One Tool Rest Height to rule them all

[Timm De]

Does anyone else dread adjusting their tool rest every time they switch tools? I've been on the hunt for an HSS tool line (not carbide) that solves this problem.

What I'm looking for is a brand where every tool in the lineup puts the cutting tip at the same center height when held parallel to the centerline — so once your rest is set, it stays set. No more fussing between tools.

I'll admit I'm not sure how they'd pull this off with a skew or a 5/8" bowl gouge given how differently they're ground and handled, but I'm curious whether any brand has cracked this. Has anyone come across something like this, or found a practical workaround that achieves the same result?

 

[Wyatt Holm]

I don't really think about that much. I change tools all the time without changing the tool rest height. For bowl turning the tool rest is usually a bit lower, and the angle of the tool makes the tip at center height. Spindle turning the only time I change height is planing with a skew, then I will lift it a little.

 

[Steve Tiedman]

Hi Timm. My answer to your opening question is no, I have never dreaded any aspect of the woodturning operation. Turning wood by hand-held tools simply does not provide a tool presentation method to which you seek. It doesn't exist. 30 years of it for me and I've never considered your idea, nor found the concept realistic when I consider your proposal. It is the same for anyone using any kind of tool to manually manipulate the shape of the material they work with- wood, clay, metal, glass... Turning by hand is about keeping your body, your entire body from head to toe, relaxed, fluid, and working in harmony with the tool and its cutting edge as presented to the ever-changing shape of the wood. These changing shapes necessitate that you stay fluid in your movement and tool presentation, including fine tuning of the tool rest.

To find what you seek, you will end up setting down your gouge, scraper and skew, and you'll start programing a CNC-controlled lathe instead. You'll be at a computer screen, not at the lathe.

I ask this respectfully- is manual woodturning for you?

 

[Bill Boehme]

Does anyone else dread adjusting their tool rest every time they switch tools? I've been on the hunt for an HSS tool line (not carbide) that solves this problem.

What I'm looking for is a brand where every tool in the lineup puts the cutting tip at the same center height when held parallel to the centerline — so once your rest is set, it stays set. No more fussing between tools.

I'll admit I'm not sure how they'd pull this off with a skew or a 5/8" bowl gouge given how differently they're ground and handled, but I'm curious whether any brand has cracked this. Has anyone come across something like this, or found a practical workaround that achieves the same result?

Tool rest height is more a function of WHAT you are doing than what tool you are using. One simple example is using a scraper on the outside of a bowl versus the inside. You don’t always hold a tool level, the tool handle is dropped about 45º when shear cutting or using a beading tool. A thin parting tool is necessary tall. I have gouges of various diameters from a ¼ inch spindle gouges to a ¾ inch bowl gouges. I have a large stable of skew chisels from a miniature ¼ inch skew up to Alan Lacer’s slab-of-steel skew (about 1½ inches wide).