Thanks for so many replies and links. My apologies for not getting back. With the time difference I'm in bed by the time you guys start working on your boats. I'm concerned with the convex curve. As I've said I spent a lot of time putting a new edge on all of the blades with the exception of the bench plane.

The kit that I've picked up holds the blade in a clamp which has slots set at 29, 25, 20, and 15 degrees respectively. There is a small rod that fits into these slots to keep the edge consistant. I doubt I would be able to discern a curve in the angle by eye. At the moment I've checked the angle and can't see any light throughout. Hopefully I haven't done too much damage. For the moment though I think I'll try again by hand. I've got various stones but nothing near 4000 grit. I'm sure I can get something close to 800 though.

The Veritas set looks good. I'll have to think about that. It takes nearly two weeks to have anything shipped from the States. One thing I've found is that it was much more fun when I was a kid trying to peel the Elmers glue off my hands.

Cheers
Jeff