Quote Originally Posted by Utopian View Post
I've compared honing with and without pre-soaking. I haven't found it to make any difference. Unlike waterstones, which need to be soaked in order to keep the hone surface wet, the Chinese hone draws the water in so very slowly that it just really makes no difference. Pre-soaked or not, the hone surface remains wet long enough to get in your 100 strokes.
That's really good to know. I also hate having to pre-soak stones (especially finishers).