A splash of water on the stone and let the sharpening begin!

You do not need to soak these stones. The main feature of WA abrasive is its ability to cut hard steels faster and wear slowly. Each stone has a very consistent particle size resulting in a smoother finish as each consequent grain is closer and sharpens out the previous grind mark. The reason for laminating the stone with tempered is to keep the abrasive part as flat as much as possible because the stone usually distorts after water penetration.