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Okay, as promised, now that I officially own a lathe (yay!), here comes the first stupid lathe question from Ocelot.

There is no tool rest on my lathe. Do I need to buy one? Would it fit, or is all my shaping done with the cross slide and compound? For roughing out bowls shouldn't I just be able to slap a tool rest on the bed and go to town? Where do I get a tool rest and where does it fit on my lathe?

Ok, I lied. That was way more than one question. Still, you can see how shatteringly ignorant I am when it comes to such things.

I use a piece of flat metal as toolrest, mounted in the toolholder.

Charl wrote:I use a piece of flat metal as toolrest, mounted in the toolholder.

What's the piece of metal made of?

Just any tool blank.

Answer: metal!

I think this qualifies as a "face-palm" moment, but like I said, I warned you guys I would have stooopid questions.

Charl wrote:Answer: metal!

Hardy har har.

Apparently steel or aluminium it doesn't matter? I got no knowledge of these fancy metally stuffs. Just know steel's harder is all. Don't want nuthin' breaking 'er nuthin' while a feller's workin'.

So... any tool blank works then, hmm? Excellent.

While I can see how using a tool blank as a rest will work I actually made my own attachment to use. I remove the compound feed which is only attached with two bolts. ( I plan on upgrading this to a four bolt when I get time to make it more rigid.) I made a small tool rest using scrap steel. It is adjustable up and down and I can turn it so I can work the top of the bowl too. The rest is made from a piece of angle iron welded to a post. It is small and works well. I found that by using this and having the compound out of the way gives me more room to use the wood tools making it easier for me.