Did I strike gold for hollowing a deep vase?

[Bill Jobe]

And the odd thing about it is that it is made to fit the Grizzly banjo. Unless it came with the 0766 it came with one of the 2 junky Craftsmans I picked up prior to buying the new Grizzly.

Am I right in thinking it is made to go deep inside a vase or such, using a very short tool rest.
Tried the rests I have laying around and they are too small for the bore.

What do I have here, anybody know?

[Bill Boehme]

No, that is not its purpose. It is called a dogleg or an offset and it is made to give you a little more flexibility (in more ways than one) for positioning the tool rest and is most useful on lathes in which the banjo doesn't give you a lot of maneuverability. I have one very similar on my old Delta lathe. It is a little too light to be useful as a boat anchor, but maybe OK for a paperweight.

[Leo Van Der Loo]

Those incarnations are a try to have smaller lathes capable of turning larger pieces by rotating the head and then have the banjo with the extension reach way out there holding the tool rest.

The outcome was a vibrating tool rest that made it very hard to turn a larger piece, and at times became a hazard to the turner, as shown in the picture where the extension and the tool rest crashed down .

Like Bill Boehme says maybe a good paperweight or conversation piece

broken banjo .jpg

[Len Mullin]

I had one of them, it came with my lathe when I bought it new. I tried using it once, and then decided that it wasn't very safe to use so I chucked it in the trash. I had thought about selling it, but my concience just wouldn't let me.
Len

[Aaron Craven]

I have two from separate purchases of the HF34706 lathe (which is a clone of the Jet JWL-1236)... they're basically useless (as mentioned, too much flex).

[John K Jordan]

...decided that it wasn't very safe to use so I chucked it in the trash. I had thought about selling it, but my concience just wouldn't let me.

It is encouraging to "meet" people like you! This is similar to what my brother-in-law did with his very expensive pipe collection when he quit smoking - chucked them into the fireplace!

JKJ