thanks everyone for the help and replys
, i actually emailed andrew biggs last night after seeing his web site. roger b - i live in the far north of nz, if i lived closer to christchurch i'd ask andrew if i could come and have a look at him in work, he's about two days drive from me !!. roger you say keep my eyes peeled for kit that comes up on the forum - is there a buy,sell and trade section on the forum? i couldn't see it. i may not be too bad at sharpening (maybe) i'm a chippie by trade and do a bit of knife making so have done a fair bit of sharpening, although nothing as small as a graver. SVD thanks for the tips on sharpening,i can't really see what you mean at the moment,but as soon as i get some gravers in hand i'm sure it will all be clearer. do the airgravers of steve's ever come up for sale second hand as people get better models? i see on ebay another couple of brands that i won't mention as this is Steves site. cheers - justin