making tool rests

[John C Bush]

I need a longer, curved too rest and would like input on fabbing my own. I must have been in good behavior mode as Santa brought me a Mig a few years ago and I have had a blast making/repairing lots of things. Question is if I heat and bend 5/8" mild steel rod and some style of gusset, will the mild steel deform too easily with contact/impact with the HSS tools. I assume that heating high carbon(?) or tool steel rod would change the temper and would need retempering(re-annealing as well??). I haven't used a round tool rest but rod would be easier to shape. Any thoughts of round vs straight edge rests? Thanks

[Peter Blair]

I'm not a metalurgist but for me mild steel would not do because it will dent and mark constantly from tools. This of course will make it hard to slide your tools on. If you check out Robust tool rests they weld a hardened bar along the top of the rest to prevent this issue.

[Ralph Lindberg]

I've used mild-steel tool rests and yes in my opinion they do dent too easy.
Yes bending hard steel requires "hot work" and the steel would then need proper heat treatment.

[John C Bush]

Tat's what I thought as well. Thanks

[Reed Gray]

I never liked the feel of the round rod tool rests, as in 1 inch diameter. They just didn't feel right. This means flat bar stock. Bending that takes a brake (or is it break). A curve isn't too difficult to do if you bump bend it. Putting it in a form is another matter. Cutting sections of pipe might be easier. Then there is the drill rod for the tops. I have been investigating this to make my own inside bowl rests, and it seems that the easiest way to do them is to tack weld them onto the bar stock, then harden. Using hardened drill rod is like variable speed lathes. Once you use them, you don't go back...

robo hippy

[allen thunem]

i made a bunch of my own years ago. made them out of 1 inch stainless steel round bar, they were all straight rests. 6,8,10,12 inch
hard stuff and they work well. but not sure you could bend them into a curved or "s" shape.

[John C Bush]

If you get them hot enough they can be easily shaped but hardness properties change. Would be fun to try the retemper. Looks Like I will be signing on with a blacksmith forum!

Reed, thanks for the info, and for ther videos as well. I have been using my scrapers a lot more and like the speed and ease of use. I was planning on making a Monster scraper like you videoed and was wondering from where and what type of tool steel you used to solder to the shaft--was the shaft hardened steel as well--can't remember if it was round or flat.

[Brice Rogers]

John,

I have made a bunch of different tool rests including a couple of curved ones. All have been made out of "soft" steel. I don't get nearly as many "exciting" catches as I used to, so the denting issue really doesn't occur very much. When it does, then I spend 2 minutes every 3 to 6 months with a file or some sandpaper to fix it. Some day I'm planning on adding drill rod (hard stuff) but that is one of those "round-tuits".

On my cutting tools with sharp edges on the bottom, I've rounded or softened them a bit. That will help a lot in minimizing dents when you get a catch.

Bending 5/8 rod is likely to require heating it red hot and bending it using blacksmith techniques. Perhaps if you have a hydraulic press you could do it cold.

One of my favorite curved rests uses a 5/16 (?) x 1" strap. I cold formed it using a vice and welded it to a 1" post using a Lincoln stick welder. If concerned about the strength, then just increase the 1" dimension (strength goes up with either the square or the cube of the web).

I am attaching a picture of about half of my tool rests. The pix includes the cast iron one that came from Griz (which does dent easily and which I don't particularly like or use).
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[Brice Rogers]

On one of the curved tool rests, I got a piece of pre-curved 1/2" or 5/8" bar from a wrought-iron supply store. I welded a rib to the bottom for strength. It is very stiff.

In the previous picture you'll see some strange looking stubby rests, including a stubby captured tool rest. They were made for my first lathe (9") that had a 5/8 inch post. I made an adapter to make it work with my 22" Griz G0766. Those old and smaller tool rests still work quite well with that adapter.