Step #5: Lapping the back faces on the Steady Rest frame

Rinse and repeat for the back using a feeler gauge to keep testing that you are staying absolutely parallel to the front face. Of course, you can also use a mill to do the same now that you have a good flat front surface to set face down. As with the front, just take off enough to get to a smooth surface. I've designed it so that the front to back thickness is not critical (but parallel is key).

You'll notice I added two brass strips to the saddle surface of the bottom of the frame. You can choose not to but I've just carefully lapped a 15 inch lathe bed that took hours and hours and I want a softer metal touching it wherever I can. There's plenty of material on the raw part to tune the center height to fit any of the WW style lathes.

Back of top and bottom frames lapped