Welcome to SRP. You're lucky to live in Missouri. We have some members there including SRP founder and grand master of honing Lynn Abrams. I have to go to work now so to briefly answer one of your questions, an oil stone , synthetic or natural, like the arkansas variety, is denser than a water stone. The binder and the abrasive work better with oil.

A waterstone will clog or the binder may be damaged with oil. Generally they are softer than oil stones and wear more quickly but sharpen and cut more quickly too. With chisels and plane blades the wear might be an issue but with straight razors the pressure used doesn't wear the stone out all that quickly unless you are a pro honer doing hundreds or even thousands of razors. Hope this helps. Other members will be along.