You probably all know this already, but...

I think a lot of folks forget how important a smooth toolrest is to help that tool glide through those finer cuts. I have taught beginning turning classes, and their tool rests are usually dinged pretty badly due to catches. When I show them how easy it is to file that ductile iron smooth and polish with a piece of worn out sandpaper, they are as appreciative as they are amazed.

But for the real business, I have them turn their gouges over and polish the backside of the cutting tool to get off all the grime, nicks, and anything else that might be there. Put the tool in the vice and get after it with some emery cloth and polish it up as much as you can.

To finish, I spray a little thin lubricant on a paper towel and wipe it across the toolrest and try to wipe off all I can. Same on the cutting tools.

Especially when using a small lathe and trying finer cuts, these three things improve your cutting to the point you might feel like you have a new lathe.

Robert

you know, maybe it's just me, but when I'm doing really fine work, the tool generally doesn't sit on the rest, it sits on my fingers and I use it more like a pencil - that way you can easily turn to about .020 with a fine grained wood like ebony, and you can leave the big impressive dings in the tool rest

You probably already knew this, but many toolrests are made of iron because it has a natural carbon lube. Since I keep my tools on the rest as I cut, they don't impact and ding it, but the one up at school seemed to respond best to a nice draw filing session until the kids learned better.

Even with a wipe, mineral oil might help the chips or dust hang on, and they're bigger bumps than the average!

Good points, Robert... I'll add that unless you're using oval skews, knock the square edges off the skew shaft and polish it... You not only get a bit more control over the tool, but those square corners will find nicks in the rest that you might not even see or feel with gouges.. Of course, you only find one when you're doing a sweeping/planing cut and the skew bumps over or hangs up on the nick..

mac

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I use my Belt Sander to true up the Tool Rest, this is Quick and Efficient.

Another idea I picked up was to use Soap on the Rest, just run a bar of Soap on the Rest and any Tool just glides along.

Now that's a good thought. Since I make most of my own finishes for smaller things like ornaments, etc., linseed oil wouldn't contaminate the finish. I have spent a lot of time telling the boys to make SURE they don't get any oil on their hands and then impart it to the wood as a precaution to finish contamination.

But with the linseed oil being part of my formula (although it is BLO) a smudge of regular linseed oil wouldn't do a thing to a friction finish.

Thanks, Darrell.

Robert

I've found that experience changes the catch experience in 2 ways:

The more you turn, the fewer catches you get and they're usually just slight

The more catches that you've had in the past, the less chance of needing an underwear change when you Do get a catch..

mac

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