# Rules of thumb for tool rest height?



## Quickstep

I can't believe it's taken this long for me to realize this, but I'm just learning how much tool rest height influences the way a tool works. I've always kept the tool rest about centered on the the spindle center, but after watching some videos recently, I've learned that the skew likes the rest a bit above center and a tool I was never able to master before no suddenly turns beads with ease. Are there rules of thumb for rest height for a given tool or certain diameters of the stock on the lathe?


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## john lucas

I use the tool rest at all sorts of heights from way above center for cutting beads on platters to way below center for pull cuts on bowls. Generally speaking around center is good for most tools and cuts and slightly above center for the skew. 
The way I determine tool rest height is to determine where on the wood that particular tool needs to cut with the grind and type of cut I do with that tool. Then I determine where i like the handle on my body since I control the tool with body movements for better control. With these 2 points decided I simply move the tool rest up to touch the tool. 
cutting tools should always be used above center and scrapers at or below center. That's a general rule and not a hard fast one because every turner is different.


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## NCPaladin

Not much to add to what John said. The highest for me is a planning cut with the skew. I like cutting near the top or about 11:30 with the rest high also (about 10:00 -10:30).
A general rule is when hollowing a bowl you want the cutting tip to end in the center so the rest is set about half below the diameter of the tool. So a 1/2" bowl gouge you would set it about 1/4" below.

John also stated " since I control the tool with body movements for better control". You may do this already but I know when I started it was years before I found out. Makes the cuts easier and smooth.
Stuart Batty has some good videos. If you go here scroll to the bottom to the page to go to page two he has three videos on stance.
http://vimeo.com/woodturning/videos/page:1/sort:alphabetical/format:thumbnail


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## 9thousandfeet

I think, like most turners, I'm constantly adjusting the tool rest up or down to suit what cut I'm planning and what tool I just picked up.

Sounds like you had an "aha!!" moment about this, which is great and will encourage you to experiment further. 

For me an even bigger "why did it take me so long to think about this" moment was when I started to make some small adjustments to the spindle height.

Thinking about it now, it's astonishing to me that so many lathes on the market don't make any easy provision for raising, and many of them have no provision at all for lowering, the spindle height. Even very expensive and otherwise wonderful machines are built as if nobody had given a moment's thought to this issue.

Yet there's no way in the world that someone 6 foot 6 and someone 5 foot 3 is going to be optimally comfortable with the same spindle height. It's just not possible.

Anyway, I found that, for me, raising the spindle height almost a solid inch and a half above where most lathes are set made a huge difference in how easily I could use my whole body to control cuts, and how much less fatigue and soreness I experienced after long turning sessions.


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## dartman

NCPaladin said:


> Not much to add to what John said. The highest for me is a planning cut with the skew. I like cutting near the top or about 11:30 with the rest high also (about 10:00 -10:30).
> A general rule is when hollowing a bowl you want the cutting tip to end in the center so the rest is set about half below the diameter of the tool. So a 1/2" bowl gouge you would set it about 1/4" below.
> 
> John also stated " since I control the tool with body movements for better control". You may do this already but I know when I started it was years before I found out. Makes the cuts easier and smooth.
> Stuart Batty has some good videos. If you go here scroll to the bottom to the page to go to page two he has three videos on stance.
> http://vimeo.com/woodturning/videos/page:1/sort:alphabetical/format:thumbnail



I did not know you had to watch what time 
you used what tools.:laughing:


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## NCPaladin

dartman said:


> I did not know you had to watch what time
> you used what tools.:laughing:


Of course you do. :yes: The five cups of coffee doesn't kink in until at least 8:30 then you are wide awake . The way you should be at the lathe. Most people stop between 11:30 and 12:30 for lunch and then turn from the back of the lathe until about 3:00 - 3:30.
Start with the bowl gouge early in the morning and work up to planning with the skew.. then back down to bowl gouge in a shear scrape in the afternoon. Easy peasy.


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