>The only tool rest I have is the stock 12" that came with the lathe.
I've been looking at Oneway's two curved tool rest. One is 11" long with a 5" radius, the other 12" long with a 6" radius. They claim the shorter one is for the interior, although I'm not sure why.
There is also a S-Curve rest, which I'm leaning towards. Again, they claim it is for interior use and I'm not sure why either.
What do you think about these two rest, are they any good? Is there a better rest you would recommend?
>I've got Best Tool's large radius curved rest and really like it. It is very adjustable to a wide variety of forms. I also like the fact that I can use several different rest with the same post.
>I have that one, too and I have the opposite opinion. I don't like it much at all. It chatters/bounces very reliably when extended more than a few inches, even with light cuts. The adjuster mechanism also gets in the way of the tool more than occasionally. I have looked at the Oneway, it looks much beefier and preferable to me.
That said, I like the component aspect of the best wood tools rest system, and also have a few of their other items. The 9" offset toolrest is the one I use daily and love it. I also much enjoy using the toolpost chuck adapter. It allows you to screw the chuck right onto the toolpost to work the piece in a solid, upright fashion. Great for filling holes/gaps, finishing, spot sanding, etc..
>I have the Oneway rests. Both the inside and the outside rests. The inside rest is a "J" rest with the post at the top of the "J". In this way the entire rest can be sued inside a bowl. The outsode rest is a "C" shaped rest with the post in the middle of the "C".
I use both rest on occasion. I highly recomend the outside rest for the outside of a bowl. It is easy to maintain a short overhang on the outside. The "J" rest doesn't work for me. I guess it has to do with the way I sharpen or work with my tool. The toolrest gets in my way. I will use it, but only for finish cuts where I want the tool rest close to the spinning wood.
I mostly use the 18" rest which came with the lathe or a 6" rest I added to the lathe.
I had an "S" rest for a previous lathe. I never did get much use out of that. The "S" rest got in the way of my tool both inside and outside.
I don't do much scraping and I would suspect that the inside rests would "shine" when used with a scraper.
>I just bought a curved rest from Seahorse Fabrications in Ranger,GA. Made from 1" steel welded with 10" reach to the left of the 1" post. No chatter, no bounce. Found this gent from the recommendation of David Ellsworth.
See link below.
BTW, the steel faceplates are very good as well. I don't use a curved rest for the outside of a form; rather work the curved surface from the straight and move the rest.
The "outside" rest will work inside, but you get less inside extension with it. The "inside" rest puts more rest on the left side of the post so it reaches deeper. Inside can be used outside too.
>Ron I use an extra long curved tool rest custom made for me by John Lea. I found him to be very reasonable, and his rests are the best because he uses dual steel rods for his tool rest which make them extra sturdy. Check out his site before you decide.
>Get the Delta S curved rests from Packard. I've benn using both for a very long time (as well as a number of others that can't compare WRT ergonomics). They are inexpensive and are the best IMO. Packard website is: http://www.packardwoodworks.com/
>Ron - I had the Delta S toolrest on my bowl lathe which I just sold and loved it. Very rugged and functional. I have a new Oneway 2436 which I got in February and bought both curved tool rests. Both are very useful. I think the interior/exterior designation has to do with where the post is positioned on the toolrest and what its reach is to best accomodate the bowl you are working on. On smaller bowls, the exterior would probably work in the interior position. They, like all of Oneway's products, are extremely well made and are stainless steel on top of it all. On larger bowls the Oneway definitely covers a greater reach and allows one continous cut, especially nice when finishing off a bowl, inside or outside.
