how tight should my skewers be?

How tight should they be?

 

Palm tight.

 

They should be tight enough to leave an imprint of the skewer handle on your palm for a couple of seconds after you have closed it.

 

You should feel the clamping start when the skewer is about half closed, when the handle sticks out sideways.

It depends on your cone adjustment, because the skewer can compress the axle a bit. Excessive tightness can ruin cones.

If you have new equipment, I would get the factory info from the hub maker's site. My advice is for Shimano or Joytech.

I am able to close my skewer with one hand by curling my fingers around the spokes and tightening with my palm, and I never bent a spoke or warped a wheel.