# Small Hands



## ngeb528

I have small hands and being a woman, find it hard to control the larger tools easily.

It may not be the safest resolution but I've found if I wrap my left pinky around the tool rest post, I get better control, especially with the detail work.  

It also helps me keep a straight line using a skew.

Nancy


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## JimB

I assume you are new to turning (I've been at it about a year). Better control will come with more experience and practice. I'm not even sure I understand what you are doing. If you wrap a pinky around the post how are you moving the tool across the blanK? The tool should glide across the rest and your hands should should both be moving with it. (Actually your whole body should move with it with your hand on the rest sliding along the rest and your hand on the tool handle should hold the handle against your side). 

Also, larger tools should be easier to control. They are heavier and will vibrate less and handle catches better. 

If you are wrapping your finger around the rest then that is dangerous. If you get a catch the tool could kick and you could end up getting stitches. 

Maybe if you give more details about what is happening someone can give you some help.


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## leehljp

IMHO, A skew is the most versatile tool and correctly used - gives the best overall results in most situations. I have not mastered it and just recently started using it. I bought an Alan Lacer DVD and watched that.

Having said that, skews need much more strength to control than scrapers. In my short time with it, I even thought of the "little finger" idea to give more control - But I didn't as I know what the possibilities of injury are. The Skew just wants to vibrate, rotate, or twist - if not in the precise position that only experience teaches and held with a strong grip. Strength and finesse are an almost necessity from the beginning.

I have a round end scraper, flat end scraper and a radius scraper that I shaped to my needs. These tools need much less strength to control, and finesse comes easier as more concentration can be focused on the cut than on the control, as is needed with a skew chisel.


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## marcruby

Lee;

Glad to see you're working on your skewery!!  Once you get used to getting the tool into the sweet spot and riding the bevel you will find it takes very little strength to work with it.  My guess is that you're digging in a bit more than you need to, which does make it hard to control.

The interesting thing that I've found is that mastering the skew makes you better with all your tools.  It must make the turner more sensitive to what the bevel and edge are doing.

Marc


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## leehljp

marcruby said:


> Lee;
> 
> Glad to see you're working on your skewery!!  Once you get used to getting the tool into the sweet spot and riding the bevel you will find it takes very little strength to work with it.  My guess is that you're digging in a bit more than you need to, which does make it hard to control.
> 
> The interesting thing that I've found is that mastering the skew makes you better with all your tools.  It must make the turner more sensitive to what the bevel and edge are doing.
> 
> Marc



Thanks Marc, for the encouragement.  A friend from the Philippines came by a couple of weeks ago and I let him practice by teaching what little I knew with using the skew. He was impressed with how smooth the cuts could be with the skew. I just haven't learned to naturally recognize/feel that sweet spot just yet, nor the fine control from end to end.

I am bringing my blanks to round with a skew though and getting them close.


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## amosfella

I can say that wrapping a finger around a toolrest is a very bad idea.  You can break your finger if the cool catches and jerks......


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## artistwood

after reading several posts on this forum, i bought a Lacer skew. its about 3/8" thick and 1 3/8" wide. really big skew! this was the first time i used one but have mastered it pretty well. i can use it right side up, upside down or as a scraper. this in the last 3 weeks. as for the little finger.......i have no feeling in my little finger since my surgury in janruary so i  keep it pretty much out of the way. i have found that the smaller "pen turning skews" are a lot harder to control than the big skew. i have no trouble controling it and neither does my daughter who also has small hands. the Lacer is kinda pricy but well worth it. i bought the rediused skew and have only caught it once on my first try with it. since then.....grrrrrrrrrrrrrreat!


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## holmqer

While I certainly don't have this level of control, one of the members of my AAW chapter gave a skew demo, and could easily control the skew with one hand and a gentle grip. So if I or any of us gets the tool control to an ideal state it takes no stength at all to use it.


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## Rmartin

One of the greatest golfers in history, Bobby Jones, said about how to grip the club, which I think works for turning as well, think as if you were holding a small live bird in your hand, just tight enough to keep it from flying away, but not too tight to harm it.


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## bitshird

when I'm turning, I lay my little finger in the grove of my tool rest, I ground one of my carbide scrapers so it would ride like a skew, (Thanks Marc) I'm still Skew challenged, but that has gotten me closer,  I really don't think it would be a good idea to wrap your little finger around the tool post, unless you mean your holding you finger under the tool rest between the back of the rest and the bed of the lathe, That sounds like a good way to get hurt badly.


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## SteveH

Nancy

If you have ever watched Bonnie Klein, she wraps her index finger of her left hand around the tool post, under the tool rest.  Seems to work well for her and she demonstrates turning that way in her classes


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## wolftat

Are the handles to large of a diameter for you? If that is the problem, make some new handles out of a piece of maple or something. I have several tools that I have rehandled to fit my hands, but I have the opposite problem, my hands are big.


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## ngeb528

I find I have a lot more control, especially for the detail work, by putting my little finger both under the edge of the tool rest and sometimes wrapping it around the the post - normally when I'm working tiny increments away to get the ends by the bushings just right.

I think, sometimes, we have to make things work the way that's best for each of us.


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## nava1uni

I also have small hands.  When I was an auto mechanic I use to grind the handles so I could use them more easily.  Ergonomics ahead of time.  I use my index finger in the grove of the tool rest also.  You can also grind the handles so they fit your hand better.


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## PenPal

*Taming the Skew*

I have a mate who said give me an hour and I will teach you the art of the Skew. First thing he said was do you dance and before I backed away (read about guys like that) he demonstrated how you use your body to control the skew, also he used a skew in each hand from different ends lightly holding with precision. Richard Raffan a member of our wood guild here often says in demos when he gets a catch ( first time)

Having said that Richard also uses the Skew on the flat as a scraper, horses for courses. My final shaping is with the flat scraper gives about 400 grit finish.

Have success Peter.


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## ngeb528

I do move back and forth when I'm turning.  Taught my hubby that technique but unless I'm anchored to the tool rest, I find I get more digs into the wood/acrylic.

It's just the way it works for me.


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## Wildman

Nancy if your just using your two hands to control your turning tools, could see why may be difficult to control your tools. One good book or video demonstrating tool grip, stance and using the rest of your body to control your tool is “Turning Wood by  Richard Raffin.”  See there is a revised addition to the book out now. My library still has the old edition of the book. Gave a copy of the video to my brother. 

Raffin demonstrated gripping the tool rest with a finger for certain cuts. Do not remember if it was the tool rest post or not.  

I still use many of the techniques he provides for holding a tool and body support.


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## ngeb528

Part of the problem is that most of the tools I use are short so using my body to brace them isn't an option.


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## Wildman

Whether using short or long handle tools, elbows tucked in along my sides. Tool handle rest under my forearm, other hand guides tool along the rest. Use normal overhand, underhand or couple finger grip on gouge or chisel.  Also use this method for one hand holding tool other riding on back of wood for support. 

Stand with legs shoulder width apart, my whole body moves with the tool. Kind of swaying and switching from left to right hand tool holding. Took me awhile to learn keep feet in sync rest of body. 

Only time elbows not at my sides is when roughing out, or using parting tools. Still use rest of my body to move the tool most of the time.


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## nava1uni

I also switch hands depending on the direction I am going.  right for going toward the head stock and left toward the tail stock  and my body moves also in rhythm with the movement of the tools. I use methods I learned form the Son of Skew and SKew dvds.


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## ngeb528

nava1uni said:


> I also switch hands depending on the direction I am going. right for going toward the head stock and left toward the tail stock and my body moves also in rhythm with the movement of the tools. I use methods I learned form the Son of Skew and SKew dvds.


 
I also switch hands, depending... LOML can't figure out how I'm able to do that and still control the chisel.


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## KenV

Nancy  -- you might try some of the interchangable handles.  I am finding that they provide a bit smaller fit in the hand and provide a consistent feel.  I am mostly using 3/8 and 1/2 inch shank tools and find then easier to sharpen without the handle in the way.  

Doug Thompsons 3/8 gouges have become favorites and they come without handle so one handle for a set of gouges (U bowl, vBowl, Spingle, Detail, Shallow Detail) allows me to do most every thing except the skew and I have a skew blade to fit the same handle.


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