Leo Cuellar
Hi Steve, I searched through the archives, but couldn't really find what would be a good set of angles to start with. I love making tools and experimenting out in the shop, but as I'm getting older, I don't mind benefitting from others experience. I have used a skew in that way before, in fact when I first started that was the only way that I knew how to use one.
I picked up and adopted a set of prejudices about tool use from this forum that did me no favors as a novice turner. Now I am ready to drop my personal sticking points and discover other techniques that might work better for the types of things that I do. Please don't take that as a criticism of you, I like you just the way you are and always enjoy your contributions to the forum! You are absolutely correct: there is no substitute for putting in the time. I do however believe that every tool exists for a reason, even if that reason is to separate someone from their hard earned dollars I'm hoping to fire up the forge this fall and try making one of those hook tools.

P.S. I confess to having bought a Hunter #3