Some questions about sharpening and getting a wet stone.

[Skarp Kniv]

I'm thinking about buying a wet stone.
What I've been using up till now is a curse/medium hardware store stone and a Dianova medium/fine diamond (don't know the grit) and my leather belt. I guess I get my knives sharp enough, but I would appreciate the extra space(size) a stone gives and trying something with a higher grit. Also I'm a person who enjoys slightly archaic practices(so I would if I could, prefer a natural stone(not a must though)).
Any thoughts about grits and brands? I've been browsing at Lamina that Finnish site they have some stones (600, 1000, 1500)made by Masahiro which is very affordable.
I guess they are man made?
Then there is Arkansas tri-hone. This seams like a good option. Three stones course, medium, fine. But how fine is the finest grit? It comes with a honing oil, could I use water (or would that be plane stupid?)? They also have a stone called Wästikivi, which is Finnish , does anybody know how fine this is? To make things really complicated I stumbled upon this site called Dieter Schmid Fine tools , just look it up and you will know what I mean.. I could wait a month or so and make a purchase from that site. They also have a lot of Higonokami knives, with I've been meaning to get one of. So who knows? Well, anyhow I sure would be glad for any input on the subject.

Greetings from Norway!

P.s.. Is there any stainless steels you would consider to hard for a stone or is that mainly a question about the hardness of the stone. And imagine this is just a few things I'm wonderingabout....

 

[DeadboxHero]

If ya look around you can find some king brand or Suehiro brand waterstones for cheap.

Don't get lost in expensive high grit stones yet.

They won't make your knife sharper if it's not already sharp and the won't polish to a mirror if the previous scratches are too big.

I'd start with a 1000 grit stone and build on it from there.

You can use your cheapo diamond stone to flatten it.


These stones will sharpen stainless steels fine.

It's just when we start talking about high vanadium, powdered metal, super steels that problems arise with the low end stones not abrading much material from the knife.

 

[Skarp Kniv]

Thanks for the advise!
I'll look into king and suehiro. I see they have some combination stones as well, seems like a god way to start out.

 

[OldNavy]

http://www.japanesenaturalstones.com/synthetic-stones/