Bowl Steady

Reduce vibration at the rim of your Bowl or Platter, making finish turning a safer, more pleasurable experience.

Our Bowl Steady rest has been well received by novice and professional bowl turners alike. It's very easy to set up and use, and will fit most lathes.

Why a Bowl Steady?

Woodturning is all about vibration and how you deal with it. Vibration can become a problem in the following situations:

• spinning out of balance work pieces
• excess play in the spindle bearings
• flexibility of the wood

No matter how good the lathe is that you are turning on, the machine cannot stop vibration caused by flexibility inherent in the wood. Spindle turners have been using steady rests for as long as people have been turning wood, but bowl turners have never used them. Spindle steady rests are generally not suitable for bowls, so at the urging of Dave Lancaster (a professional bowl turner in Maine) we set out to design a steady rest that takes into account the unique demands of bowl turning.

Feedback from turners testing the design has been extremely positive.

The Bowl Steady is easy to put on the lathe, and on most lathes can be mounted at any time. It uses up virtually no swing, and most importantly dampens most vibration. With less vibration problems, you can employ a wider variety of cuts and cutting styles to get the finish you want.

Increased Safety

The Bowl Steady also increases the safety factor. When turning a bowl or platter, you no longer have to try to support it with your fingers. A nasty catch can break any bowl into pieces, and if you are supporting it with your fingers, you can get badly cut.

Using the Bowl Steady

Position the Bowl Steady to the front of the bowl. Next, bring the two wheels up close and perpendicular to the rim of the bowl (or platter) you are turning. Loosen off the wing nut and give the tensioning arms a squeeze. When they are firm against the rim, tighten the wing nut and you are ready to go. The thinner the bowl is, the more the bowl rest will help.

Assembly

The Bowl Steady requires some basic assembly prior to use.

Instructions

The Bowl Steady instructions can be downloaded in PDF format here.

Customer Endorsements

• “It’s like having another hand”
• "Wonderful piece of equipment!"