The tool rest should be as close to the workpiece as practical. As to
its height? The important question is not where should the tool rest be
but where should the tool be cutting. Once you decide the right place
to make the cut, and where you want to hold the handle of the tool
(frequently well down against your body), then the height of the tool
rest is a foregone conclusion.

The location of the cut varies from tool to tool. If you are using a
skew in a planing cut, for instance, the cut is near the top of the
blank. If you are using a roughing gouge, the cut is much lower --
maybe around center with the bevel rubbing. With the handle down as far
as practical, that puts the tool rest somewhere below center.

If you are using a bowl gouge to hollow a bowl, then the tool rest must
be somewhere below center so that you can make a cut into the center of
the bowl without having to hold the handle high.

Anyway, if you recast the toolrest question to where do I want to make
the cut and where do I want the handle of the tool, you will be well on
the way to making the right choices, I think.

Bill



In article ,
says...
Newbie question.
How do you judge what the height should be? Are their any rules for this?


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