Tool rest maintenance

[Jaramiah Severns]

The stock tool rest that came with my Laguna is looking worse for wear. Do any of y’all have some go-to methods for keeping your tool rest nice and smooth? Was tempted to hit it with some 120 grit, but figured I’d check here first.

Alternatively, should I consider upgrading? I have to imagine there are better / more resilient after market options out there.

 

[john lucas]

If it has nicks I do what's called draw filing. Hold a file horizontal abd push it away from you. Do this until all nicks and gouges are gone. Then hit it with 220 grit. I keep an old wax candle nearby and wipe it across the rest occasionally to make the tools slide effortlessly.
If you want to upgrade I have been extremely happy with my bestwoodtools and my Robust rests.

 

[Richard Coers]

If it has nicks I do what's called draw filing. Hold a file horizontal abd push it away from you. Do this until all nicks and gouges are gone. Then hit it with 220 grit. I keep an old wax candle nearby and wipe it across the rest occasionally to make the tools slide effortlessly.
If you want to upgrade I have been extremely happy with my bestwoodtools and my Robust rests.

I was under the impression that draw filing was drawing the file towards your body.

 

[David Wyke]

I draw file mine and rub just a little paraffin wax on the one that came with my Powermatic. I have 3 tool rest from Robust, curved and long reach, and love them. They have a harden steel bar welded to the top and stay smooth, planning on ordering a straight tool rest from them soon.

 

[Gabriel Hoff]

Robust rest all the way. I have never had mine chip or become rough...

 

[Doug Freeman]

If its seriously nicked you may need to file “regularly” to get through the nicks, draw filing will then ensure it is flat. I like to finish with 220gr with a stiff backer to keep flat, then wax.

An upgrade to tool restS (yes, multiple) with a 1/4” hardened rod (3/8” can work) is best. I have robust and a couple from @robo hippy when he made them - robust has very similar ones now. Another cheaper option is the d-way method of epoxying a hardened rod to a cast rest. He has videos of the method, and local sources hardened drill rod will work.

Tool Rest Top Bar

d-waytools.com

 

[Steve Tiedman]

A visit to your favorite hardware store should net you a fine-tooth mill or flat file for not too much money. 9-10" long (not counting the handle) will be peachy. If they have a "file card" with the files (a wire brush-like tool to clean the file), buy one as well, or from Amazon. Here's an article-

Difference between a mill file and a flat file

The design of the flat files is mostly tapered at width and thickness towards the endpoint of the file. It is a great tool with teeth on both sides. Generally used to sharpen the blades and knives. While the mill files are featured with one safe edge. The cut pattern of the mill files is always...

benchmarkabrasives.com

Files typically cut in one direction, pushing the file so the the handle is at the rear in the direction of travel. (Best to pick up the file at the end of that forward stroke to start the next stroke.)

With light to medium pressure (let the file do the work), start at one end of your tool rest and go down to the other end, holding the file just a little bit diagonal to the tool rest surface. Most of the length of the file should be on the rest. File over the top of your knicks and dings, don't file just the dings. You need to bring the whole surface of the rest down evenly to the level of the dings to prevent high and low spots on the rest. A metal ruler/straight edge held to the rest can help make sure you're keeping thing in one plain. Tweak each stroke a hair to keep following over the shape of the rest. When the knicks are gone, a few strokes with a piece of 220 grit on a block of wood will polish it up a bit more (optional process).

If this is the first time, it will take a few minutes (or more) to clean it up. If you do a few strokes at the beginning of each turning session if you feel knicks, it'll always be in good shape. Wipe it clean with a rag, then give a couple strokes of candle/paraffin wax if you'd like. Wax will not prevent knicks and dings, it only makes a slick surface to move the tool.

Any tools that have sharp, angular corners (skews, parting tools, bedans, etc.), knock those hard corners off on your fine grinding wheel, giving them a bit of a radius. This will help preserve the surface of your rest. Round shape gouges won't ding the rest. If you are otherwise happy with your tool rest shape and how your hand feels against it, don't replace it just for this. A hobby turner maintaining the tool rest will use that tool rest for their whole life.

Note- it took me longer to write this than it will take you to file it smooth the first time!

 

[Jaramiah Severns]

Note- it took me longer to write this than it will take you to file it smooth the first time!

Haha! Thanks for walking me through it, Steve 🙏🏻

 

[Dave Landers]

For an upgrade - Steve Sinner rests are my favorites. Robust also makes good rests. and Trent Bosch just came out with his version. All those have hardened rod that slides well and doesn’t get nicked.

 

[hockenbery]

Alternatively, should I consider upgrading? I have to imagine there are better / more resilient after market options out there.

The first thing I would do is dress the rest you have following John’s advice.
The rest you have will serve you well

Then consider augmenting your rest.
I love having a short rest especially for turning off tenons on finished pieces and for small spindles.
The 4” robust comfort is a terrific rest to have.

When I do bowls over 12” I like using the big 14” Robust J rest.

Hold a file horizontal abd push it away from you. Do this until all nicks and gouges are gone. Then hit it with 220 grit. I keep an old wax candle nearby and wipe it across the rest occasionally to make the tools slide effortlessly.
If you want to upgrade I have been extremely happy with my bestwoodtools and my Robust rests.

 

[Gary W Miller]

The only thing different about "draw filing" is the file tang or handle is on the left and the angle is the same only with the tang trailing (at the back). Filing is done by "drawing" the file toward you. Firmer stroke greater control.

 

[Don Wattenhofer]

I was under the impression that draw filing was drawing the file towards your body.

I can't remember that far back, but I learned the method in high school machine shop (class of 62) and I think it works either way.

 

[Steve Tiedman]

An 1878 treatise on files and filing. (Ugh!) No, I did not read it. Posting this just for the giggle it may give you. And you, and even you.

A Treatise on Files and Rasps Descriptive and Illustrated: for the Use of ... : William T. Nicholson , Providence Nicholson File Company, Nicholson File Company , Providence : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

Book digitized by Google from the library of Harvard University and uploaded to the Internet Archive by user tpb.

archive.org

 

[Jaramiah Severns]

An 1878 treatise on files and filing. (Ugh!) No, I did not read it. Posting this just for the giggle it may give you. And you, and even you.

A Treatise on Files and Rasps Descriptive and Illustrated: for the Use of ... : William T. Nicholson , Providence Nicholson File Company, Nicholson File Company , Providence : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

Book digitized by Google from the library of Harvard University and uploaded to the Internet Archive by user tpb.

archive.org

 

[john lucas]

I was under the impression that draw filing was drawing the file towards your body.

You can do either.depends on the file.

 

[Steve Tiedman]

Haha! Thanks for walking me through it, Steve 🙏🏻

You're welcome, Jaramiah.

Boy, the internet is full of, uh, information on files and filing materials. I gave up looking. Even if I'm doing it wrong (maybe?), I'm doing something right. So say my toolrests, anyway.

 

[Gerald Lawrence]

I was under the impression that draw filing was drawing the file towards your body.

It is called a double Bastard and cuts in both directions. That is the only kind I buy for a regular flat file

 

[Kent Jaffrey]

Not to hijack the thread, but has anyone had trouble with the bar on a robust rest getting dented. I got one recently and noticed that in a spot or two there is a slight divot (more like a smooth dent than a nick). If it was a regular rest I would file it out but didn’t expect this with a robust. No scary catches that I can remember so it has me a little puzzled.

 

[William Rogers]

@Kent Jaffrey i have not on my Robust or Sinner rests

 

[hockenbery]

got one recently and noticed that in a spot or two there is a slight divot (more like a smooth dent than a nick).

If the rod is out of round it has been damaged in some way.
Normal turning should not do this unless the rod is not hardened as it should be.

I suggest you call robust or the company you purchased it from. It may have been damaged in the manufacture or shipping.
It should not have arrived with the rod out of round

I’ve had a short comfort rest for around 15 years. Rod is still round. It gets tossed in a bucket for local demos and has made several cross country trips in a box with other indestructible parts.
It can get gunked up from sap and stuff and drag on the tool. If I feel a resistance - Sandpaper cleans it.

 

[Richard Coers]

With the automatic quick reference to buy drill rod tool rests, I wonder about what folks do to get so many nicks for that investment to be made? What happens to your tool control that something slams down on your tool rest in the first place? How do your tools get lifted up and slammed back down? Everything I put on my rest round or flat, how do you deform cast iron with that? I soften the edges of my skews so there is no sharp edge. I think I've filed the original tool rest on my Oneway twice in 26 years.

 

[Marc Banka]

I’ve had a robust low profile 12” rest for a number of years. It has one of these dents, or divots, came that way. I may feel the dip as I pass over it with a gouge. No tool slamming. If one hits the tool rest hard enough to damage the rod, something else bad would have happened, I would imagine.

 

[GRJensen]

We have eight Powermatic 3520B's in our turning studio. Students can be pretty rough on them, so every so often I take a belt sander with 120-grit paper and resurface them. The lathes in my home shop are equipped with Robust and Advanced Lathe Tools rests with their hardened steel rods. I also have two Powermatic rests ... I retrofitted them with hardened steel rods from D-Way.

 

[Dave Landers]

With the automatic quick reference to buy drill rod tool rests, I wonder about what folks do to get so many nicks for that investment to be made?

My preference for Sinner or Robust rests has nothing to do with nicks. They just work better when I drop the handle of my bowl gouge for shear cuts and scrapes. The round rod is thinner than the cast iron rests that came with my lathes, and its round (vs whatever angular shape is on the stock rests) so the gouge doesn't move in weird ways when I rise/lower the handle. The rests are also made so that they don't interfere with my hand or the shaft of the gouge, especially around the tool post.

 

[hockenbery]

With the automatic quick reference to buy drill rod tool rests, I wonder about what folks do to get so many nicks for that investment to be made? What happens to your tool control that something slams down on your tool rest in the first place? How do your tools get lifted up and slammed back down? Everything I put on my rest round or flat, how do you deform cast iron with that? I soften the edges of my skews so there is no sharp edge. I think I've filed the original tool rest on my Oneway twice in 26 years.

My cast iron rests get lines from parting tools.

When I do bowls and HFs I never get lines because I don’t use a parting tool for them.

 

[Kent Jaffrey]

I’ve had a robust low profile 12” rest for a number of years. It has one of these dents, or divots, came that way. I may feel the dip as I pass over it with a gouge. No tool slamming. If one hits the tool rest hard enough to damage the rod, something else bad would have happened, I would imagine.

That’s what my dints look like but they are more on top of the rod so I do notice the dip on finishing cuts.

 

[Doug Freeman]

With the automatic quick reference to buy drill rod tool rests, I wonder about what folks do to get so many nicks for that investment to be made? What happens to your tool control that something slams down on your tool rest in the first place? How do your tools get lifted up and slammed back down? Everything I put on my rest round or flat, how do you deform cast iron with that? I soften the edges of my skews so there is no sharp edge. I think I've filed the original tool rest on my Oneway twice in 26 years.

Beginners/newer turners get more catches, which beat up cast iron. “Accidental” catches also happen, where the turner inadvertently touches the work with the tip, slamming the tool into the rest. I rarely get a catch, but do create the inadvertant contact once in a while.

Also as @Dave Landers says, the robust and sinner rests are much better for dropping the handle - all the cast iron rests I’ve seen cause a rearward touch or pivot point for the tool before getting the handle low enough.

 

[Richard Coers]

My preference for Sinner or Robust rests has nothing to do with nicks. They just work better when I drop the handle of my bowl gouge for shear cuts and scrapes. The round rod is thinner than the cast iron rests that came with my lathes, and its round (vs whatever angular shape is on the stock rests) so the gouge doesn't move in weird ways when I rise/lower the handle. The rests are also made so that they don't interfere with my hand or the shaft of the gouge, especially around the tool post.

My mistake, I thought this was a post about wear or damage on the tool rest.

 

[Kent Reisdorph]

Beginners/newer turners get more catches, which beat up cast iron.

Exactly. The tool rest on my starter lathe was a bit banged up after the first 3 months of my education.

 

[Steve Tiedman]

I just came across this old video (film, or movie, as they used to be called), and I thought of this thread from several months ago. 1942 vintage, 82 years ago, about how to choose and use files. Still applicable today.

View: https://youtu.be/P5Kp0WEGawY?si=tzRFMYFyoQ1cS__O

 

[John K Jordan]

As for the cheap cast iron tool rests that come with many lathes, another thing besides filing I used to do was fill occasional porosity or voids in the casting with JB Weld. A little defect on the working edge of the rest can be a problem for a smooth cut. Since I switched to the Robust rests topped with hardened steel rods, life at the lathe got easier. When I do demos I always take Robust rests with me since some (most?) clubs don't have them.

I love those old videos (er, films), lots of good information from real craftspeople.
I'm definitely a hard-core file maniac, with dozens in my tool box and hanging on the wall in my little machine shop.

I use billiard talc or chalk powder on files and a good file card to keep them clean (essential)

https://www.amazon.com/Silver-Cup-Billiard-Premium-Powder-dp-B07WYJQMSM

For soft materials like aluminum, I prefer a "curved cut" or "aluminum file”), like this, cuts smoother and cleans easier.


The old film on making threads by hand might be useful to some. (The type of die shown is rare these days but the use is the same)
Click the "watch on youtube" option.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LlHQ2kBAWg

There are zillions of others. (Videos by mrpete222 / Tubal Cain are a wonderful resource for those interested in machines, tools, and making/fixing things)

JKJ

 

[Bob Vaughan]

An 80 grit belt on a 6x48 stationary belt sander is my go-to solution for beat up tool rests.
For shallow detailing, a Nicholson Magicut does nicely.

 

[Leo Van Der Loo]

Drawing the file towards you will make it easier to keep the file cutting straight/flat.

With pushing the file away from you, you will tend to put uneven pressure on the file and so have it not cut as flat as in drawing the file, my experience in another life.

 

[Alan Weinberg]

This thread motivated me to file smooth my beat up Powermatic tool test. But now I have no excuses for my turnings!

 

[Stan Pressner]

I recently upgraded my lathe to a Harvey T60 from a Laguna 18/36. I had not thought about the fact that all of my toolset posts would now be too short. This led to a nice order from Steve Sinner, and the joy of new fresh tool rests reminded me of the need to clean up all the old ones to sell with the Laguna. Bastard file to the rescue.

P.S. I am loving this Harvey.

 

[Aaron Harris]

For you PowerMatic owners still cursing the stock soft iron tool rest (though I know some of you love them), attaching the 3/8" steel rod from D-Way with JB Weld was the best upgrade I made. I have turned numerous big out-of-round wet blanks on it, and it remains smooth and strong. An occasional touch-up with 220 and mineral spirits followed by buffing on some paste wax keeps it glassy smooth.