A former student, of mine, and then teaching partner gave me some pine boards he removed from his home during a renovation project. His home predates the Civil War and over the years has served as a tavern, boarding house and farm. Although the pine was not original construction, it is obvious from the grain and width, it is very old. I spent the last couple of days getting some spindles made for a crib project, which will be for him. I imagine he will be a grandpa one of these days.

I can't decide if the spindle, when installed, should have the straight grain or cathedrals facing out.

Anyway, I turned these spindles using primarily the skew chisel. Started with square blanks. Rounded to the finished diameter, cut the "balls" and rounded ends, and the tapers with the skew. Did use a spindle gouge for the cove cuts and a parting tool for the end tenons.

Using the skew is becoming easier for me and I thought that this week's "Wisdom" would be some links to skew chisel use.

The following are for videos on various uses of the skew chisel. Tried to find some that weren't too long. There are lots out there! Mostly, I think, because of the difficulty of the learning curve for this lathe tool.

The next 2 links are for sharpening the skew and how to modify the skew to help prevent catches.

http://americanwoodworker.com/blogs/reviews/archive/2010/06/02/reshaping-the-skew-chisel.aspx

Do you have any favorite skew videos? How about posting them here for us!!

Safe Turning!!

---

Lew Kauffman-
Wood Turners Forum Host

Time traveler. Purveyor of the world's finest custom rolling pins!

---

Lew Kauffman-
Wood Turners Forum Host

Time traveler. Purveyor of the world's finest custom rolling pins!

Lerning curve? What learning curve? LOL I have used mine like a scraper from day 1 nd continue to do so as it is the only way I can get it to cut without tearing holes in my work

---

Charles Nicholls
Site Host
nicholls61@att.net
Proud supporter of The Wounded Warrior Project, Homes For Our Troops and the NRA

http://www.etsy.com/shop/nichollswoodworks

I see some flaws Lewis...no just bugs on my screen LOL. Those look fantastic. I cant wait to see the finished product. I'll look at the videos a little later when I have some time. Thanks for posting your awesome work! 

---

www.thepatriotwoodworker.com Proud Supporter of Homes For Our Troops

Thanks, Guys!

Mike, those were flaws, not bugs!!

Charles, the last link shows how to grind a skew so it has a curved cutting edge. This is supposed to reduce the catches. I am going to try it on one of my old skews and see if it is an improvement.

---

Lew Kauffman-
Wood Turners Forum Host

Time traveler. Purveyor of the world's finest custom rolling pins!

Yea Thanks Lew, I still don't have a stable way of grinding so I wont touch my good skew to the grinder until I do get a stable way to grind. I will try with an old skew as well and see if that helps

I'll let you know.

Lewis Kauffman said:

Thanks, Guys!

Mike, those were flaws, not bugs!!

Charles, the last link shows how to grind a skew so it has a curved cutting edge. This is supposed to reduce the catches. I am going to try it on one of my old skews and see if it is an improvement.

---

Lew Kauffman-
Wood Turners Forum Host

Time traveler. Purveyor of the world's finest custom rolling pins!