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So I phoned up for this yesterday only to be told it was discontinued - the story of our lives at the moment for many things! The 'main' retailer selling this told me to phone Siemens to find out if they were replacing it. I phoned another online retailer and he knew right away it was discontinued but told me to hang on the line - and got me the new version of it. WIth 3 free pans! Apparently it's being delivered via 'white glove' courier. Kitchen arrives tomorrow.

I'll start another thread so as not to detract from @Carrerahill's!

When I started hacking at the tree-meat I asked a friend about picking up the right waterstones to sharpen my chisels, he said he'd started with a double-sided oilstone, graduated to waterstones & freehand, bought a jig, got involved with diamonds and strops before eventually realising it's all a huge pain in the arse unless you have very abundant time/are an obsessive and invested in a Tormek powered water whetstone. My friend suggested I'd do the same but looking at the price of Tormeks and the alternatives I thought otherwise. I was wrong. Faced with hours sorting out my main chisels and plane-blades (I've been bashing a lot of oak) I bit the bullet and bought a Sorby Pro Edge. In short, to anyone stuck in sisyphean sharpening limbo and considering a similar purchase - go for it. In less than an hour I'd brought my four most used chisels to mirror, shaver sharpness, restored several battered second-hand acquisitions to near-perfection and honed some garden shears to a level where just glancing at them removed your eyebrows. It is very good kit.

http://www.toolpost.co.uk/pages/Grinding_Systems/Other_Sharpening/Sorby_Jigs/sorby_jigs.html

How much ? !!!!

I need one of those... Just need to work out why now.

I bought one for tiling. Stuck it in my glovebox 2 years ago and it's still there Didnt need it........HAD to have it!

As an example of what you can do with GRP, this is an example of an experimental GRP pantile-like roof made from approx 8x4 workshop made GRP panels. They built a section of roof in the factory. This is an example of one of my father's (architect turned GRP specials manufacturer) projects. This is a 2009 (ish) photo of a roof installed in the early 1980s. As you can see the individual panels work well, but the connections - while being acceptable in practice (it was a pitched roof on a previous flat roof so there was a waterproof layer underneath) - are not good enough aesthetically after the time. To work long term it would require better waterproofing and better attachment to a structure. The issue is resilience of the shape under environmental influences. The individual panels are ideal for eg porch canopies, cost considerations aside - would be a good solution where you need a lightweight roof section which would be suitable for a conservation area or similar, if you can get the Conservation Officer out of the coma they may enter when you suggest GRP. This bungalow was completely renovated in about 2011 with the roof off, with the roof being taken to traditional pantiles. I wrote a blog about that here back in 2014. I would be interested in @SteamyTea thoughts, but if no one ever tried this kind of thing, we would lose some of our innovative new ideas.

I worked in the composite plastics industry for over 25 years, so feel qualified to say a few things. It is not difficult, I can teach you in about 2 hours what to do. After that, it is just practice. There are a few rules to stick to (pun intended). Everything needs to be dry, totally dry. Even damp can adversely affect the chemical structure of polyester resin. Even your chopped strand mat needs to be kept dry, so no keeping it in a damp garage/shed. It will cause you problems. UV light causes the polyester resin to cure faster, as does excessive temperature. So you have to pick a warm, but not hot, a dry, but not a sunny week to do it. Then it is a matter of starting with a small area and working from there, don't be tempted to do more than 10 minutes work at a time. The OSB will absorb a lot of resin, so make sure it is well 'wetted out' before you put any dry matt on it. Then wet out the mat with a brush or roller. Don't be tempted to use a large brush or roller. The mat takes a couple of minutes or so to absorb the resin, don't be tempted to try rollering (consolidating) it too soon, it will just not work. You can tell when it is working right at it goes almost transparent, rather than white, the noise changes as well, it sounds 'soggy'. Don't push too hard with the consolidating roller, that will just pucker it up. Once the area is covered in GRP, you will have to sand it down and put a top coat/flow coat on it. Sanding is a horrible job as it is itchy and makes your arms ache, but it has to be done right. Probably best to leave it a day to fully cure before sanding. Then, when you paint on the top coat/flow coat, you have to make sure that it is adhering properly. You can tell when it isn't right as you will see tiny little pin holes. If that happens you have to let it fully cure, sand again, then reapply. All a pain in the behind, but it is what really makes a good weather tight finish. Choice of materials is a hard one. I had my favourite mat 450gm CSM from Saint-Gobain, polyester lay up resin from Cray Valley and gelcoat (to make a top coat/flow coat) from either Norpol or Llewellyn Ryland. Pigments I usually got from Llewellyn Ryland too. Hardener I was easy about, it is the same stuff generally. Who you buy it off is up to you, but probably easier to find a local GRP place and see if they can get it for you, may work out cheaper. Did I mention that everything must be dry, really dry. If you are in an area that has a boat building industry, you may be able to 'find a couple of lads' that are willing to do the job. I would charge more that £100/m2 so the price don't seem too bad to me.

This is the point at which I admit to being a nincompoop. I ordered from the Amazon page below when rushing, looking at the big picture of the 5l can not the "1 litre" in the text, and this morning received a surprisingly small parcel which will be going straight back. This is why bikini models work at car shows. I will be going for the Wickes one mentioned above at £21 each. Ferdinand