Starting a difficult knurl

[magicniner]

What I have resorted to is starting them at the beginning of the shaft but only one third to one half the width of the wheels actually making contact and cutting.
This seems to let me get the full depth of cut easier with no double tracking then slowly move along the bar for the length of knurl required.

Nice one! It's firm and confident application of the full depth of cut that does it for me too!
For Cut Knurling on critical jobs I do calculate diameters, for form knurling I don't bother as a couple of better engineers than me or anyone else I know have demonstrated empirically that diameter makes no difference and that technique is the key. (John Stevenson and Joe Pieczynski)