No Roughing gouge, will a Skew do the trick?

[Hilton Ralphs]

Hi guys

I don't have a spindle Roughing gouge and I've had my eye on the Henry Taylor 1-1/4 Skew sold by Lee Valley so I was wondering if the Skew would suffice for the roughing work? I'm prepared to take the corners off with my bandsaw if necessary.

I was watching the Alan Lacer Skew video and I'm keen to try and use it as much as possible.

Is there perhaps a better Skew than the Henry Taylor?

Ta.

[Dave Cullen]

You can use a standard spindle gouge for roughing if you take the corners off the blank first. Or even a scraper. A skew is used on round blanks, in shear cut. Roughing with one would beat up the tool... and your nerves.

I still use my carbon steel skew. It takes an edge like a razor, but needs constant touch up. If it ever gets used up I'd consider the Henry Taylor or Doug Thompson.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

I have 4 skews, and use 3 of them. (One is a 1/4" mini-skew and it just doesn't have enough mass for anything other than very delicate skew work) I do rough spindles with 3 of my skews. I have two Allen Lacer skews that have an incredible amount of mass and I ease them into the material when using them for roughing.

The two important things to remember when using a skew........sharp, sharp, sharp.....and ride the bevel.

Most turners don't like using skews in general. With a lot of practice, it can become one of the most useful tools in your turning tool arsenal.

[Thom Sturgill]

You can also use a bowl gouge. Cut inward in a series of steps and then clean up. If you go the skew route, you do want a heavy skew with a rolled edge like the Lacer and the Henry Taylor. Packard Tools also sells one with the house brand which I believe is made by Hamlet.

Once mastered, the skew is a very versatile tool. After spending a month practising with my skew and continually challenging myself, I made a gavel using only the skew.
gavel.jpg
Handle is a bit short, but I presented it to the turning club President and it was passed down to the current President. Now I have to 'warm up' before attempting major skew work, but I still use it fairly often.

[Prashun Patel]

I didn't reLize this was an option. My skew was tricky to learn to use without catching. I would be afraid to use mine for roughing. Why not get a cheap roughing gouge? I have a cheap one that does the dirty work fine

[Roger Chandler]

A skew can be used for spindle roughing.......peeling/planing cuts. Not recommended for bowl or vessel use.......unless one has full mastery of the most difficult tool in turning!

[Rik Rickerson]

Hi guys

Is there perhaps a better Skew than the Henry Taylor?

Ta.

Ta,

I'd recommend either an Alan Lacer or Doug Thompson skew - have both and love them. The Henry Taylor will require a fair amount of work to get it into a user friendly condition. Per Alan's video you will want to radius on the bottom edge and chamfer the corners of the top edge.

As Ken mentioned, keep it sharp! Honing is your friend when it comes to using a skew.

[Walter Mooney]

I use my skew for roughing spindle work all the time! After taking a course from Mr. Lacer, and another a while later from a guy in our club, I've gotten pretty good with it. It's quite easy and the results can turn out quite smooth. I have both a Lacer skew (the big one ~1-1/2") and a Taylor (3/4") and use them both. Didn't take too much work to make the Taylor ready for use. I'm really glad I got used to using a skew!

[Mike Holbrook]

There are quite a few YouTube videos on skews and how to use them. Dave at D-Way tools makes tools that I understand are very good. In his video he demonstrates with a large heavy skew and seems to think it can be one of the fastest ways to remove wood, using a "peeling cut". He also demonstrates a small roughing gouge, actually removing the initial corners with the roughing gouge.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTfoDsjx5Xo

If I am calculating prices correctly the D-Way tools are in the ball park with the Taylor tools and made of similar metal? I wonder about tools of this sort with removable handles though. It looks like Dave's tools use a large knob to lock the blades in place? Maybe the knob can serve as a side handle, then again it might be in the way for some users? Does the design of a skew come into how user friendly/dangerous it may be? I notice the D-Way skew Dave uses has a curved blade, unlike others I have seen with a straight edge. Dave demonstrates how he uses the different parts of the curved blade for different work....Obviously I don't understand every thing I know about this subject though.

[Jim Underwood]

As everyone states, it's possible to use a skew for roughing out.

However, I make the assertion that a gouge is a better choice for roughing. I think you can remove a lot more material with less effort, and it doesn't have to be razor sharp, nor do you have to learn with a tool that takes exacting technique.
Why do I say that the gouge can remove more material than a skew? The basic reason is that because of the curved surface, you can make a peeling and a planing cut at the same time. Not so with the skew. It can make a planing cut, or a peeling cut, but not both at the same time.

All that being said, if you just want to learn how to use a skew, then knock yourself out. It's worth learning. And it's the first tool I tried to master because everyone said it was so difficult... I figured that If I could learn the principles of the skew, then the others would be easy...I'm just wired that way I guess.

[Hilton Ralphs]

I figured that If I could learn the principles of the skew, then the others would be easy...I'm just wired that way I guess.

That's exactly my take on it Jim.

Thanks to all for some very interesting input. There is certainly a lot to chew on and I'm going to visit some of those sites mentioned and watch those YouTube vids. I only thought about the Henry Taylor because I buy a lot of stuff from Lee Valley and naturally looked at what they offer.

Thanks for the taking the time to respond.
Hilton

[steven carter]

Another idea is to make an Oland tool for roughing. I made one years ago after seeing one on Darrell Feltmate's website. All you do is take a round bar of soft steel and drill a hole in the end, and drill and tap a set screw hole to hold a metal turning bit. Make a handle for the other end and you are done. The bits are cheap, I bought some at Enco for a couple bucks each, and they last a long time. Way more cost effective than using expensive hss tools.

[Hilton Ralphs]

Thanks Steven, I'll look at this.