• Beware of Counterfeit Woodturning Tools (click here for details)
  • Johnathan Silwones is starting a new AAW chapter, Southern Alleghenies Woodturners, in Johnstown, PA. (click here for details)
  • Congratulations to Paul May for "Checkerboard (ver 3.0)" being selected as Turning of the Week for March 25, 2024 (click here for details)
  • Welcome new registering member. Your username must be your real First and Last name (for example: John Doe). "Screen names" and "handles" are not allowed and your registration will be deleted if you don't use your real name. Also, do not use all caps nor all lower case.

Making your tools slide and glide on the tool rest........

odie

TOTW Team
Joined
Dec 22, 2006
Messages
7,072
Likes
9,470
Location
Panning for Montana gold, with Betsy, the mule!
When you get right down to the nitty gritty.........when you make those few final passes right before you're ready to sand a surface, it's very helpful to have your tool slide smoothly and effortlessly on the tool rest. The tool slides best with a very delicate hold, and there are a few things that are easily done and will make that tool slide smoothly across the rest.

There are several things that control the tool as it slides along the tool rest......your hands, body movement, the contact surfaces between your tool and your tool rest.

Not much you can do about your body movement. All of us have what we have. A good well positioned stance is necessary. Hopefully we all can make our tools "flow" with great smooth movements of our bodies......resulting in that nice artistic curve.

Your hand is in contact with the tool rest. You can make your hands slide better on the tool rest in a couple of ways. You'll notice I've applied some black plastic electrical tape to the back sides of the tool rest where your hands will contact this surface. There is one rest that has some red tape, and this is Teflon tape. I've found the black plastic electrical tape to work just as well as the expensive Teflon tape. You should apply some thumb pressure against the bare metal of your tool rest, and slide it across the surface. Then apply some tape and test again......compare. I've found that my thumb slides across the bare metal pretty well, UNTIL some pressure is applied. With pressure, adding the tape makes for a better and smoother sliding surface for your hands.

The plastic tape works very well, but if you want to improve on that, wear a cheap soft cotton glove.....that, along with the tape, makes it like greased lightning! :D

I have almost twenty tool rests, and use most of them......but, I highly recommend the Robust tool rests with their hardened steel top surface. This hardened steel surface makes tools slide better than any rest with a softer top surface.

One of the best things you can ever do to make tools slide on the tool rest.....is to highly polish the tops of the tool rests, and the corresponding contact surfaces of your tools. For years, I was using 220 or 320 shop rolls for this purpose, but about a year ago, I tried a 3M deburring wheel, and the level of polish I now get is astounding!......and the polishing is done VERY quickly, only a few seconds is all it takes. (Be sure to polish the bottom, AND bottom corners of your scrapers and skews.) These are expensive wheels, but last a long time........and I wouldn't think about doing without them now!

I get these wheels, partially used, and no longer usable for polishing stainless medical instruments from my place of employment. Mine have a 1" hole, and since I have a lathe, making an adaptor to a smaller motor shaft was easy enough to do. I've googled these deburr wheels, and see there are a number of versions, and most all of them would be great for polishing tools and tool rests. Here's the specifications on mine:

3M Scotch Brite
8S FIN
EX2 Deburring wheel

---------------------------------------------



One final thing.......keep the gunk from accumulating on the tops of your tool rests. A couple of quick swipes with a 3M pot scrubber pad (get them at your grocery store) is all it takes to remove residue from the tops of your tool rests.


ooc

.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_0438.jpg
    IMG_0438.jpg
    517.7 KB · Views: 337
  • IMG_0434.jpg
    IMG_0434.jpg
    537.4 KB · Views: 336
Last edited:

john lucas

AAW Forum Expert
Joined
Apr 26, 2004
Messages
8,321
Likes
3,576
Location
Cookeville, TN
Odie you didn't mention putting wax on the tool rest after you polish it. I just use an old candle. Makes it super slick. I use steel wool on the rest every day or so and then hit it with the candle. That's usually all it takes unless I've let flying CA get on the rest. Then I have to stop and scrape that off.
 

odie

TOTW Team
Joined
Dec 22, 2006
Messages
7,072
Likes
9,470
Location
Panning for Montana gold, with Betsy, the mule!
Odie you didn't mention putting wax on the tool rest after you polish it. I just use an old candle. Makes it super slick. I use steel wool on the rest every day or so and then hit it with the candle. That's usually all it takes unless I've let flying CA get on the rest. Then I have to stop and scrape that off.

Hi John......

I used candle wax......I've found it doesn't help when both surfaces are highly polished and (preferably) hardened.

Candle wax works when one or both rubbing surfaces are not as smooth as they could be, and you sound like someone who should try out the deburring wheel. You won't go back to candle wax!

ooc
 

Bill Boehme

Administrator
Staff member
Beta Tester
TOTW Team
Joined
Jan 27, 2005
Messages
12,884
Likes
5,168
Location
Dalworthington Gardens, TX
Website
pbase.com
Odie, you are right about getting those surfaces smooth. A tool rest that grabs or causes the tool to drag makes a lot of difference in the quality of turned finish.

I go a bit further on polishing my tool rests. I polish all the way up to 1500 grit silicon carbide and then either switch to metal polish or Micromesh to get it to a glass shine. I do the same thing to many of the tool shanks. Finally, I finish with Johnson's Paste Wax on the tool rest and tool shanks and continue buffing until the paste wax dries and hardens to an ice-slick glossy surface. I tried paraffin wax years ago and greatly prefer the paste wax.

The only downside is the specular highlights from bright lights or the sun when turning outdoors.
 
Joined
Mar 20, 2009
Messages
207
Likes
1
There are several things that control the tool as it slides along the tool rest......your hands, body movement, the contact surfaces between your tool and your tool rest.

You'll notice I've applied some black plastic electrical tape to the back sides of the tool rest where your hands will contact this surface.


.


Ya Odie I've been trying to get my hands in contact with those tools,rests &

Woodfast lathe for a long time. I feel for them but can't quite reach them.:D

Good info though.:)

By the way I wondered around a bit in your shop this afternoon nice shop great looking lathe. I left everything as I found it & swept up my foot prints as I left.
 
Last edited:

odie

TOTW Team
Joined
Dec 22, 2006
Messages
7,072
Likes
9,470
Location
Panning for Montana gold, with Betsy, the mule!
Bart and Bill......You both are welcome in my shop anytime......perhaps I could brew up some coffee and we could gab for awhile!

Is that a matrix wheel?

Richard......

I'm not sure how it's made, but it's similar to the 3M pot scrubber pads, only very dense and stiff.

I have found the candle abit gummy and now use graphite powder, do you use your shop Odie it looks too clean;)

Hi Ian.......

Clean?......almost never!

Perhaps this photo will make you feel more at home!:D

ooc
 

Attachments

  • Shop Nov 2011 (3).JPG
    Shop Nov 2011 (3).JPG
    400.2 KB · Views: 187
Last edited:
Joined
Nov 1, 2012
Messages
115
Likes
0
Location
Tampa, FL
Funny this should be posted today!

Turns out (pun intended), that I nearly cut off my right index finger yesterday from having my finger get caught between the tool rest and my flat scraper's side (somewhat sharp 90 degree angle there), because of a catch induced when the tool stalled on a rough spot on the rest while shear craping the outside of a hollow vessel.

After getting the bleeding stopped, I filed and sanded the top of the tool rest, coated it with wax, and swore to never turn wood without gloves on again (I hate wearing them, because I think I get better tactile feedback going bare-handed; but I need all my digits for my day job).

Good info here. Thanks Odie for starting this thread.
 
Joined
Mar 20, 2009
Messages
207
Likes
1
Bart and Bill......You both are welcome in my shop anytime......perhaps I could brew up some coffee and we could gab for
awhile!

ooc

Yes I know your somewhere within 500 mile of me but not sure quite where.:D
 
Joined
May 16, 2005
Messages
3,540
Likes
15
After getting the bleeding stopped, I filed and sanded the top of the tool rest, coated it with wax, and swore to never turn wood without gloves on again (I hate wearing them, because I think I get better tactile feedback going bare-handed; but I need all my digits for my day job).

Please choose another solution. Gloves get grabbed and take the digits with, twisting and crushing them, at times, beyond possibility of reattachment. The solution is in hand position, not covering. Even a tight glove makes your digit larger than what your body thinks it is (proprioception), and can get caught when you are not watching. An overhand grip keeps all digits behind the barrier by default.

The thread is, to me, a solution which has no problem. I use an overhand grip, so the tool is firm to the rest, not whacking dents in it. The Delta went more than a dozen years without filing, because the first lathe I owned taught me the value of holding the tool overhand. Filed it a few times, you can bet! The 3000 was filed when I acquired it, having a good-sized whack in one place. I think the previous owner had filed it prior, as well, because he had left sharp edges and angles which I reduced. I actually cut my finger grabbing the rest to assemble it the first time. Don't forget to round the edges, whatever you do to yours. I don't wax or buff. Cast iron does, however, have about half the coefficient of friction with hardened steel as does other hardened steel, so perhaps those rests so equipped might benefit. They would have to be buffed after, as mentioned with the paraffin (candle) wax, not just "crayoned."

Get the rest you have in close. I always tell students that there should be too small a gap for the tool or the pinkie to pass. For final passes, scraping or shaving, consider a curved rest, or stopping and swinging a straight one closer if you can't reach that objective.
 

Bill Boehme

Administrator
Staff member
Beta Tester
TOTW Team
Joined
Jan 27, 2005
Messages
12,884
Likes
5,168
Location
Dalworthington Gardens, TX
Website
pbase.com
Please choose another solution.

Amen to what MM says. When I was still working, nobody was allowed anywhere close (meaning crossing over the yellow line) where there was rotating, stamping, or forming machinery without first:

  1. Removing gloves
  2. tying back and covering long hair
  3. rolling up long sleeves
  4. not wearing any loose clothing
  5. removing rings, bracelets, necklaces ant other jewelry that could be grabbed by the machine
  6. removing badges on lanyards
  7. removing pocket protectors and pens/pencils from pockets
  8. wearing approved steel toed shoes
  9. wearing safety goggles
  10. wearing safety helmet
  11. wearing hearing protection when required
Failure to follow the rules was grounds for immediate dismissal. The rules were not arbitrary.
 

odie

TOTW Team
Joined
Dec 22, 2006
Messages
7,072
Likes
9,470
Location
Panning for Montana gold, with Betsy, the mule!
An overhand grip keeps all digits behind the barrier by default.

The thread is, to me, a solution which has no problem. I use an overhand grip, so the tool is firm to the rest, not whacking dents in it.

There is a problem with an overhand grip, and that is the fingers are out of the equation for controlling the tool movement......and, the fingers have much more acute dexterity than palms and arms. This can be easily tested by taking a writing instrument and holding it in your fist.......try writing with it. Now hold it in your fingers and compare the results.

If an underhand grip is used and the tool is "whacking dents" in the tool rest, then the problem is not understanding how to control the tool. There is a time and a place to use an overhand grip, but if it's because the tool can't be controlled with the underhand grip, then the overhand solution is a poor substitute for lack of knowledge.

ooc
 
Last edited:
Joined
Feb 3, 2010
Messages
111
Likes
1
Location
Tooradin, Australia.
Website
ubeaut.com.au
Well, I am going to go against the grain here.

For most of our work we have to wear gloves and long sleeves otherwise there would be no skin left on our hand or forearms.

For those that have seen my safety videos, I am very safety conscious, almost to the extreme. We have to be for the size of stuff we work on.

I have never had a glove catch in 30 or more years for one very good reason: Don't put your hand anywhere near rotating wood. The tool rest is the nearest your fingers should get.

I am with you Odie regarding the underhand grip.

An over hand grip has less control and lets shavings build up sometimes forcing the chisel back.
 
Joined
Apr 5, 2012
Messages
160
Likes
0
Location
Mosgiel New Zealand
Hi Odie I can see you are human after all that looks better :D .some yrs ago my son was useing a cut off saw in a factory and had not been given proper instructions ,he was wearing gloves one came in contact with the blade and draged his hand into the blade he nearly lost a hand. I have been a carpenter joiner from 16 till retirement and still have all my fingers and dont like gloves as I feel you lose touch with what you are holding or touching, better working procedures are important for safty, yes I wear face air and hearing protection

Cheers Ian
 
Joined
May 16, 2005
Messages
3,540
Likes
15
There is a problem with an overhand grip, and that is the fingers are out of the equation for controlling the tool movement......and, the fingers have much more acute dexterity than palms and arms.

One of the beauties of the overhand grip is the greater control it gives. Control from the hand at the long end of the lever, which is also usually the more dextrous one. The fingers have neither the strength, nor the ability to make such small adjustments in arc or pitch as can be made with a 15 or 20 to 1 mechanical advantage. They are in a virtual 1:1 situation. When you can move the long end an inch to get a mm movement at the point of attack you can gain and maintain the cut so that even some dry woods give a continuous shaving.

They often haven't the strength to advance to tool into the work against variations in the grain, which might lead some to erroneously assume that the tool is vibrating, when it's simply the loose manner in which it is directed. With the tool firmly on the rest the advance, once the shaving is struck, is with the palm, though even there the flesh is more compressible than the steel.

But hey, take the unnecessary handle off a tool and try your theory if you'd like. You shouldn't wear gloves, though, because they steal some of that prized tactile feedback and even control as they slip a bit between the steel and those fingers of steel.
 
Last edited:
Joined
Nov 1, 2012
Messages
115
Likes
0
Location
Tampa, FL
I hear what you are all saying and, now that my finger has healed sufficiently, can reply to some of them.

I agree that my tool rest should not be all "dinged up." That said, I must say that I was using a rather longish (12") straight rest that I picked up at PSI. It's made of VERY soft metal. I likely need to get me one of those Robust rests, but it is what it is and, the rest is a bit marred (at least it was).

I am no expert (yet... give it another ten years though), but I use an overhand grip when roughing, and switch to an underhand grip when fine tuning and shear scraping. Just cannot get the fine tool control I need (so that I can start sanding at 320 grit) with an overhand grip.

My toolrest SHOULD have been close enough to the work to prevent the accident but, as these things usually go, I had a momentary lapse of judgement so that I could just touch up around the neck of the vessel, and didn't want to take the time to change over to a french curve rest (which would have been able to bridge the gap that my straight rest could not).

Gloves or no gloves is an interesting thread. I am an anesthesiologist when not in front of my lathe, and am used to wearing gloves for every procedure. They protect me and my patients. Also, with my day job, it is important not to have hands that look like I just changed the oil on my F150. I always wear heavy duty nitrile gloves (either 5 or 9 mil... get em at HF store). They prevent grime, wood burn, and some minor injury (splinters and such), but do not cut down on dexterity much. Also, they are breakaway, and so do not present a ripping, twisting, or catch hazard.

I think I will stick with what I already do, and just keep my whits about me next time. I will TAKE NO SHORTCUTS! Live and learn.
 
Joined
Oct 25, 2005
Messages
935
Likes
241
Location
Newberg, OR: 20mi SW of Portland: AAW #21058
For most of our work we have to wear gloves and long sleeves otherwise there would be no skin left on our hand or forearms.
<snip>

I have never had a glove catch in 30 or more years for one very good reason: Don't put your hand anywhere near rotating wood. The tool rest is the nearest your fingers should get.

I use a glove when roughing through bark or a large, irregular piece. Without a glove, the side of my left palm has gotten quite abraded and raw by the wood chips and splinters. My glove (left hand only) of choice is either a leather work glove with the fingers cut off at the mid-point or a fingerless bicycle glove with padded palm.

The recommendation for no gloves around a lathe, I believe, stems from the metal machining trades. What is the mechanism that pulls a gloved hand into a lathe? Is it the metal ribbons that accumulate?
 

odie

TOTW Team
Joined
Dec 22, 2006
Messages
7,072
Likes
9,470
Location
Panning for Montana gold, with Betsy, the mule!
My post was directed at MM's above mine. I will elaborate later.

That's the way I took it......and, I'm in agreement with it.

As the saying goes......."If you can't dazzle 'em with brilliance, baffle 'em with...........!

--------------------------------------------------

I don't use a glove very often, but there are two specific conditions when I do. One of those conditions was mentioned in my first post of this thread. A soft cotton glove (with the fingertips cut off) is what I use sometimes when I want the ultimate smooth sliding contact between my hand and the tool rest. I don't always need the cotton glove, but there are times when it helps. The other time is during roughing bowls for seasoning. If I'm taking a big cut, sometimes the shavings are hot enough to be a discomfort. I have a leather glove I use for these times. Neither of these instances require a glove all the time, but there are times when I feel a glove is warranted.

It's true that using a glove does absolutely increase the risk, but being unaware, or lax towards that risk is usually what causes problems. The wood lathe, itself, is not without risk each and every time you turn it on, bring it to speed, and apply tool to wood.........nothing is fool proof, but there is the performance you are seeking somewhere between using every safety precaution imaginable, and being totally oblivious to the dangers.......

ooc

ooc
 
Last edited:
Joined
Jan 18, 2006
Messages
87
Likes
2
Location
VA
I also use a fingerless glove on my left hand only when roughing the outside of green bowls. I never have my hand past the rest, so in my mind, I'm being safe. And I am more aware of where my hand is when it's gloved.

Ditto to what Owen said about being peppered with chips and bark.
 
Joined
Jan 18, 2006
Messages
87
Likes
2
Location
VA
That's the way I took it......and, I'm in agreement with it.

As the saying goes......."If you can't dazzle 'em with brilliance, baffle 'em with...........!

--------------------------------------------------

Yessir. That's the way I took it as well. Agree also, I do......
 

Bill Boehme

Administrator
Staff member
Beta Tester
TOTW Team
Joined
Jan 27, 2005
Messages
12,884
Likes
5,168
Location
Dalworthington Gardens, TX
Website
pbase.com
..... Is it the metal ribbons that accumulate?

No, during actual milling there is a flood of coolant liquid and sometimes air that keeps the cutting area free of swarf. On CNC machines there is also a shroud that keeps hands away from the cutting as well as keeping people from being doused by coolant and swarf.

Any rotating or moving part with sharp edges (such as an end mill) can and will grab anything that comes in contact with it and pull it into the rotating spindle or other moving parts. This can happen so fast that it is over before anyone know that something has happened. During operations like tooling changes and machine set up would be the times when an operator would come into contact with moving parts. Even with safety procedures like "Lock Out - Tag Out" you do everything that you can to avoid getting yourself wrapped around the axle because there is no single safety precaution that is foolproof.
 
Joined
Oct 25, 2005
Messages
935
Likes
241
Location
Newberg, OR: 20mi SW of Portland: AAW #21058
Any rotating or moving part with sharp edges (such as an end mill) can and will grab anything that comes in contact with it and pull it into the rotating spindle or other moving parts. This can happen so fast that it is over before anyone know that something has happened. During operations like tooling changes and machine set up would be the times when an operator would come into contact with moving parts. Even with safety procedures like "Lock Out - Tag Out" you do everything that you can to avoid getting yourself wrapped around the axle because there is no single safety precaution that is foolproof.

Thanks Bill. Your explanation about rotating cutters makes complete sense and jibes with Ian Thorne's son's experience with a saw blade. So, it seems to me that the machining and wood lathe situations are different given the rotating edge tool/stationary stock vs. the stationary chisels/rotating stock we use. I'm thinking there's little direct risk correlation for the machinist's glove restriction to apply to wood turning.

Are there any reports of woodturners being injured at the lathe due to wearing gloves?
 

Bill Boehme

Administrator
Staff member
Beta Tester
TOTW Team
Joined
Jan 27, 2005
Messages
12,884
Likes
5,168
Location
Dalworthington Gardens, TX
Website
pbase.com
Thanks Bill. Your explanation about rotating cutters makes complete sense and jibes with Ian Thorne's son's experience with a saw blade. So, it seems to me that the machining and wood lathe situations are different given the rotating edge tool/stationary stock vs. the stationary chisels/rotating stock we use. I'm thinking there's little direct risk correlation for the machinist's glove restriction to apply to wood turning.

Are there any reports of woodturners being injured at the lathe due to wearing gloves?

My explanation was just a typical example, but it wasn't intended to be comprehensive. Clothing can get wound up on even a relatively smooth spindle. I knew a persdon who left the PTo running on his tractor while he went to check the hay baler. The PTO grabbed the bottom of his pants leg and wound him up.

The company where I worked for 30 years before retiring also had a woodworking shop that built wooden fixtures, jigs, and shipping crates, a model shop that built wind tunnel models, full scale pre-production wooden mock ups of machined parts and assemblies, and a carpenter's shop for facilities work. The same safety requirements existed there as on the production floor.

Regarding you last question, you're looking for something that doesn't exist -- but please don't take the absence of data as tacit proof that there is no safety issue. Industrial accidents are documented and data are compiled with the goal of improving safety in the workplace. There is no such requirement for accidents around the home. When I first started turning, I wound up my right hand and dislocated my right index finger and damaged some ligaments by trying to sand the interior of a shallow bowl that had a bark inclusion. A couple years later, I fileted the back of my hand while reaching over a surgically sharp bowl gouge. However, you won't find either of those listed in any repository of "Stupid Turner Tricks". In all my years of turning, I have only seen two or three turners who wore gloves. Maybe there is a reason the number of turners wearing gloves is so small. Having seen what can happen when clothing gets caught in a machine, I won't be putting on gloves when operating a lathe.
 
Last edited:
Joined
Feb 3, 2010
Messages
111
Likes
1
Location
Tooradin, Australia.
Website
ubeaut.com.au
One of the beauties of the overhand grip is the greater control it gives. Completely false. Control from the hand at the long end of the lever, which is also usually the more dextrous one. The fingers have neither the strength, nor the ability to make such small adjustments in arc or pitch as can be made with a 15 or 20 to 1 mechanical advantage. Therein lies the problem. It is sometime too easy to go too far using the handle end alone. They are in a virtual 1:1 situation. You just stated it was a 15-20:1 When you can move the long end an inch to get a mm movement at the point of attack you can gain and maintain the cut so that even some dry woods give a continuous shaving.You can do the same thing using just your fingers.

They often haven't the strength to advance to tool into the work against variations in the grain, which might lead some to erroneously assume that the tool is vibrating, Always the little dig, eh Michael. when it's simply the loose manner in which it is directed. With the tool firmly on the rest the advance, once the shaving is struck, is with the palm, though even there the flesh is more compressible than the steel.

But hey, take the unnecessary handle off a tool and try your theory if you'd like. You shouldn't wear gloves, though, because they steal some of that prized tactile feedback and even control as they slip a bit between the steel and those fingers of steel.
I think you need to have a look at some of the lengths of the handles on a lot of the old turners tools to appreciate what tool control is all about.

Both grips are useful for certain jobs, overhand is generally used for roughing cuts and underhand for finessing.

Most turners that I know do this.

I usually use the underhand grip as the shavings clear the flute a lot easier. You can also see what the tip is doing a lot easier.

Because you like quoting sources so much, here are a few for you.

http://www.turningtools.co.uk/wtintro/cleancut/cleancut.html

6.3 The grip

This leads to the question of the grip. In the case of the left hand there are two basic ways of holding the tool: the overhand grip and the underhand grip. I tend to alternate between one and the other according to circumstances. It is difficult to specify what these circumstances are but they are not critical. The novice should experiment to see which seems to be the most comfortable in various situations.

With the overhand grip the hand is on top of the tool and normally all the fingers are wrapped around the blade with the thumb underneath and the palm facing downwards. With the underhand method there are two possible grips. One is similar to the overhand grip but with the hand underneath and the palm facing upwards. In the other, which is used when more sensitivity and control is required, the hand is positioned underneath but the blade is held just by tip of the forefinger and the thumb. As the tool is manoeuvred the tips of some of the other fingers may come into play. See video at 7:10.

In the case of the right hand there is a similar choice between the palm grip, where the fingers are wrapped around the handle and the palm is in contact with it, and the finger grip, where the handle is held between the tips of the fingers and the tip of the thumb. The finger grip is mostly used on spindle work when sensitivity and control are required for the more delicate work, such as cutting a small bead. This grip is difficult to master and the novice is advised to use the palm grip.
Mike Darlows "The practice of Woodturning" Page 113 section 6.4

Barry Gross "Learn to Turn" Page 44.

Unfortunately My copy of Frank Pains book is on loan and I cannot reference that.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqPuDFtz_-Y You will note that at 4:10, overhand grip but when the shape needs to be finessed at 7:08 an overhand grip.

This is the way that I think most turners work.

To say that he overhand grip is the be all and end all and offers better control is utter rot.
 
Last edited:
Joined
Oct 25, 2005
Messages
935
Likes
241
Location
Newberg, OR: 20mi SW of Portland: AAW #21058
Bill,

Your and others' examples of injury are horrific and illustrative to those situations. I won't argue that there are appropriate safety precautions to follow. However, they vary depending on the specifics of the mechanism for injury. As was tragically evidenced recently, long hair needs to be secured way from any possible contact with rotating components whether it be on a metal lathe, a wood lathe, a drill press, or a clothes washer. The same precaution does not need to be followed when operating a random orbit sander, for example, because the mechanism for causing injury is different.

That was my point about metal lathe operation versus wood lathe operation regarding gloves. If it's the sharp cutting edge that grabs a glove when machining, that mechanism is non-existent with a wood lathe. Therefore, the safety requirement is not universal to all types of lathes.

Regardless of opinions here, the bottom line is that we, as individual hobbyists, need to assess the risk and take precautions as we see necessary.

Take care.
 
Joined
May 4, 2010
Messages
2,432
Likes
1,846
Location
Bozeman, MT
I don't want to pirate the thread, but the discussion of grip styles made me think of the Robust Low Profile Rests. These are apparently intended for people who wrap their hand around the rest itself, contrary to several strong recommendations above. Here's a Robust picture showing their intention:
http://turnrobust.com/Robust_Tool_Rests.html
If Robust is making a rest specifically for this style of grip, somebody must be using it. Thoughts?
 

AlanZ

Resident Techno Geek
Joined
Mar 15, 2009
Messages
533
Likes
228
Location
Oradell, NJ
Dean,

The rests and the hand position is particularly useful for those who do very delicate and tiny finial work. They use their fingers to steady the wood while cutting.
 

odie

TOTW Team
Joined
Dec 22, 2006
Messages
7,072
Likes
9,470
Location
Panning for Montana gold, with Betsy, the mule!
I don't want to pirate the thread, but the discussion of grip styles made me think of the Robust Low Profile Rests. These are apparently intended for people who wrap their hand around the rest itself, contrary to several strong recommendations above. Here's a Robust picture showing their intention:
http://turnrobust.com/Robust_Tool_Rests.html
If Robust is making a rest specifically for this style of grip, somebody must be using it. Thoughts?

Thanks for this link, Dean........

I had been unaware that the low profile rests were intended for fingers to be on the back side of the rest........but, the picture shows that is indeed the case! Like many things, advantage comes at a trade-off. In this case, I don't see why the rests can't be used this way, but awareness of the possible risks, and allowing for them should give a reasonable margin of safety.

ooc
 

Bill Boehme

Administrator
Staff member
Beta Tester
TOTW Team
Joined
Jan 27, 2005
Messages
12,884
Likes
5,168
Location
Dalworthington Gardens, TX
Website
pbase.com
I don't want to pirate the thread, but the discussion of grip styles made me think of the Robust Low Profile Rests. These are apparently intended for people who wrap their hand around the rest itself, contrary to several strong recommendations above. Here's a Robust picture showing their intention:
http://turnrobust.com/Robust_Tool_Rests.html
If Robust is making a rest specifically for this style of grip, somebody must be using it. Thoughts?

As Alan said, being able to wrap your fingers around the rest is very useful for small spindle work. I have two of the Robust low profile rests for general purpose use. There is no requirement that you must wrap your hands around the rest. Robust makes an even lower profile rest -- the J rest.
 

odie

TOTW Team
Joined
Dec 22, 2006
Messages
7,072
Likes
9,470
Location
Panning for Montana gold, with Betsy, the mule!
Odie,

A good example of using the finger as a steady is shown at about the 2:30 and 6:00 minute marks in this video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_PHDBLi-tA


Enjoy

I appreciate that, Alan........

The video was very informative. I see that he's reaching under the rest and using his fingers to steady the very delicate finial. This makes possible for very good tool control, and dampening of flexing........

ooc
 
Last edited:
Joined
Oct 25, 2005
Messages
935
Likes
241
Location
Newberg, OR: 20mi SW of Portland: AAW #21058
I appreciate that, Alan........

The video was very informative. I see that he's reaching under the rest and using his fingers to steady the very delicate finial. This makes possible for very good tool control, and dampening of flexing........

ooc

For similar effect, I sometimes reach over the rest and curl my fingers around the top and back of spindle with my palm planted on the rest while my thumb guides and pushes the gouge. Others do this as well, especially with skews.
 
Back
Top