"PrecisionmachinisT" fired this volley
in :

Lay it on a surface plate, touch off on the od with a height gage for
a zero reading and then take another reading off of the flute. Now,
double the difference and subtract it from the shank dia.

Good advice, and simple. Thank you. I do other indirect measurements all
the time.

Now, if the beginning of the _other_ conversation had gone this way:

LS - "Wow! I just scored on a tool I've wanted for a long time! yay!"
PM - "Well, I've owned one for years, and it's saved me lots of money,
but here's what it can and can't do..."

Instead of:
LS - "Wow! I just scored on a tool I've wanted for a long time! yay!"
PM - "Piece of junk. Dumb purchase. (Even though I own one and have
saved a $100K with it.)"

then the rest of the conversation might have gone differently. It seemed
to me that your only intent for responding at all was to try to crush my
enjoyment of having bought it. Of course I would bite back. Wouldn't
you, with the shoe on the other foot?

I just bought a used Solberga 2HP drill press with power-down, in very
nice condition. I was happy about it. Was that a stupid purchase, too?

Lloyd