I hope some of you guys are willing to try soft, mid fineness arkansas stones at some point. They leave the synthetics in the dust in terms of overall honing speed (and they're cheap), leaving you closer to a finished edge.

At any rate, the OP will be happy with the 1.5 shapton, and if not, "check the Indian, because it's not the arrow!"

I'll never set with synthetics again, though, with the exception of using a fine diamond hone to set kamisori - i don't like setting them on resin type stones *or* naturals, though they do set on a slurried arkansas stone despite being generally harder than the particles in the stone.

a kamisori regimen from a fresh regrind goes something like:
* diamond bevel set (sparingly used, 1-2 minutes)
* settled in washita (about 2 minutes, maybe less)
* barber hone starting with minimal liquid (cuts faster, and the kamisori - the soft metal part above the bevel at least - pulls particles from the stone to keep it fresh) and then to clearer water - 5 minutes at the most, probably more like 3?