I've been working on preparing a bench chisel for the first time by first flattening the back and then establishing a primary bevel of 25 degrees. It's been a long and tedious process but it looks like I'm close to finishing it. Something interesting and confusing came out of the effort though. I used DMTs Extra Course (220 grit), Fine (600 grit) and Extra Fine (1200 grit) 8" x 3" diamond stones for the most part but found that I couldn't remove all of the scratches created by the DMTs unless I used wet/dry sandpaper. I found 400 grit sandpaper removed most of the scratches but then followed up with 800 and 1200 grits for what I considered to be a nice finish. The sandpaper was used on a 1" thick steel plate that was Blanchard ground. It seems that sandpaper grits do not correspond to grits identified with the DMTs. Am I missing anything with my understanding?
Also, I'd like to kick my sharpening obsession up a notch. Are ceramic stones recommended for this?
I forgot to mention that I'm using HoneRite Gold mixed with water regardless of abrasives.