I originally had a two grit combo stone I think it was 800/4000 or 1000/4000 grit (waterstones).
This worked but I felt like it took forever to get the polish up to 4000. (This was also before I started using microbevels).
I now have a set of 800/1000/3000/6000/8000/10000 stones. (I couldn't decide on which 3 to make a "set", so I just bought 'em all)
I've discovered I don't need the 800 unless I nick the blade on something.
So my routine of late has been to sharpen starting with the 1000 and working my way up to 10000. I can't really ever seem to feel a burr develop on anything beyond the 1000.
My goal was to be able to work quickly through the grits as my theory being I could do something like 20 strokes on each grit vs. a few hundred strokes trying to go from the 100 to the 4000 (I never counted, but that number sounds about right from my recollection).
How many strokes do you guys typically use to get good results before moving up?
Also, is the reason I'm not feeling a burr develop because I'm in contact with the stone both push/pull strokes?
Should I be just going in one direction? I saw David Charlesworth in a recent post suggest that beginners start with just the pull stroke only. That got me thinking...
(Hmm, just double checked I actually own his plane sharpening video, but have yet to watch it. I'm going to do that now. )