I have made a steady rest for my lathe to help in finishing both ends of the mallets I have been working on. I made a steady rest a few years ago but it was far too big and spindly. It was not very stiff and did not support the workpiece well enough. I wanted to make a much stouter and stiffer steady rest. This newest steady rest is smaller and is just a little bigger than the diameter of the mallets I am working on. It has three rollerblade wheels, each on an adjustable arm. The arms ride in a dado, in the main frame of the steady, which helps hold them in place. The steady mounts to the ways of the lathe. The steady is rigid enough that I can woodturn on the end of the mallet. I made the steady from a piece of plywood I saved from our old kitchen.
