Oooh, I feel your pain re the epoxy story. That's just nasty.

But I don't mind if people ask me to sharpen knives for them. They get rather addicted to sharp tools after a while, and that has worked to my advantage. During my university days, I got a lot of free suppers because the lady of the house knew I would bring along my favourite stone and touch up her kitchen knives. Heck, I've even put "gift certificates" in a few Christmas cards. Naturally, my efforts must be "whet" with suitable offerings of good brew. (Also, word gets around; when someone uses one of my knives, other people in the vicinity will usually warn them not to goof around with it, for obvious reasons.)