# How in the &%$# do I sharpen a skew



## bitshird (Jul 8, 2008)

This is driving me even more nuts than I was to begin with![] The only book I have on wood turning is Turning Wood by Richard Raffan, the way it appears to me  he is sharpening his skews with a crown or belly , I would have thought it would be better if it were hollow ground or a flat sided v, 
 I really don't have any fancy machines to sharpen with yet, just a disc/belt sander and a crappy bench grinder, I have a Diamond wheeled lapidary grinder but I can't for the life of me get either of my skews near the wheels.
I've tried stoning the edges, they feel sharp, but my 1 in. just rides over the wood, I can get my 1/2 to cut for a short distance but then it digs in, 
These were older Craftsman HSS and the steel seems pretty good, but I'm not sure the presentation angles were right to begin with, I can lay a 1 in gouge almost on edge and turn ribbons or at least long pieces, I managed to finally get one pen done today for my pen in the hat trade, but I would really like to learn to cut with a skew, 
I looked through 8 or 9 pages in search, but couldn't find any definitive answers or angles,  some suggestions please


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## ronhampton (Jul 9, 2008)

ken,i use those little diamond hones from highland woodworking the fine will get it sharp enough to shave with.dont know what i'll do when the hollow grind goes though[:0]hope this helps a little ron.


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## livertrans (Jul 9, 2008)

Its taken me 6 months to get good results with my skew chisels. It takes practice. I have yet to have any luck with my 1 incher. I pretty much stick with my 1/2 inch skew, but am looking to buy a 3/4 incher. I sharpen mine 
with a wolverene with the skew attachment then use 600 and 1200 grit waterstones. Then I touch up my skew as I am using it with a diamond hone. I did have good luck also using sandpaper glued to a piece of glass. But it takes a little practice doing it with waterstones and sandpaper. Also I learned a lot watching YoYo's videos. He is an artist with a skew. And his videos are free to watch.


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## Fred (Jul 9, 2008)

Ken, If you are ever down towards my area of GA - just near Stone Mountain - bring it with you and I'll sharpen it for you on my Tormek. No problem - just need a bit of time to reshape the edge and get it scary sharp. 

Whatever you decide on using I would highly recommend that you use a jig for the skew (and all your tools). Otherwise all you will end up doing is rounding over the edge if you have it shaped in a hollow grind. Rounding it over even a little bit is enough to cause you much trouble and headaches.

A slow speed wheel that is water cooled is best IMHO. Grinders are just that - a grinder and something I believe ought to e used to fix the edge on a lawnmower blade and such. When sharpening you want very fine control of the edge. If you were to look at the edge under a microscope (very low power to) at a cutting tool sharpened on a grinder vs one shaped on a sharpener you would see that the grinder edge is rough and jagged. The sharpener is finely polished and scary sharp! Kind of like a hacksaw blade compared to a razor blade edge ...

And we haven't even thought about the heat damage possibilities to the metal from a dry grinder. Arghhhhhhhh! 

Another thing you can try is to take it with you and visit your favorite Woodcraft store and ask them to demo the Tormek using your skew. Be realy interested and maybe they will do you a favor. Mine would if they were asked to. Heck, they may even made a sale in the process. Ya just never know my friend!


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## Dan_F (Jul 9, 2008)

Ken---I just made a honing wheel that mounts on my lathe spindle, and posted it in the shops, jigs... forum  http://www.penturners.org/forum/forum.asp?FORUM_ID=29

As far as angles, Alan Lacer (Skew guru) suggests that the width of the bevel be 1.5 X the thickness of the blade. That is supposed to give about the optimal bevel angle, and is easier to measure. I HIGHLY recommend Alan's video "The Skew Chisel: the dark side/the sweet side". It will cover general use as well as sharpening. 

No need to be concerned about burning the edges of HSS tools with a dry grinder, they won't lose their temper like regular tool steel will. 

My recommendation would be get yourself a decent two wheeled 8" grinder with white wheels, slow speed if you do flat work, high speed if just lathe work. Add to that a Wolverine jig, make a honing wheel like mine and you will be in sharpening nirvana. 

Here is a pic of my grinder with the Wolverine platform for skews.







Dan


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## Russianwolf (Jul 9, 2008)

I sharpen my 1 incher and 1/2 incher on a cheap little sharpener that PSI sells. Cost like $25 and is nothing more than a polyacrylic disc that you stick sand paper to (same concept as the worksharp systems) and mounts on the lathe. I have 220 grit on one side and 400 on the other most of the time, but if I want to change a shape I'll throw on some 80 grit. I leave this mounted on the lathe 95% of the time so I can touch up an edge without moving from the lathe. It works well for me.


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## Blind_Squirrel (Jul 9, 2008)

Jet wet grinder, Tormek jigs.


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## marcruby (Jul 9, 2008)

Ken;

If the skew is digging in (or not cutting at all) it's usually a technique problem.  Skews are very simple tools that depend on how precise your control of the cut it.  I'm not criticising -- it took me an embarrassing amount of time to pick one up without a bit of trepidation.

Watch the Lacer DVD.  All he uses is a grinder and a pocket sized diamond hone.  And he can produce an almost polished surface on a long cut.  I like to use a wet sharpening stone, since sharper is always better (except when a really sharp skew digs in), But grinding and a bit of honing is really sufficient.

Marc


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## randyrls (Jul 9, 2008)

> _Originally posted by bitshird_
> 
> This is driving me even more nuts than I was to begin with![] The only book I have on wood turning is Turning Wood by Richard Raffan, the way it appears to me  he is sharpening his skews with a crown or belly , I would have thought it would be better if it were hollow ground or a flat sided v,



Ken;   Using a grinder on a skew produces a "hollow grind" but I prefer to do a flat grind on my skews and other chisels.

I use a belt sander with a Wolverine Jig and Skew attachment to sharpen my tools.  The advantages are they don't dig in and you can sharpen them without "bluing" the edges.  I was leary about the belt turning toward the sharp edge, but it doesn't seem to be a problem.

I diamond hone between sharpening.


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## YoYoSpin (Jul 9, 2008)

This is the skew sharpening setup I've used (and liked) for several years: http://www.oneway.ca/sharpening/skew.htm


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## Paul Downes (Jul 9, 2008)

I happen to like the curved skew for pen turning. I have a 1-1/2" wide skew that I use often as a scraper. I also use a straight edged 1/2" skew for most of my conventional skew work. What I have found for production(speed) turning of poly blanks is; First I sand the blank corners off on a belt sander. I then mount the blank in the lathe and use a 30 degree included angle scraper to get the blank round. This is done by just using the point of the tool. Any fractures that occur are relatively shallow. You might want to use a face shield because it throws off a lot of sharp chips. As soon as the blank is round I switch to the 1-1/2" curved scraper to smooth out the surface and then switch to the 1/2" scraper to turn the form and cut into the bushing sizes minus some for sanding.

I sharpen on a pedestal grinder and also use diamond hones and stone hones.


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## bitshird (Jul 9, 2008)

Thanks folks, I'm going out and see if I can get one of them sharp on my belt sander, I believe I can injuneer something to work as a jig.


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## redfishsc (Jul 9, 2008)

Bitshird, 


Do yourself a MONSTROUS FAVOR and go to Harbor Freight and buy their 4-sided diamond stone setup (not pictured) or the individual cards (below). I use the 4-sided setup, paid the same price. The trick is to anchor the thing to your workbench tightly so it doesn't budge when you are honing.

I shape my skew at work with the bench grinder, but I'd hone it at home with these--- I went for 6 months and a couple hundred pens without touching a grinder. Now that I have the Sheppach, I use it, but the diamond stone works about as well. The only thing the Sheppach has over the diamond stone for a skew is that I get to turn on a power tool to sharpen the skew! (well, that, and the leather strop is also good after the diamond hone).


These may be "cheap" but they do last plenty long enough for the price.


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