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The next tool we've got is our skew. Now the skew is one of the toughest tools to use.
It is one of the most frustrating. There has been a books and videos written just about
the skew because it is so tough to use sometimes. But used right, it can be one of the best
tools you've got in your toolbox. To use it and its main purpose is in spindle work is
to take this area here, a taper here or a flat surface and to cut it down here, cut
right down there. What is hard about this is you've got to anchor it and you've got
to touch the bevel and then cut. It is real easy to lift that bevel up a bit and then
cut and then it digs in and creates, you can see right here, a catch on it. The skew itself
is from flat stock. I always like to round the edges slightly so make sure it slides
across the tool rest and then I have a little bit of an angle here and that is where it
gets its name because it is ground askew on that and as far as the length of the bevel
you can usually take the width of this and then add another half a width and that is
how long your bevel should be and that gives you your angle. That's a good safe rule of
thumb. Another cut that it is really good for and probably the toughest to use it on
is when we roll a bead, when we take this and we roll it over. You can also do that
with your gouge but it probably cuts the cleanest is what I am doing with the skew. So cut it
and roll it over. Another one we can do is what we call squared around so I take the
square place and I go to round on that. The skew is a great tool. It's a little tough
to get to learn how to use but once you master it, it's a lot of fun. Here is the squared
around. It is also good for V cuts but it does a nice job of cutting that real clean,
that squared around.