It's all new to me. Todays adventures in Facing, turning, and parting. I'd love some input?

[Dusty]

I can make as much smoke as i like, the dog doesn't complain. That goes for cooking as well as basement work.

Must be a lonely and boring life for your hound dog. Devil made me say that.

 

[Dabbler]

then our fire alarm will go off

There is a little smoke, similar to frying smoke, but it does smell... petroleum-like...

If you want less smoke, then solulable oil, mixed 50-50 also works very well as a cutting lube, you can spritz it on with a garden sprayer. Smells less, but is a little less effective. What I use on my mill for steel is a solulable oil 50(water):1(oil) at a strength of 10:1, or 5X the strength recommendation. Stops it from freezing, and I think it lubricates better. This is perfect for drilling in steel and 303 stainless.

 

[Noltez]

Tool geometry is generally better with inserted parting blades vs HSS ones.

The tool holder for the insert is skinnier than the insert itself - less chance of it binding in the kerf as the cut progresses deeper and things heat up and expand - closing the kerf and thus having a tendency to pinch the blade shank. Also, the insert is relieved backwards from the cutting edge. The red arrows are not parallel (yes, the insert has the front left corner chipped and is u/s).
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There is no kerf relief on an HSS blade - unless you grind one in it. Blades have a tendency to pinch unless you use a kerf widening strategy (as has been described above, I believe). The two arrows are parallel.
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For cutting fluid I have had good success with the water soluble stuff from PA. I use it straight on all drilling and cutting ops on all types of metals.

https://www.princessauto.com/en/cutting-oil-coolant/product/PA0008034012

Awesome details here. Thank you very much. I did notice there's no relief at all in the HSS tool. I did grind one, although my tooling is very basic at this point. A bandsaw is the next thing on my list. Found a portaband on a desktop stand, and an older freestanding bandsaw but they're both over an hour away. I need to find the right combination of space and capacity, and let the play budget recover.