I have the Shapton 1000, 2000, and 8000 glass stones and like them a lot for sharpening. (thanks again Jim) I usually just use the 1000 and 8000 and that seems to work well for me. What I don't like is using this combination to flatten chisels and plane irons. I think it takes too long on the 1000. This leads me to believe that I should be using something coarser.

What do you guys think of adding a Shapton 500 to get the blade flat and then jumping up to the 1000? I was also thinking of adding a Shapton 5000 to use between the 2000 and 8000 so I don't have to spend as much time on the 8000. I don't see my accumulation of chisels and plane irons slowing down any time soon, so the need to flatten will always be there.