I was curious about your water stones. I use them in my wood working and they are fine, but they are much too fragile carry in the field. I also store my stones in a bucket of water or in a stone pond (a small water tight box with lid that keeps the stone submerged). The reason being is that once wet they become more fragile and are prone to breakage and faster wear if allowed to dry out. I like the water stones because of the finer grits that are available and they seem to cut faster. But for my knives I have always used oilstones. The thing about oilstones is that you don't have to use oil with them. I have used water, saliva and oil to sharpen a knife. The principle of the liquid, be it either water or oil is carry away the ground metal and provide fresh cutting abrasives of the stone. Without the liquid the pores of the stone would clog and reduce the cutting efficiency.