Is it that you did not realise that specialist equipment is needed to cut a record? (That is you thought the equipment is more commonplace?)
Or is it that you didn’t realised that the equipment is available to be purchased for home use? (That is you thought the equipment is less commonplace?)
I remember there was a Soviet practice of cutting records into old XRays (called "ribs") as a way to bootleg them. I think those cutting machines were made from retrofitted old phonographs.
For black market uses, the consumers was probably willing to bear dreadful audio quality. For a modern aficionado, the quality must be good enough to give some justification for the endeavor.
Is it that you did not realise that specialist equipment is needed to cut a record? (That is you thought the equipment is more commonplace?)
Or is it that you didn’t realised that the equipment is available to be purchased for home use? (That is you thought the equipment is less commonplace?)