I had taught my son the same method as Greybeard. When he went to work, they
reamed him for taking too long to do a job. For fast work, get a new cutter
and do it all one pass. Need a rigid machine , my old Bridgeport wouldn't do
this. His trick for depth saves time also. Feed endmill down by hand until
outside edge of endmill just makes contact with shaft - a perfect flat -
then go on down 1/2 of key width. No need to look up in table.

I must say he did this at an auger manufacture place. Lots o' production, no
real tight tolerances. Now, he's working at a tool making outfit. They
threaten to fire guys that f*&^ up a part. All one of and VERY tight
tolerances. Bet quick and dirty wouldn't go at the new place.

Karl