, I almost exclusively work with the smaller one, because when I was learning, it was all I had. You may find yourself in a similar bind. Had I to do it over again, I might wish that all I had was the larger one, because those long planing cuts really are that much easier with it. But alas, the large one still feels too cumbersome to me when rolling beads etc...

You'll notice that I prefer the oval shaped skews. They aid me in rolling the skew while cutting beads or planing shapes. In the early days, when all I had was the crappy 1/2" skew that came with my second hand lathe, I rounded the sharp corners on the grinder with fine results.

Also in the image, you can see that I prefer a slightly curved edge. Not only does this serve to hold the toe and heel of the tool away from the workpiece (and catching), but it allows the tool to take a slightly lighter shaving with more control (isn't that the whole point). Anyone whose monkeyed around with a skew has encountered the hurdle of entering the cut without the tool grabbing too much and going out of control. I like to take every opportunity to gain control when entering the cut, hence the curve.

Hopefully, you can see the grind and the flats in the image. I keep my skews very hollow ground. I don't let the hollow get much small than you see in the image. I do this by carefully hollow grinding it and then honing it directly on my 8000 grit waterstone. This is a new technique (I only brought one stone to Saratoga), but it yielded great results. The 8000 grit stone barely removed any of the hollow while getting rid of the burr and left me lovely shiny little flats on the back and edge of the bevel. When it came time to hone, in between each leg (yep, each leg, how often do you do it?) a couple of strokes on my dry stone kept it in top shape. Because there is such a small amount of surface area contacting the stone, even a fine stone cuts quickly.

Before heading into talking about exact sharpening angles, (which I am avoiding, because there are no such things in my shop) I'd like to end by stressing the most important part, and if you forget all the rest, I hope you remember this. The edge of the skew must not be rounded over.

Even though the flats at the edge are tiny, they must be geometrically exact in their flatness. To have control with the skew, the bevel must always rubbing the workpiece while the edge is cutting. A rounded over edge will force you to roll off of the bevel to get the edge to cut and without the bevel contact, the force of the spinning piece will overwhelm any white knuckled attempts to control the tool.
I suspect that this is the root of most folks initial troubles with the skew, getting it correctly shaped, and keeping it that way.

I'm working on a grinding and honing video for the next posting.