Skiving
Skiving turns up in 2 fields: machine shop, shop slang. Here is what it means to the people in each one.
Skiving in machine shop
A high-speed machining process that shaves a continuous ribbon of metal to form complex profiles.
A cutting operation where a tool passes tangentially across the workpiece to shave off a thin layer of material. It is heavily used in gear manufacturing and Swiss turning to rapidly generate precise profiles or splines in a single, continuous cut. Unlike standard milling, the cutting edge is angled to slice progressively, resulting in excellent surface finishes and high production rates.
"We switched to power skiving for those internal ring gears and cut the cycle time in half."
Skiving in shop slang
Avoiding work or hiding from supervisors during a scheduled shift.
The act of dodging assigned duties while remaining on the clock. Workers skive by taking extended bathroom breaks, hiding in remote areas of the facility, or looking busy with unnecessary tasks. It is a severe breach of crew etiquette because it forces others to pick up the slack.
"I haven't seen the new apprentice for an hour, he must be skiving off behind the compressor shed."