can it ? yes if you are willing to make appropriate tooling. is it a good idea? no. I have done it in a pinch, I have 35 years of woodturning behind me and was able to make cutters with proper geometry, and a toolrest for freehand work that attaches to the compound of one of my South Bends. It...
Proper oil is an investment that seems steep until you amortize it over the lifetime of the oil by the number of blades you can use that oil for if you take care of the oil. I resisted spending that money for a long time, after all I was getting knives that held an edge well and didn't break...
Kevin, as a professional photographer I am happy to see that you are watermarking your images, please do not apologize or feel guilty about that. It is your work and it makes just as much sense as stamping your blades.
-Page
I believe that annealing and spheroidizing are an important tool in the information and practices toolbox of anyone interested in working with blade and tool steels. This is a great starting point.
-Page
I resisted buying Parks for a long time. That was foolish. The difference was noticeable the first Parks 50 blade I sharpened. 5 gallons is really the right amount to absorb the heat energy of a reasonable sized blade. If you need to justify the expense to your wife find something like takeout...
I wear a full face PAPR respirator (Trend Airshield Pro) after a piece of steel dust made it around my safety glasses into my eye, it stopped a broken belt from getting to my face at one point
-Page
I have been using Parks 50 on 1084, 1095, 15N20, and 5160 with great results. Any time I have observed people having issues it has been found when we went through their methodology that they were way off on their heating/soaking procedures
-Page
there is a jewelers product called attack which is a solvent designed specifically for eating epoxy
http://www.amazon.com/Grobet-Attack-Glue-Dissolving-Compound/dp/B00065CKIO
-Page
I have found bronze to work better, especially manganese bronze. The only way to keep brass from tarnishing is to heavily gold plate it or polish and wax it regularly
-Page