i worked for years without any curved rests. somehow i got the idea they were
not that helpful. now that i have a few i dont know how i lived without them.

i now use curved rests for both inside and outside of bowls. this is thanks
to my aquisition of a wire feed welder *and* BIG thanks to a friend who gave
me what i consider to be one of the best tool tips ive ever heard! often the
best ideas are so simple that we all should have allready thought of them.
well my buddy Jim was at a local steel yard and he saw some short (1" - 1.5")
cut offs from large steel pipe in their scrap bin. a light bulb went on. "hey
i could use these for making curved tool rests!". to see the ones i made go
to:

http://neillswoodturning.myphotoalbum.com

they work sweet!