"mikee" wrote in message
...
Hell, it takes me a least 2-3 minutes to cut off a 1 inch diameter steel
rod in
my lathe spinning at high speed with a new, sharp hacksaw blade. By the
time
it's done, I'm breathing hard, cussing, sweating, etc.

Mike Eberlein

As Errol suggests, this practice seems very dangerous. Further, it seems
very slow. Parting tools are made for this application and are very capable
when used correctly.

I understand that most HSM's are not *really* concerned with how every 15sec
period of their day is spent, but parting is so much easier....

As for the hacksaw, it's almost certainly the blade being the wrong tpi (and
if it's dulling, buy a better blade - Starrett makes nice bimetal blades).
At work we do a lot of bench work. I use a 14tpi blade for cutting anything
including or larger than 1/8". I'd say 60sec for 1in square is perhaps
pushing it, but 120sec is ample time. Yes, it's a lot of work, but that's
why we have electricity.

Regards,

Robin