It's a pity that I live in the South Pacific, otherwise I could have taken advantage of your sharpening service, I think the postage costs would be horrendous!
No doubt there will be a host of people down here who will do it for me, but I'll have to try and locate them and I'll probably end up doing it myself eventually!
Regarding HSS lathe tools, there is one area where they will beat carbide hands down, that is when you are trying to turn down a piece of crappy old mild steel to a smooth finish and your final roughing cut is a mess, and effectively you've only got a couple of thou to go. A good sharp piece of tool steel (with a slight nose radius) used at low feed rate and low revs, and plenty of cutting oil will save the day every time!
Thanks again for all the help.
