I am wondering what the ideal angle is for the top of a tool rest.
I have got used to using a bowl gouge and a roughing gouge at about a 45 degree angle upwards to doing a shearing or slicing cut. I tried using a tool rest with about a 30 degree angle and found that the angle was too shallow. I found that I angled the tool upwards and the tool was resting on the side of the tool rest furthest from the wood. So, in other words, I had a lot of tool hanging out there. That caused instability and tended to dig in.
I suspect that a 30 degree angle (with respect to the horizontal) would be fine for scraping or maybe skew shearing, but that it is the wrong angle for use with a bowl or roughing gouge.
I'm thinking that a better angle might be around 50 degrees (from horizontal). That would kind of guarantee that the tool would be supported close to what I'm shearing/cutting.
What do you experts think or advise ? Is a 30 degree tool rest a poor choice?
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Ideal angle for top of tool rest
