Recently there was some discussion regarding what kind of gouge to
buy. From what I read, the primary focus was on fitting the gouge to
the lathe and, more generally, to the type of work that was to be
done.
Sometime back, at least 2 or 3 years, I read that with a gouge you are
pretty much paying for a machined groove. That got me to wondering
why one could not make do with buying a piece of drill rod and having
someone with a mill do the honors and machine a groove down the length
of the rod. 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.
Has anyone done this and if so, any tips?
http://www.use-enco.com/CGI/INSRIT?P...INSRAR2&PMAKA=
619-1610&PMPXNO=16719366