Reply by Loren

I’d recommend going to 1000 or 1200 grit waterstone and
then to a 4000 or 6000 grit. 8000 is nice but they are
costly and in practical terms there’s not much difference
in the cutting quality of the edge you can get, just the
level of polish. Maybe it does last longer. I mostly use
my 8000 stone for polishing but that’s because it’s bigger
than my 6000.