Make a skew chisel?

[Dave C. Brown]

I'm feeling poor and having just watched Alan Lacer's skew chisel videos, I'm thinking, hey, maybe I could make one and save some money. His cost $159 at Craft Supplies USA. Ouch.

I'm thinking, buy some tool steel, grind the skew end, grind the tang freehand, make a handle, and you're done. (Wait, you have to somehow attach the handle. Details...)

But I look at www.McMaster.com and there is a huge variety of tool steel. I thought the HSS steel in most of the tools was M2, but that's stuffs expensive in the raw, so I wouldn't be saving any money, and it doesn't come in very many sizes. What would I buy if I was going to make a tool? Any place cheaper?

Just FYI, Alan Lacer recommends a skew that is at least 1 1/4" wide and 1/4-5/16" thick.

Kudos to the first person to talk me out of this idea.

--Dave

[Lars Thomas]

Dave, you've come to the wrong place if you are looking to be talked out of a tool making endeavor. I don't see why you couldn't do this (but it might not actually save you any money.) Usually a skew doesn't have to be very long. . . do you have any old pieces of steel lying around? How about an old chisel?

[Curt Fuller]

I've wondered if you could convert some of the old wood chisels you find at yard sales, antique shows, "the bay" etc

Grind them to a skew edge and make a longer handle. Anyone know why not? They're probably some pretty good quality steel.

[David Klug]

Dave you could definitely make one out of tool steel but you would want to temper it. I used to make cold chisels when I had a forge on the farm.

DK

[Dario Octaviano]

The 8pc HSS set from HarborFreight comes with a skew that is about 1" x 1/4"...it is hard to beat that.

BTW, the set is about $35.00 last I checked though I bought mine about $25.00 about 2 years ago. The tools are still working great!

[Jonathon Spafford]

I know that you can use old files... many many people use them for making knives so they are a good steel. I know someone who made a scraper from a file. You'd have to get the teeth off on a face grinder (izzat what its called). Once you are down to bare metal you want to temper the steel, because the steel is way to hard as is. You can use a stove top, a toaster oven or a kitchen oven. You'll have to be careful though. The color you want to see is sort of a straw color. I think maybe 350 in the oven for twenty-thirty minutes, but I am not sure. Check it often and make sure that you temper it evenly. After tempering, grind an edge on it, but make sure you quench often or you'll lose the hardness and have to re-harden the whole thing by heating and then quenching in oil and you don't want to have to do that.

[Philip Duffy]

The key to a great skew, in my experience, is thickness of the tool steel. Width is a nice variable but relatively unimportant in the scheme of all things. Thickness gives you stability which minimizes vibration. M2 or one of the new tool steels in 3/8 by 1 1/4 would be just about a dream. I have a piece of scrap about that thickness and by 1in wide that is incredible. I just rounded the end with a grinder, stick welded a tang and put on a very ugly handle. It is a dream to use.

[Terry Quiram]

I went through this very scenario last week with a man that runs an industrial grinding company. He has given me a lot of old, no use to anyone else steel to make scrapers. I asked him if he could order some 3/8 x 5/8 so I could make a Lacer knockoff. We looked at the McMaster Carr catalog and the blank that would satisfactorily make a good skew cost more than just buying the skew. He suggested contacting a knife maker for a piece of steel. I want at least Rc 60. I will keep looking.

Terry

[Dave C. Brown]

Terry,

Thanks for the confirmation. I thought I must be looking at the wrong kind of steel. I'm thinking about just buying this one, as it's the right size:

http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.a...30,43164,43173

The 1 1/4" one, that is.

Anyone know about Henry Taylor tools?

But I'll keep thinking about it. For now, I'll keep practicing with my oval skew.

--Dave

[Robert E Lee]

Dave, you might check with Pennstate on their Benjamin’s best. I have a couple of their bowl gouges and scrapers and they have been working very well.
Bob

[Terry Quiram]

Dave

Henry Taylor is a very good quality tool. Get the Lacer style, it just feels right when you are using it.

Terry

[Trevor Walsh]

I like the file idea, or buy some W1 flat stock from McMaster. It's the same steel composition pretty much when compared to old files/chisels. HSS is really overkill in my opinion. It's main advantage is that it stays hard at several hundred degrees, where a normal tool steel would be tempered soft. If you need that in wood turning you've already burnt up your stuff.

And from what cutting and carving tools I've make and used I think w1 or any other simple high carbon steel creates a finer cutting tool.

[Tom Sherman]

David I have heard of people using leaf springs to make skew chisels. Never done it my self but it might be worth a try.

[Bernie Weishapl]

I like the file idea, or buy some W1 flat stock from McMaster. It's the same steel composition pretty much when compared to old files/chisels. HSS is really overkill in my opinion. It's main advantage is that it stays hard at several hundred degrees, where a normal tool steel would be tempered soft. If you need that in wood turning you've already burnt up your stuff.

And from what cutting and carving tools I've make and used I think w1 or any other simple high carbon steel creates a finer cutting tool.

I definitely would not use a file to make a turning tool. If you have a catch it can shatter on you. I saw this first hand when a turner in town here made a skew from a file and 26 stitches later he agreed it was a bad choice.

[Ken Whitney]

On the other end of the size scale, Bob Hamilton shows a 3/16th inch skew in one of his videos made out of key stock. I made a copy, and it works fine.