On Tue, 24 Jan 2006 00:12:41 GMT, "al"
wrote:

Thanks for all the advice - hopefully it won't blow up on me, especially now
there's water involved!! ;o)

Empty it out at night in this weather. I was using Dad's over Christmas
and the stone froze into the pond! Had to take it indoors and poor the
kettle in there to get it going again.

The blade guide is rubbish - that plastic bucket is just too flexible.
It's a coarse stone though, so it will do its work quickly. Not a bad
bit of kit for HSS woodturning gouges held freehand (which isn't as hard
as people make out) but it's much coarser than I'd ever use for a good
woodworking bench tool. OTOH, my last sharpening stone (of the several
dozen I use) cost me over a hundred just for the stone. I'm a bit picky
on sharpening....