Curved tool rests for bowls...

[Jeffrey J Smith]

I do a lot of bowls. A while back, hoping to be able to cut the distance the gouge extends over the rest, I bought a OneWay inside curved rest and found it less than satisfying. I actually found it better to use on the outside of forms. Recently, I bought both the inside and inside curved rests from Robust. Once again, the outside rest is great, I really like Robust tool rests, very smooth and comfortable. But I find the same problem with the inside curved rest. The rest actually gets in the way as I get about 1/3 of the way down the side - the gouge winds up roughly parallel to the rest end that protrudes from the top of the form. I actually find a straight rest better for the inside of bowls

I'm thinking that maybe their J rest would get that outside end of the rest out of my way a little better.

Anyone else experience this, or am I out in the cold on this one?

[Richard Coers]

I recently bought the Oneway inside curved rest, and love it. I don't just place it in there, I move it around a lot. Shallow in the bowl, then deep, or keep moving it around. I'm working on 16" and larger right now, so maybe my experience is different because of size. What diameter are you turning? Also shape of the bowl will make a difference, as well as he grind on the gouge. I'm using the JoHannes grind, so it lets me use different areas on the gouge as I cut.

[Dennis Ford]

My curved rest is home-made. The radius is pretty large so I only use it for large bowls but it works great on those. I do have another bent rest that works better in smaller bowls but it is only needed in deep bowls (or the inside of a hat).

[Jeffrey J Smith]

Richard: I also work on 16"+ bowls, and find there's where my problem lies. The top 1/2 goes well, but turning the corner into the bottom is where it ceases to be as effective, the straight rest is just as good going into that last 25% to the bottom.

I just compared the OneWay and the robust - virtually the same radius, the OneWay is about and inch longer and has about two inches at the post end that is straight.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Jeffery I have the oneway curved rest and haven't had a problem. On the bottom 1/2 of the bowl I use a conventional gouge to go thru the transition. It may not be your rest as much as losing the bevel when you make the curve. My conventional gouge has a 40* bevel and my fingernail grind bowl gouge is 55*.

[Bob Hamilton]

Jeffrey, I know exactly what you mean about the curved rest. In order to keep the bevel in contact with the wood as the cut progresses through the transition the handle and shank of the gouge would need to pass through the tool post of the rest. I have an old 5/8" bowl gouge that I have ground to a very steep nose angle so the handle does not need to swing nearly as far to the left when making the turn. It was either that or raise the tool rest very high and cut with the gouge oriented nose down so the handle could pass over the tool post, an option I was not comfortable with. :D

Take care
Bob

[Jeffrey J Smith]

Bob Hamilton - "I know exactly what you mean about the curved rest. In order to keep the bevel in contact with the wood as the cut progresses through the transition the handle and shank of the gouge would need to pass through the tool post of the rest."

Thanks, Bob. That's exactly what I was attempting to communicate, and the only solution I've been able to come up with is trying to find the grind that gets me the smoothest cut possible...the search continues. But I'm still wondering if one of the J shaped rests would fair better. With a longer straight section it may put the post further out of the way.

Jeff

[Thom Sturgill]

I have both the inside Robust inside rest and the smaller J rest. The inside rest is too large for most bowls that do so I have only used it a few times. On the other hand the J rest is on the banjo more than not. I bough it when they first introduced it, before it was even listed on their site. They brought some to the NC symposium.

[Bill Hensley]

I have the J rest and don't have the interference you've described.

If you weren't on the other side of the world I would be happy to let you borrow it:)

[Faust M. Ruggiero]

[QUOTE]
Thanks, Bob. That's exactly what I was attempting to communicate, and the only solution I've been able to come up with is trying to find the grind that gets me the smoothest cut possible...the search continues. But I'm still wondering if one of the J shaped rests would fair better. With a longer straight section it may put the post further out of the way.

I think you will find that most of us who do a lot of bowls have several different grinds meant for different areas of the bowl. As a bowl gets deeper it is more and more difficult to keep a normal grind, (eg 45 degrees) in contact with the bevel. The handle has to swing so far to the left the rim of the bowl gets in the way. It will happen with either a straight rest or a curved rest. The answer is a steep beveled gouge to use when the regular gouge runs out of space. Then you can use whatever rest you want, curved or straight. This is really an argument to own several single purpose ground bowl gouges some of which may not be able to be sharpened with the jig. This bottom tool need not be a fingernail grind. In fact a conventional grind at about 75 degrees works well.
faust

[Prashun Patel]

I have a curved inside rest from Jeff Nicol. I love it. My only complaint is that the gusset is thick and prevents the tool rest from getting as low as I'd like sometimes.

But I do not find an interference with tool presentation.

Can you post a picture? I'm very curious (perhaps I've been doing something wrong!!!)

[Bob Hamilton]

Hi, Prashun:
I demonstrate the problem in this video segment on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9_3GEId0vg
You can jump to ~4:25 which is where I am discussing and showing the issue. In this instance where I am roughing out a green wood bowl I use a scraper to resolve the problem.

Bob

[Reed Gray]

I have both inside and outside tool rests from Oneway and Robust. The Oneway is bent to about a 19 inch diameter circle, and the Robust to about a 12 inch diameter circle. I have found that the Oneway inside rest will bounce a bit when you are cutting out on the very tip of it. The Robust is rock solid all the way out. The post on both models does get in the way a bit as you get deeper into the bowl. Where it gets in the way is at about the point where you would switch to a bottom feeder type gouge.

For 'most efficient shape' for inside the bowl, I prefer this one:

http://www.woodturnerscatalog.com/p/5/-/25/111/-/4531/Apprentice-S-Curve-Tool-Rest/tool+rests

The shape allows you to work the rim, the sides of the bowl, and all the way inside and across the bottom of the bowl. The only real down side is that it is cast metal, and doesn't slide like the Robust/drill rod rests. The post doesn't really get in the way. Maybe another draw back is how wide it is. Most of the time, I am holding my tools pretty level, so that isn't a problem for me. I don't like it on the outside of the bowl.

Some times I think I should have a set of bowl rests similar to the curves on my McNaughton coring blades. 4 or more different curves, but I want that return hook/bend for working the rim. Maybe my next invention......

robo hippy

[Ken Glass]

I made both an inside and outside rest for my 3520B, but seldom use them. It seems as my skill level increased I needed them less. Creatures of habit, I guess......

[Richard Coers]

Bob Hamilton - "I know exactly what you mean about the curved rest. In order to keep the bevel in contact with the wood as the cut progresses through the transition the handle and shank of the gouge would need to pass through the tool post of the rest."

Thanks, Bob. That's exactly what I was attempting to communicate, and the only solution I've been able to come up with is trying to find the grind that gets me the smoothest cut possible...the search continues. But I'm still wondering if one of the J shaped rests would fair better. With a longer straight section it may put the post further out of the way.

Jeff

So you have the handle well below the cutting edge? With the grind I use, I keep the tool horizontal all the way through the cut. No issue with the post at all.

[Fred Belknap]

I use a swept back grind and drop the handle down to get a shearing ( kind of like pealing) cut. Sure helps with end grain tear out. This mostly for the final finish cuts.

[Reed Gray]

Some prefer the straight rests. I prefer the curved ones. Mostly it comes down to efficiency. With the curved rest, you don't have to hang out so far off the tool rest, and don't have to move your banjo and tool rest as often as you do when using a curved one.

robo hippy

[Jeffrey J Smith]

Seems like the best option - the one I've been waiting to see Robust address would be a nice long S shape that would take you from the rim through the bottom. With the hardened rod, of course. I'm not a big fan of using scrapers here, seems like a good sharp gouge and a little lube gets me through the end grain much better. As I mentioned, I do use a modified bottom feeder grind down there, but I just want to reduce the overhang off the rest to a manageable amount.

Thanks for all your input - Jeff

[Leo Van Der Loo]

There is just no way around this problem, unless like some you use a scraper/scraper-like tool, where you can hold the handle higher than the rest.

Anytime you use a gouge where you hold the handle lower than the tip on the rest, you are going to run into the post of the rest as soon as the handle swings past the bowl rim, or even before that.

I made some heavy long J rest, left and right handed, they are quite long and by setting the curved part away from the bowl wall (inside) I can get/cut a bit farther past the curve but I still will run into the toolrest at the post, the other problem is that a extra long rest will have it vibrate much easier than a shorter rest would.

Only way I see around this problem is to get a ∩ shape rest with the post on the other leg, I don't know if this would be really practical, and can see problems arising with vibration, unless it was build very heavy,