Does anyone have a good idea on how to make a bark tool for using with cold metal on a P5 fly press? I am working with 3/8 and 1/2 inch hot rolled stock, either round or square that I have rounded. I made a tool the conventional way by drilling a 1/2 inch hole between 2 blocks of 1" stock and then running a horizontal bead down the center of each. It works ok if I heat the stock but I was hoping for something I could work cold with. I experimented around with a few different things, but couldn't hit on a solution. Any help would be appreciated.

dont think yhou will be able to do a decent bark on steel cold unless you have one of those imported expensive rolling machines

for hot work I use a top/bottom die made by cutting lines in the dies with a cold chisel. I have also seen ones made by cutting with a thin abrasive grinder

That sounds like a good idea. I'll give it a try. Thanks!

You could also consider making a roller mill, The McDonald Mill : Anvilfire Plans Review and putting different patterns, one each on replaceable rollers, if you have a lot of texturing to do.