More newbie questions

[Dick Durbin]

I have had my Jet Mini lathe for a few weeks and have been playing around with it while waiting for my Wolverine grinding jig to show up. I have a couple of questions:

Does anyone have anything pro or con to say about putting a longer tool rest on this lathe? The one that came with it may be suitable for pen turning but seems awfully short and requires a lot of moving.

Has anyone installed longer handles on the ubiquitous Harbor Freight turning tools? I bought them to play with while learning and the handles seem awfully short.

Dick Durbin
Tallahassee

[Frank Kobilsek]

Dick,

Jet offers a 12" rest for the mini but unless you plan to do long spindles I doubt you'll really find it helpful. Turn a little while with the short rest before you invest in another rest.

I hate to poo poo both your ideas but long handles with the small lathe will probably get in you way.

As soon as your stuff arrives and you get going you will be able to decide on these and about 100 other ideas and inventions you'll come up with.

Frank

[Steve Schlumpf]

Dick, wanted to Welcome you to the Creek!

Have to agree with Frank about turning for awhile before getting a longer rest. Unless you plan on turning really long spindles you'll find the having a rest that is too long is more of a pain than one that is too short.

As far as the HF tool handles - I would be a little leary of putting longer handles on them as they were designed to hang over the tool rest only a limited amount. If you put a longer handle on it you may over-extend the tool and cause a failure. Just my opinion.

[Mark Pruitt]

Dick,
You have several options for a tool rest. My best recommendation is the Sorby modular tool rest system. (http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=2&p=46452&cat=1,330,49238&ap=1) Your Jet Mini takes a 5/8" post, and what I really like about this system is that you can use it with multiple lathes and only need to buy additional posts where a different size is needed. I'm using this system on my Delta Midi and will continue to use it when I buy a Big Lathe later this year.

As for tool handles, the length depends on a few variables, including what you're comfortable with, what you want to do with the tool, and the tool's own capabilities and limitations. If the handle feels "short," then maybe a longer one would serve you better. However, if you're trying to make a spindle gouge behave like a bowl gouge, you'd be much better off just buying a bowl gouge instead.

[Steve Knowlton]

Dick, Welcome to the dark side.

I made my own tool rests out of round stockfrom the local hardware store. I made 2 or 3 different sizes. 1 was curved for bowl work. Dont have much invested. If youm have a welder or access to one that is what i would do. Good luck

[John Hart]

Dick....I used my long toolrest exclusively...until one day a while back, I snapped it off on a big catch. I was going to replace it, but started using my short rest in the interim. That was a long time ago, and I never did replace the long one. Ends up that I won't buy a new long rest. I much prefer the short one. For whatever that's worth.;) :)

[Rich Stewart]

Spend that money on a curved tool rest. I think it will come in much more handy. Bowls and such. Don't know about the handles. All mine are stock.

Rich

[John Terefenko]

I am currently using the jet mini and i bought the round bar set from Crafts supply and it has several different lengths and am glad I did because the small ones are a pain if you are doing longer spindles. As others said the more you get using it you will decide for yourself what you need. I will say this this can be a very expensive hobby so be careful what you buy and don't buy to just have it. Good luck and look forward to seeing your work.