Curved Tool Rests?

[Randy Heinemann]

I was wondering whether an inside curved tool rest is an aid to hollowing out the inside of an open bowl? An example would be the Robust Internal Curve Tool Rest with approximately an 8" radius.

I have no problem with getting a smooth surface on the outside of my bowls, but the inside is much more difficult to get smooth without tearout. I'm better than I used to be but I thought it was possible a curved tool rest for inside curves might help.

 

[Lou Jacobs]

I have Robo Hippy’s curved rest and love it. Alas, he no longer sells it, but I believe he’s said that someone else might be bringing it out soon (or is that just the grinder platform?). This picture isn’t the best illustration of its utility because it is not with a gouge, but rather a beading tool, but the shadow shows how it allows me to get an almost even spacing between the rest and the bowl inside wall. Makes smooth finishing cuts inside the bowl much easier and more consistent.

 

[Randy Heinemann]

View attachment 47708I have Robo Hippy’s curved rest and love it. Alas, he no longer sells it, but I believe he’s said that someone else might be bringing it out soon (or is that just the grinder platform?). This picture isn’t the best illustration of its utility because it is not with a gouge, but rather a beading tool, but the shadow shows how it allows me to get an almost even spacing between the rest and the bowl inside wall. Makes smooth finishing cuts inside the bowl much easier and more consistent.

I assume, though, that being able to get that even spacing between the rest and the bowl wall depends on the match between the radius of the bowl and the radius of the rest as well as the shape of the bowl.

 

[Randy Anderson]

I have one but never seem to use it. I know it's a practice issue but I've spent so much time learning on and using the stock straight tool rest that came with the lathe that I struggle with tool control when I try to use the curved one. The curve most likely won't match so the changing gap between the rest and the work piece causes me issues. I just position the straight rest as needed to make my way down the wall and into the curve. I think it's like a lot of tools, more about practice and knowing how to use it for certain tasks vs it alone being the solution. Maybe I'll give mine another try.

 

[Dean Center]

For me, the only value in a curved rest is the ability to make deeper bowls. If you learn to reverse the tool rest (left side into the bowl) you can do a lot that you can't do with it oriented in the proper way. Over 4" deep gets pretty challenging and a straight rest becomes unhelpful. Better for this use than a curved rest is a J rest. Robo Hippy made a fine one of these. Robust and Steve Sinner also make them. Unless you use a blunt grind on your gouge (like a 60 degree Ellsworth), the curved rest gets in the way as much as the straight rest when you're working on the very bottom of the bowl.

 

[JeffSmith]

I have a couple of curved rests - oneway and robust. I don't use either very often - I find the robust J-rest much more useful inside the. kind of open forms I typically turn.

 

[hockenbery]

was wondering whether an inside curved tool rest is an aid to hollowing out the inside of an open bowl? An example would be the Robust Internal Curve Tool Rest with approximately an 8" radius.

I works for some people

I use the Robust j rest to hollow larger bowls smaller bowls I use a straight rest. Break point is 14-16” diameter.

The way I get clean surface inside a bowl is to use a sharp gouge with the heel ground off to shorten the bevel.
bevel riding cuts that get lighter as you get to the finished surface.

 

[Randy Heinemann]

I can see that the J-rest would probably give some assistance for deeper bowls or forms. However, bowls or open forms come in a variety of shapes and sizes. Since the J-rest is straighter rather than curved, it seems as if it wouldn't be all that useful for bowls that are rounder inside. I suppose that means that there isn't one rest that works for all bowls and that the best would be to get both the J-rest and the round inside rest. It's one of the reasons I've stuck with just a 12" straight rest (Robust). I was just asking because I'm going to the Robust ope house tomorrow and thought that I might pick one or more up while there, if available.

Steve Sinner's website doesn't seem to offer any J-rests or round rests. At least they aren't on the list of products on the site.

 

[William Rogers]

I had a curved rest inside and outside and really didn’t like them. They went with a lathe I sold. I do have both Robust J rest and use those. By accident I ended up with a bottom of the bowl gouge and that was a really big help reducing tearout in bowls.

 

[David Wrate]

The way I get clean surface inside a bowl is to use a sharp gouge with the heel ground off to shorten the bevel.
bevel riding cuts that get lighter as you get to the finished surface.

I think I know what you mean but would you have a photo of this by chance?

 

[Bill Blasic]

I have the Robo rests and they work better than any rest I've tried, love the fact that I can be at the very end of the rest without vibration. I have not been a fan of rests with the hard bar on top but the Robo rests have worked well for me so preferences can and do change.

 

[Lou Jacobs]

I responded right away about using my Robo Rest. I wonder after seeing some of the responses if we are talking about different animals. I have a semicircular rest I bought early in my career and haven’t used it for years. I look at the Robo Rest as sort of a French curve. While it has one shape, depending on the size of the bowl, I can adjust it to give me pretty close coverage along most, if not all of the bowl interior. When I’m roughing bowls, the straight rest is fine, but for delicate finishing cuts inside, I usually mount the Robo Rest.

 

[hockenbery]

I think I know what you mean but would you have a photo of this by chance?

Here are screen shots from a demo showing the heel ground off the gouged
The shortened bevel does tree important things.
Reduces bevel drag less contact with the wood
Allow push cut riding of the bevel to the bottom of open bowls
Takes away the chance of marking the wood with the corner at the bottom of the bevel
On a tighter radius bowl or if I have to work further over the tool rest I can grind off more heel
What I tend to do is sharpen the gouge quite a few time between removing the heel so the bevel on the nose gets longer with each sharpening



The light cut - removing wisps of shavings - robust j rest


The Robust J rest

 

[robo hippy]

Every one has there preferences for bowl rests, but me coming up with my own design, which I stole from a blue cast iron one that Craft Supplies used to sell, comes from efficiency. The whole idea behind my rest was that I could set it up, then all I had to do as I turned out the inside of the bowl was pivot the rest into the inside of the bowl. No wiggling the banjo around to properly position the tool rest for ease of turning out the inside of the bowl. I had it set to about 15 degrees of slope so you could stay closer to the bowl walls as you turn out the inside of the bowl. As near as I can tell, it is the only bowl rest that was designed by a real bowl turner. Both Robust and Oneway had rests that were 1/4 sections of a circle. Way too much wiggling the banjo around as you turned out the inside of the bowl. Add to that, the Oneway would bounce if you were roughing out on the very end of it. Brent now has an inside bowl rest out, but I haven't seen one, but it is based off of my design. If you go to the open house, and see them, tell me about them. I want to know.

robo hippy

 

[Marc Banka]

I have a Robust curved rest (inside curve) that’s very handy for larger bowls. I prefer a straight rest, but that really stops working at some size.
The only issues for me are, a 40 degree grind won’t work well, and even with a 50 degree gouge I have to raise the handle to clear the rest at the end (center) of the cut. Great for cleaning up with NR scrapers.

 

[Richard Coers]

I have a Oneway curved and a Hannes Tool "J"rest. I like the curved rest with a big scraper with a very shallow curve on the end. That combination allows me to shoot a very nice curve on the inside. I don't feel it has anything to do with tear out, that is a process of proper tool sharpening and super fine cuts near the end of the finishing cuts.

 

[Randy Heinemann]

Here’s a pic of Robusts S rests. Don’t know if they are like Reeds.

 

[robo hippy]

Randy, they look pretty similar. They don't appear to have as much tilt to them as mine do.

robo hippy

 

[Randy Heinemann]

They are tilted some. I wish I had taken a better picture to show that. Mine don't show it very well. I decided not buy one because I couldn't decide what size and I'm not really sure that it would help my technique with the insides of bowls. I think there are other things contributing to the periodic issues I have with tearout inside. First, it's just more difficult to avoid tearout inside for me. It is improviing though and, until I'm sure I've gone as far as I can with my straight rests, I just decided to save the $99 plus tax for something else or until I'm sure it would help.

 

[hughie]

I find they are handy both internally and externally for follow the form, although the centre pin probably needs to be off set. The black one is my go-to tool-rest for 90% of my turning, both are 25mm square high tensile and they retain the edge extremely well so much so I cant recall when I dressed either of them.

 

[Bill Blasic]

Here is an article on Robo's equipment.

 

[Vincent Vogel]

What size drill rod is on the Robo Hippy tool rests ? I'm going to try and make one.

 

[robo hippy]

Can't remember, but think I used 5/16 A drill rod. You do have to have it hardened. You can weld it on after hardening without it bothering the tempering, or at least with the test I did, there were no issues, and with the rests I put out, again, no issues. Bending it is not easy, though you may need heat and an anvil if you are doing it by hand. Also, when you tilt the S curve, you will most likely have to flatten the top of the arm. I made a jig and wore out a box of 36 grit sanding belts to do this. An angle grinder might work as well, then file or sanding belt. Not sure if technology is there yet, but 3D printing may make it easier.

When I first made them, I intended them to only be used on the insides of bowls. I found out, and others did too, that they work very well for the outsides of bowls and for hollow forms. Far less moving the banjo and tool rest around when turning forms that have curves.

robo hippy

 

[Doug Freeman]

I have a Robust inside rest, a modular “S” type, and small and medium Robo rests. The Robo’s work much better than the other 2. Perhaps the Robust “S” rests would be similar to Robo’s, need more pics of them.

The fully curved rests just get in the way as the cut progresses (has a lot to do with bevel angle - a sharper bevel is more of a problem). They all work reasonably well with a scraper. I think it comes down to Robust’s S or J. It's the straight section leading to a radius that make's Robo's and the J rests work well vs a continuous radius.