Thanks for that Grump, I like the concept of that a lot.
I have some HSS steel in square and bar though it's in a drawer and I cant remember exactly what. When I took over a depot all those years ago we had a major clearout and I rescued some old industrial thick planer blades. I might look at whether it's possible to form maybe a skew perhaps?
I'm getting ahead of myself again - must learn to turm properly first
Bob
Planer blades make excellent turning tips