If ya do a search ... you'll find a fair amount of info on Scary Sharp vs water stones. I've used both and both work fine ... but each has it's little quirks that you need to address to maximize the result.

Personally ... I use a 1200 grit diamond plate followed by a 12000 grit water stone followed by power stropping. I've ditched all the water stones except for my 12000 and I want to eventually ditch that one too. The reason is keeping water stones flat is a pain ... it's real easy to induce twist and slope into the surface. That's important to me because I use a Brian Burns jig that does not roll on the surface of the stone. Also if ya get lazy and don't correct cupping of any one stone you use to apply the edge ... water stones can drive ya nuts because the stone will cut unevenly, the edge will deform more under the pressure and it will be frustrating and time consuming to get an edge. You can slack off on water stone care with skinny chisels and such and get away with it ... but not with wide blades and hard steel.

If I went back to Scary Sharp I'd use 3M PSA finishing films mounted to a gage block and the Brian Burns jig.

Once I get a flat back and the initial edge ... I keep the edge by power stropping as the edge dulls ... because I wanna cut wood ... not slog through a bunch of stones to reestablish the edge.

Ken Blanton