Mini Review Rick Herrell's Custom Tool Rests

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rstought

Passed Away Nov 11, 2016
In Memoriam
Joined
Feb 9, 2007
Messages
216
Location
Charlotte, North Carolina, USA.
I had never really thought much about changing out the toolrest that came with the Jet Mini, as it worked adequately for "traditional" penturning (e.g. both barrels on a mandrel, turned at the same time...). Once I started experimenting with turning between centers (or simply one barrel at a time on the mandrel) and kitless stuff, though, it became clear that the stock rest was going to be an impediment to progressing in these areas. However, it wasn't until I read a recent post where a member (texatdurango) described a short little custom rest that he had had member Rick Herrell (rherell) custom-make for him that I got motivated to try something like that myself, so I emailed Rick and asked him if he could perhaps be persuaded to produce just one more.

He responded with a beautiful piece of tooling at a VERY reasonable price (if you have purchased one of his end mills, or seen his recent post of the plane he built for himself, you know his work is of the absolute highest caliber...) - and responded FAST! (granted, we live in the same state, but it felt like about 5 minutes after I hit the "send" button on PayPal the package was in my mailbox...). Now I realize there is nothing very sexy about a toolrest - it's just three simple pieces that screw together to form a little T-shaped hunk of metal - and it may sound a little corny, but when you hold it in your hand, the quality just speaks to you. You can see right away that this is truly the work of a craftsman...

I had the opportunity to use it this afternoon, and the difference between the stock rest and this one was huge. Rick had suggested a 3.25" rest might offer the best combination of flexibility for the direction I was heading in, and he was right - I was finally able to get in tight on shorter pieces, and it greatly improved my tool control and the quality of the cuts. Rock-solid, the polished surface was as smooth as glass, and the tools just seemed to be floating on air.

I see that he has now created a posting in the classifieds section and is offering these for sale to the general membership. I would highly recommend his toolrests to anyone in the market for a modular system, or for anyone simply looking for an upgrade to their stock piece.
 
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