I've been using lather on the Arkansas, which seems to work nicely. Oddly enough, I used just water today on the Joseph Rodgers, and that worked nicely too. Up to you and your tastes. The later does seem to make the stone cut slower via lubrication, but I could be wrong about this. I've been using an Arkansas I got off of ebay from the same guy selling the waipencia razors. Not sure what grade, but he claims its around 6000-8000 grit. While I have been able to now get a HHT sharp edge, I still think the Norton is probable more serviceable. It's rather fun to be working "in the dark" so to speak with the Arkansas though. Kinda gotta make it up as you go along.