Hi Eamon!
I usually just spritz my stones as I’m setting up the knife for sharpening. And since I usually begin with the diamonds, I’ve got a few minutes before the Choseras are needed. When I’m ready for them, I give them another spritz and start working. Some people swear they work better after 5 minutes of soaking, but whatever works for you is fine so long as the surfaces are wet when you use them.
As I use them (I generally don’t use a slurry) I will add only a drop of water or so to keep the black paste that forms alive. Keeping the paste on the stone slows down the cutting action and increases polishing. Since the heavy sharpening was usually done on the diamonds, I want to bring out the Chosera’s polishing properties. If I want more aggression, like on the 400, 600 & 800, I will wash the paste off completely and use the stone clean.
After use, I will lap the stones and let them dry over night on a clean towel – I lay the paddle down on the towel, not the stones. I like to make sure that if there are any water drops in the hole for the arms, it is dry before I pack up the stones for storage – usually about 12-36 hours.
I live in a very humid area (80-05% all year) and for comparison, my full size Choseras take about 4-5 days to dry out completely. I put them on their side on a paper towel to help draw out the water. When the paper towel is dry again, I know the stones are, too.
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