Trying to decide on a new tool rest.

[Alex Zeller]

I started getting the review of the G0632Z thread off track (didn't want to do that) so I'm starting a new thread. My Grizzly rest was made to a budget. Nothing wrong with that. In fact it's kind of good as I didn't pay more for something that I may never use once I upgrade. It's cast steel or ductile iron and no matter how much I smooth it out I feel it's making it harder for me to smoothly slide the tool across it. In part my skills have plenty of room to improve so it's not all the rest's fault.

I haven't looked at too many rests yet but I do know I want one that has a harden steel surface. I looked at Robust and I think the comfort style would best suit me as I usually hold the handle with my right hand and use my left to guide the tool with my thumb on top and fingers under it. My current rest is 14" long and I haven't had an issue with it being too short or too long but I've mostly only turned bowls and platters.

So what are the opinions of the veterans? Robust makes a 12" and a 15" long rest, will the 15" long rest start to be an issue if I'm using the tail stock? Right now the only real reason I could see for the 14" wide rest is to reach into deeper bowls. I wouldn't be opposed to getting a second rest, maybe a J rest over a curved rest for the inside of bowls if needed. What other brands should I be looking at? On the Robust website the show a low profile rest with the turner's fingers on the backside of the rest. I've never done that. In fact I treat the rest like a guard rail (read it on-line somewhere) that only the tool crosses it. Is that a technique that more advanced turners use? Is there an advantage?

[Dick Mahany]

Tool rests are highly personal choices from what I've read. I tried an after market tool rest made of 1" steel bar and personally don't find it comfortable for the type of work that I typically do. In addition, it gets dings and needs to be smoothed with a stone more than I expected. I don't think that manufacturer produces them any longer.

I decided to try a Robust tool rest and it quickly has become my preferred rest. The 4" Comfort rest comes in handy for small spaces and pens, but I really like the 9" standard low profile the best. After upgrading to those, I seldom ever use the stock Jet rest that came with my 1642.

The hardened steel rod of small diameter is easy to keep clean and tools glide effortlessly across it. I do find myself on occasion using a slight under hand grip on the lower backside of the curved rest for stability, but as you mentioned, I typically keep my fingers in front of the rest. The ergonomics of the Robust rests just seem to fit me best. One thing that I found is that unless I'm turning long spindles, wide rests seem to get in the way between the chuck and tail stock on smaller diameter pieces, so I'm pleased with the 9" as it gives me plenty of surface area for the boxes and platters that I often do.

Robust Tool Rest.jpg

[Allan Ferguson]

The Robust Comfort rest 12" is my most used rest, 1 St finger rides against the rest. I do a lot of bowls . I have the low 12" profile rest and find it very useful for finials were you can bring a finger up behind the finial to steady it. It it also good for reaching an end inside a turning when there is not room to use the other rest. Shorter rests fit in closer to the short turning when the tail stock is used.

[Brice Rogers]

I make my own tool rests. I copy designs of others. My favorites are an 8" comfort rest and a 6" comfort rest (basically copies of the Robust comfort rests).

I also have a couple of box rests, a couple of curved bowl rests, a short 2" wide rest.....and my 14" wide cast iron grizzly rest. I've used the grizzly cast iron rest less than a dozen times. I don't particularly like it. BTW, I think that it is cast iron rather than cast steel, because it is so soft.

All of my homemade rests are just steel. Probably 1018 or something equivalent. But they are substantially harder than cast iron. So they don't nick particularly easily. Perhaps once or twice a year I run a file over them. They only get nicked when I get a catch and that doesn't happen very often (like when I first started turning). I bought some drill rod but haven't bothered to attach it to my favorite rests.

[John K Jordan]

After using my first Robust rest I hate to use anything else. I bought a sets for several lathe sizes so I can carry them to demos. I'm on the road now but if you want I can comment on these towards the end of this week.

[Pat Scott]

I own two Robust rests in smaller lengths than what came with my lathe. I bought the Robust rest years ago before learning about the ones made by Steve Sinner at Advanced Lathe Tools. Had I known about the ones by Sinner I would not have bought the Robust. Think Robust rest only better. One comparison is the Advanced rest has a 3/8" thick rod and Robust has 1/4".

I've talked to several other turners that have used or owned both, and one of the comments I have heard is the Robust can have vibration whereas the Advanced Lathe Tools does not. Our club had a demo last year by a professional turner who was fiddling with the stock (long) tool rest. I asked if he wanted our clubs Robust rest. He said "I don't want a different rest, I want a better rest" as he pulled out his own Sinner rest from his bag.

I have not used the Advanced rest myself but am thinking about buying one to compare/replace my Robust. I know I can always sell the Robust. A quick price comparison shows the Advanced rest is $5 more than Robust. That's a no-brainer for me.

[Wes Henson]

The only down side I've seen the the Robust style rest is when you are trying to put a tool in a very vertical position. The forward sweep on the rest can get in the way as you lower your handle. Everyone turns a little differently so that is where that personal style decision comes into play.
I like 9"-12" sizes. Sometimes those little 6" ones are good for when you have the tail stock in close

[Reed Gray]

I think one problem is the Grizzly lathes need a long post, some thing like 8 inches. To me, this is just too much post sticking up. Other than that, I do prefer the hardened drill rod on top because it is so smooth and your tools glide across it with almost no friction. The Robust comfort rests are pretty good, but I made a prototype rest with hardened drill rod and put it on straight bar stock at a 15 degree angle. I do prefer it to the curved bar stock that Robust uses. The reason has already been stated that the curve gets in the way if you are dropping your handle. I have found with some rests and the way they fit into the banjo, it is difficult to move the rest all the way up to small diameter stock because the banjo only wants to move so far towards the center. One way to get past this is the curve like Robust does. Another way is to put a goose neck in the post, which is a bit of a pain. Another way would be to redesign the banjo, but not sure if that will ever happen. Cheap fix is to buy some drill rod and epoxy it on top of your straight rest. It is better than cast iron, but not as slick as the hardened drill rod. Of course if you drop it on the floor and it lands on the rod, it will pop off, but a simple fix. There are 3 types of the drill rod, A (air), W (water, and O (oil), which has some thing to do with the tempering before it is hardened, The A is a lot harder than the other two. I have a couple of the case hardened box tool rests from Boxmaster (Jimmy Allen who is now the owner of D Way) and they are really nice, but they may need a goose neck for the 16 inch lathes. Again because of banjo design and getting close to small diameter pieces. I did look at the Steve Sinner rests once upon a time, but not closely. Probably should take another look... One can never have too many toys...

robo hippy

[Alex Zeller]

One of the issues I didn't mention about the Grizzle rest is it's shape makes holding the tool at anything much more than 45° the tool is no longer resting on the top of the rest. Looking at pictures of the Robust rest it looks like there's a lot more clearance. I do have the ability to make a rest. The only issue would be welding the harden steel. It's not too difficult but it does require extra steps like preheating.

The rest that came with my lathe is 8" tall over all. It's a 1" diameter (not the older 25mm). The depth of the 1" hole in the banjo is about 3 1/4". I would think that anything I get needs to be close (7 1/2" to 8") to the same height to work with the banjo that came with the lathe. Here's a view of the profile next to the Robust rests.
rest.jpg

[Brice Rogers]

Here is a profile picture of my home made tool rest (patterned after the Robust comfort rest). I bought a thick-wall pipe and sliced off a 1/4 section of it so that I didn't have to do any bending. I think that the thickness is 5/16". I carefully aligned and welded it to a 1" diameter HRS round bar. Even though it is just steel, I don't need to touch it up very often.

People have asked me why I bother to make things like this rather than just buy it on line. My response is that I get as much enjoyment making things as I do using them. For me it isn't just the "destination" it is the "journey".

IMG_0017 (1024x768).jpg

[Richard Dooling]

I mostly use the Robust rests but Reed Gray (Robo Hippy) makes what he calls an inside bowl rest that's great. Actually you can use it inside and outside and his video promoting the rest will tell you all you need to know.

https://www.robohippy.net/store/medium-75

[Kyle Iwamoto]

I have a couple Robust rests, and I also run into that problem when doing sheer scraping. I know people don't like curved bowl rests, but for sheer scraping I usually swap the Robust out. I also have a quite handy home made rest that is just an angle iron welded to a post. If you have a welder. On my small lathe, I actually like the round bar rests.
I'd give Robo's rests a shot, if starting new. If his rests were around long ago, I think I would have tried them.......

[Joe Meirhaeghe]

I've been using the rest by Advanced Lathe Tools LLC for over 10 years now. Over which time I've collected them in the following sizes 3"-6"-9"-12" and 14" for my Powermatic Lathe and 3"-6" for my mini and will probably ad a 9" mini at some time.
Steve has been making these heavy duty rest before since before Robust made rest. They allow you to drop your handle low for shear cuts.
Steve's rest are popular among many pro turners. He does very little advertising and not heard of by many hobbyist but he does have a web site check it out if you haven't purchased yet.

[Al Wasser]

I have the robust rests but recently add the Advanced Lathe Tool rests. I guess I can try to sell my Robust rests now

[Richard Dooling]

Hard to tell from the Advanced Lathe Tools site what the side profile looks like. Do these rests have any forward projection or are they pretty much straight up and down?