I wanted a thin parting tool but I didn't really want to work real hard at it re doing an old saw blade so I put the idea on the back burner. But today I was dumpster diving and found a table knife (not a butter knife) and I thought to myself I wonder if this will work for a parting tool, table stainless is pretty good steel. So off to the shop. First I cut the round end off at what looked like a good angle then I ground the top and bottom edges parallel giving me a nice sharp point like a metal lathe cutoff tool. I think I got lucky on this knife since the top edge measures about 0.055" and the bottom edge is about 0.035" so no taper grinding needed nor any polishing. Tested it out in some 1 1/4" dia. black walnut and it worked just fine. So you might want to try out this idea but WARNING DO NOT USE YOUR WIFES TABLEWARE unless you want to be singing saprano the rest of your life. I know that you can get 3 for a buck at some dollar stores.
MIKE
MIKE