#1

It’s been a while since I last posted. After deleting my Instagram page, I’ve been swamped with personal matters. Today, I finally had some time to dive back into working with steel. I stumbled upon some old sketches featuring rods with tapered ends and decided to try replicating that with my Sherline mini-lathe.

The 306L wire I’m using is both thin and tough, which causes it to work harden quickly in the lathe. As a result, I need to minimize the number of passes to avoid issues. Additionally, because of the small 2mm diameter of the rod, the stickout from the lathe chuck can only be around 8 to 10 mm, which requires working very close to the chuck.

Using a homemade HSS tool that I’ve carefully honed, I achieved some modest results. However, the surface finish still needs improvement, so more refinement is required. I also need to rethink the bending process since I can no longer cut the ends to length afterwards like I normally do. I’ve taken some pictures of the rough first test piece to document my progress.