Rather than add to the other sharpening threads I thought I'd start another.
In the past I've been working out of my garage with a bathroom just on the other side of the door so waterstones were my normal sharpening medium. Having water to soak, spritz or flatten them wasn't a problem. But the new shop is a separate building and it doesn't have water and wouldn't be convenient to carry buckets back and forth, especially in winter. The discission of ceramic stones in george wilson's thread started me thinking that I might want to rethink my sharpening process. I've also been considering switching to a hollow ground and hand held sharpening process to minimize the time it takes to sharpen using jigs so it gets done more often.
So if you could distill it down, what are the advantages/disadvantages of the systems that need little to no water? I'm guessing the ceramic stones and oil stones are two of the top contenders. Any others that I should explore?
Thanks.
Cliff