Get a machine shop to price this on a one-up basis. Then get a heat
treating place to do this, also on a one-up basis. Hardening and
tempering simple steels like O-1 and W-1 are easy when the piece is
small. Not so easy when it is large. And then, you are getting a steel
which is far inferior to the ones usually used for gouges -- M2, M4, or
powdered steels.

It is virtually impossible to home heat treat those steels -- the recipe
is too complex and you need to hold temperatures within close tolerances.

Bill

Max63 wrote:
theoretically this is feasable though not everyone has a milling pal.
Also, there's quite a variety of profiles for the groove, adding to
that a variety of profiles
for the tip (angle and how far back the grinding goes). this applies
to the 1/2 bar
and then again to 5/16, 3/4 and so on.
go ahead and make a few 3 foot bars. After milling and tempering, cut
them in half. I'll buy
half of each. tempting isnt it?

On 18 , 16:24, Kevin wrote:

Apart from getting the mill work done to your own specs,
I don't really see a downside to this.
I looked around on the Enco site and found a piece of .5 O1 drill rod
3' 'for a bit less than $8.00. After milling the groove about all
that would be left to do is harden and temper the piece. At such a
low price, you could buy several and experiment a bit.