Taking Fevric Junior out for our morning constitutional yesterday
morning [1] we came across an itinerant knife sharpener parked up
outside the nearest bar / restaurant.  He had a custom Vespa: the
rear half of the seat replaced with a small petrol engine driving
a couple of grinding wheels.

I fetched our most-used kitchen knife, that had a nick in the 
blade due to some idiot (probably me) misusing it and got him to
sort it out.  I waited for him to emerge from the restaurant, 
job done, and then he gave me and Junior a little show.  Not
that he saw it that way, he was just doing his job.

The fine-tuning, after a turn or two on each of the wheels, was 
done with a very soft block of stone that he kept in the little 
locked compartment in front of the knees (on a Vespa, IYSWIM).
So soft that at least half of it had been worn away.

What is this stone?


[1] round the block to pick up the freebie paper that helps me 
practise reading Forrin and has a TV guide in the back, in case
there's any films I might want to record, or even watch.

-- 
One way ticket from Mornington Crescent to Tannhauser Gate please.

On Thu, 25 Sep 2008 22:45:54 +0200 (CEST), Fevric J Glandules
<fevric@invalid.invalid> wrote:

>
>What is this stone?

Oilstone?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharpening_stone
-- 
JAF anarchatntlworldfullstopcom
   Got any large hadrons you want collided, guvnor?

Fevric J Glandules wrote:

> The fine-tuning, after a turn or two on each of the wheels, was 
> done with a very soft block of stone that he kept in the little 
> locked compartment in front of the knees (on a Vespa, IYSWIM).
> So soft that at least half of it had been worn away.
> 
> What is this stone?

Not the answer, but soft stone is used for sharpening hard metals, and 
hard stone for sharpening soft metals. Or so I was once told.

In article , 
anarchSPAMKILLER@ntlworld.com says...
> On Thu, 25 Sep 2008 22:45:54 +0200 (CEST), Fevric J Glandules
> <fevric@invalid.invalid> wrote:
> 
> >
> >What is this stone?
> 
> Oilstone?
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharpening_stone

That's what I was going to say. I wonder if my Dad still has his.