Sharpening a Skew Chisel

Let me show you how you can make sure you've got a great edge on your skew chisel for turning, especially if you're going to shear, it's important that a skew chisel be very, very sharp. We can do all of that on a stone, right here at the bench. I've got a diamond stone, it's lubricated, ready to go. Now, one way that we can do this, is lay the skew chisel down, as I roll it up, and the bevel goes flat on the stone, a small puddle forms, right in front of the cutting edge. So, what I want to do here, is make sure that that bevel is flat, before I stroke it forward. So, I'm watching for the puddle, when the puddle forms, I'm going to put my finger down here on the bevel, also touching the stone, stroke the chisel. So, doing that, feeling it with my finger, is what helps make sure that I keep the skew, at the correct angle on the stone. Now, to show you this, being very, very conservative with my passes. There you can really see that puddle form in front of the chisel, do it again, right there. Once you get the hang of this, there's no reason why you can't stroke back and forth. That's going to go a little faster, than just going in one direction. We do want to make sure, that whatever you do on one side, for strokes, we flip over, same thing, on the other side. Now, if you're not quite sure, that you're rolling that down, and getting it placed on the stone just right, let me give you a tip. It's a tip, for the tip. What we're going to do, is color this in, with a felt tip, and that's going to help us track, where the cutting action is happening. So now, same thing to get started. We're going to roll that down, make a couple of strokes, then I want to check my work. What I'm checking for, is, have I taken the felt tip off of the whole thing, from the sharpened edge, all the way up here to the back of the bevel. I haven't, I've got too much tip, not enough here on the back. So, when I placed this on the stone, I must have rolled it just a little bit too far forward, and try that again. That's much better, much more complete removal, of the felt tip, across that bevel. Now, we can do the same thing to the other side. With just a little bit of practice, you're going to get real good at this. Being good at this, is great, in fact it's necessary, because especially when you're shearing, you're going to want to make sure that you frequently sharpen your skew, so that it's easy to use, and does a nice job for you. So, you're going to want to be comfortable enough, with this process, that you can come to the stone, get this skew touched up in no time at all, be ready with a nice, fresh cutting edge, to go back to the lathe. Easy to do, with just a little bit of practice.