Little late to this part of the conversation and YMMV, but this is my experience:

Buy Spyderco bench stones, you will not regret it, medium, fine and ultra fine. Get a regular coarse pencil eraser to get the gunk out of them.

For rust prevention, get a Sentry Solutions TufCloth (or Marine TufCloth). No more rust on your blades <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />