I've seen plenty of posts of water vs oil and even more about slurries yet i haven't seen a single post which mentions spit as the lubricant on a whetstone. I know it sounds childish but the thickness of clean saliva is a good medium for carrying off the waste metals on your hone. You can clearly see your spit change to a grayish color while on a hone yet, unlike oil, spit can easily be wiped off. Just curious because as a youth, i was taught to stay away from using water.

BTW natural Arkansas hones are what i'm accustom to using. the newer man made hones are a different beast all together.