.. . . can fit on the head of a pin?

A while back I got into, and then out of, turning small. Not miniatures
of something larger but just little delicate things I called Spinarets,
a cross between a spire and a minaret. At the time I was using a skew -
a lot.

http://web.hypersurf.com/~charlie2/T...urning14C.html

Since then I found that using a 1/4" bench chisel like a bedan let me
turn to even smaller diameters. But a catch with it was catastrophic. A
quarter inch of cutting edge is just too twitchy when you're turning
down near the 1/16" diameter range.

The width of the cutting edge was the problem. So - I tried using
something with a quarter of that sized cutting edge - a 1/16th inch
thick parting tool. And not one of them fancy Store Bought parting
tools - but an old bayonet saw blade with the teeth ground off - blue
masking tape for the "handle".

Used like a tiny bedan, the thin parting tool alowed me to turng down
into the 0.04" diameter range. That's a bit smaller than 1/16" and a
bit larger than 1/32" - over an inch and a quarter length. Not quite
the diameter of a straight pin - but . . . I think I can get even
closer.

My goal - to turn a piece that answers the question
"How many angels - can fit on the head of a pin?"

http://web.hypersurf.com/~charlie2/T...nyAngels1.html

If you haven't YET tried turning a "long" really small diameter piece -
have a look and consider doing something that's small - really small.

I'm going to try and do a video of how I use my parting tool to turn
small. Will post the URL when I've got it on YouTube.

Questions, comments, suggestions always welcomed.