I tried Scary Sharp for a while ... worked fine but I kept digging into the sandpaper and tearing it.

Then I tried water stones ... which I still use but not the softer coarser grits because it's easy to introduce twist in the surface when flattening the stone. Better quality stones than the ones I use might help reduce the twist problem.

I like diamond stones the best.

What I do now ... and is the fastest ... is hollow ground the bevel on my grinder and hone it using a wooden disk on my lathe that's charged with honing compound ... sometimes I'll finish on a strop. I use stones to flatten the back.

Overall I don't like the time it takes to put an initial edge on a tool ... especially if it's wide and is made of super hard Japanese steel.

If I use a jig with a stone I use the Brian Burns jig.

There's all kinds of ways to get good results.

KenB