My Tools

This is a picture of the primary tools necessary to turn a pen. On the left is the skew. The flat angled edge allows you to get a nice smooth surface on your wood and really work out any dips or impurities. On the right is the roughing gouge. This is the heavy lifter, you use this tool to carve off the majority of the wood in order to get a circular shape. The gouge has a bowl shape so you can angle it different ways in order to expel less or more wood, depending on what you are making. I have learned a lot about these tools just by using them a few times. They are very intuitive and the best way to master woodworking is to just experiment.