Ok now! What a day... Went today to pick up some cutting oil. And man, did it cause a lot of smoke. (At least I assume it's the oil and not the metal that caused it). Made me think about the days of black gunpowder and being in the middle of a division of musket line-infantry right after a full round of volley-fire. LOL
I started turning the hot-rolled steel today. It was actually a SUCCESS! Kind of got my self confidence up a bit with this thing... also did some new things, working with a steady-rest, etc. At the end of the day I tried to do a bit of polishing of the metal, tried using sandpaper of different grits but...it seemed to help somewhat but still not really quite where I wanted. No big deal, it's just a mandrel I'm building here, nothing fancy. I still am curious how to get a good polish though on steel (assuming it is even possible). I will do some research on it, as I think Mothers is only for Aluminum
Ohh, and now I need to drill some holes into the bar, which is going to be hard. Especially with no drill press or mill. Well, I have some ideas for getting a hole into the side of round-bar...
Maybe I can lay the bar into a vice or centering jig, and manually start with a very fine drillbit first after using a center punch... or...
I can try to mount the bar into a jig onto a faceplate on the lathe, and then use the tailstock.... possibly to drill. I don't know... will have to experiment some more..
All in all, today was a good learning experience.