Stag,
Yes and no to the own lathe/mill question. Dad’s shop, but whenever I am in town I have free reign so long as he doesn’t need it for his business. It’s just him and one other part time employee, so I rarely run into any issues. Strangest part about his whole business, and this still stumps me to this day, very little turning work. He makes thermo-form molds and such, but I’ve rarely ever ever ever seen a tool and die shop that doesn’t do a lot of turning work, at least repairs. I think I have put more hours on his lathe in the 10 years I’ve been doing this odd job stuff than he has in his 40 of owning the shop.
Sako, thanks, and I got your PM. You should have a reply from me, too.
Stainless steel sure is a real witch to lap and scotch brite. There is just something about it, its gummy, and it galls itself. So as soon as you load up the paper (literally three strokes max) you need to move on to a new fresh spot, or make sure you have enough oil on there to keep it from embedding in the paper. I went through I think 6 entire sheets of 320 grit just to get everything where I was happy. I see there are still some tool marks on the exit side, just couldn’t get those buffed out. And there is one on the threaded side, but that will be covered by the mounting to the barrel. I think I will leave that one on the exit end as a little custom “maker’s mark”. There are also one or two other minor imperfections and surface blemishes that I know exist, but can’t be seen unless you know where they are and really really look for them. I think I will be quite happy with what I have here.
Thank you for all the kind words, I will have to get a photo up here when it is mounted and clocked.
