# Large skew chisel



## holtzdreher (Jul 20, 2016)

Been watching some videos (I know you can't believe what you see on the internet) Anyway, I noticed in a few videos of workmen doing production spindle work, their skew chisels are huge (some look to be 3 to 3.5 inches wide. Also, it looks like they may be carbon steel. Now I would think in this day and age, if HSS and other steels were so much better, the production turners would all be using them. 

I actually like using my 50 year old Craftsman one inch skew chisel. (it had about 45 years off for the time I had no lathe) Some of the videos I have watched, both Lacey, here and one foreign video suggest using an even wider skew chisel. After watching some German videos on using the skew, (Meisel in German) it appears that one problem with the terrible catches is that the skews may simply be too narrow to learn to use properly. The geometry of how a skew is used would seem to bear that out. So just to see if a larger one is easier to use, I ordered a 1.5 inch Hurricane skew.


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## Maylar (Sep 3, 2013)

A skew needs to be razor sharp and a carbon steel blade can be honed to an incredible edge. We keep the point of contact low on the skew to prevent catches, and that sweet spot will dull after a while. Maybe for a production turner a wider tool enables them to extend the time between sharpenings.

Just a thought...


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## Quickstep (Apr 10, 2012)

I have a wide (for me) skew that's about an 1-1/2". I find it hard to get it super sharp. I find it much easier to get my 1" sharp. Even so, it does seem that the edge dulls quickly.


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