Running a skewer through the piece of wood (6)
I believe the answer is:
loping
'running' is the definition.
(loping is a kind of running)
'a skewer through the piece of wood' is the wordplay.
'a skewer' becomes 'pin' (I've seen this in another clue).
'through' means one lot of letters goes inside another (inserted letters go through the word).
'the piece of wood' becomes 'log'.
'pin' inserted inside 'log' is 'LOPING'.
(Other definitions for loping that I've seen before include "Running with long strides" , "Walking with long strides" .)