Thought I would update this thread.
Firstly: I want to thank everyone that replied. I thought I'd already done that, but it fell through the cracks of having a job where "hours will vary daily and weekly".

Update: Attacking the "woodworking" angle, my web-fu brought up about 3 options that weren't half a state away. I decided to visit the one about 15 minutes up the road from home, called Oak Tree Supplies. Seems like a fairly new operation, run by a couple of guys about my age. Bad news: except for a JNAT 8k for over $130 (that a person special ordered & never picked up), there weren't really any hones or fine crox & the like to speak of. Good news: after a visit from a group of blade smiths, they will be adding a great many things related to both that & metal working in the very near future.

I emailed them the week after my visit to ask "what, when" about the stones.
He said, in part: " I’m waiting on a call back from one of them as we speak. Hopefully we can get into it very soon, hopefully this month. (I’d also like to buy some myself!)

As far as grit goes, we will probably carry up to 8,000 but if we can carry Shapton stones they have 15,000 and 30,000 grit available – just don’t ask how much it costs, lol."

It's been a bit over a month, and as far as I know, they haven't expanded their inventory quite that far yet. But I'm not worried/hurried.

Looks like I got in at the ground level in my area.