I use the Brian Burns jig and I used to use 1000, 6000 and 12,000 water stones. Flattening the surface of water stones is no big deal ... but flattening water stones so that their surface doesn't run off in a funny direction is a pain. And ... if ya get lazy and don't keep your low grit stones perfectly flat, not dished and with a level and plumb surface ... you'll pull your hair out when you get to the finer grits because it will take forever to bring the edge back ... it's even worse if you're working with wide Japanese blades ... the steel in that stuff is hard! So ... once my 1000 reached 1/4" thick ... I replaced it with a 1000 diamond plate. Now I just start with the diamond plate, jump to the 12,000 and follow up with chromium oxide or boron carbide paste. As the edge dulls I just use the 12,000 for touch up.

IMO ... it's easy to go overboard and put in a lot of effort when you first flatten the back and establish the edge. The trick is having a fast way to touch up the edge as it dulls.

The hot set up for scarry sharp is to mount pressure sensitive 3M micro-films to a dead flat 3" thick block of marble and use a jig. It's accurate, fast and repeatable.

Ken Blanton